- Thread starter
- #1
mchenrycards
Featured Contributor, Vintage Corner, Senior Membe
Maybe it's time for another regular feature. Lets call this one Tell Me a Story............. So to start it off, tell me a great story about an in person autograph you received. Here is a few of mine.
As a child my parents would take me to Wrigley Field about four times a year and I would always take a baseball with me to get signed. The theory was that players were more likely to sign a ball than a scrap piece of paper. The year was about 1973 and the Reds were in town to play the Cubs on an overcast summer day. Being a ten year old I didn't care what autograph I got but I knew Johnny Bench was pretty special as he was on all the covers of the baseball magazines I would read all the time. I was camped out right next to the visitors dugout closest to home plate and the Reds players would filter by but rarely signed. A group was gathering behind me as Johnny Bench was in the cage and would be leaving the field right by where I was standing. I do remember looking behind me and saw what had to be thirty people crowded in as the crushed me against Wrigley's brick wall.
Bench took his last cuts in the cage and headed right towards the group I was part of. I remember he looked right at me and in the most pleasant voice I could muster I said "Mr. Bench can I please have your autograph?" I was sure he did not hear me as the crowd was also trying to get his attention and no doubt drowned my ten year old voice out. Bench walked up to the group, grabbed my baseball and ball point pen and placed a perfect signature right on the side panel of the ball, handed it back to me and walked into the dugout. Instantly I was no longer a part of the group trying to get autographs but because the focal point of the group. I felt congratulatory back slaps and heard a few awesomes sprinkled in while one old woman wanted to actually see the autograph. I stupidly handed her my prized possession for her to look at and she stared in amazement the ink that was on the baseball. Thankfully, she handed it back and I ran back to my parents to show them when I had just received. To this day I remember this event like it was yesterday and vow that someday I will actually pay to get a Bench autograph so that I can meet him and relay to him this story. I have heard he can be a bit of a prickly person so he may not really care that he made a ten year old's day but it will be worth it to see his reaction.
My other story is one in which I was a local promoter of card shows where we would always bring in a retired athlete to sign free autographs. I had caught wind that Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lattner lived within an hours drive of where our show would be so I called him to arrange his appearance at our show. The day of the event rolled around and about 45 minutes before he was due to arrive I had someone tell me an older guy is looking for me. I found the gentleman and introduced myself and he smiled and told me that he was my autograph guest for the day. Johnny Lattner was a slight, unassuming man that nobody would ever guess that he played at the highest level of college and pro ball let alone with the Heisman. I stood and talked with him for a few minutes and realized he was pushing a K-Mart shopping cart. I looked down in the cart and I believe my heart stopped because right there, staring back at me was his Heisman Trophy. I remember gasping when I saw the trophy and I looked at him in amazement when he said he wanted to bring it so fans could actually see and touch it. Needless to say the trophy might have been a bigger hit than Johnny himself.
As a child my parents would take me to Wrigley Field about four times a year and I would always take a baseball with me to get signed. The theory was that players were more likely to sign a ball than a scrap piece of paper. The year was about 1973 and the Reds were in town to play the Cubs on an overcast summer day. Being a ten year old I didn't care what autograph I got but I knew Johnny Bench was pretty special as he was on all the covers of the baseball magazines I would read all the time. I was camped out right next to the visitors dugout closest to home plate and the Reds players would filter by but rarely signed. A group was gathering behind me as Johnny Bench was in the cage and would be leaving the field right by where I was standing. I do remember looking behind me and saw what had to be thirty people crowded in as the crushed me against Wrigley's brick wall.
Bench took his last cuts in the cage and headed right towards the group I was part of. I remember he looked right at me and in the most pleasant voice I could muster I said "Mr. Bench can I please have your autograph?" I was sure he did not hear me as the crowd was also trying to get his attention and no doubt drowned my ten year old voice out. Bench walked up to the group, grabbed my baseball and ball point pen and placed a perfect signature right on the side panel of the ball, handed it back to me and walked into the dugout. Instantly I was no longer a part of the group trying to get autographs but because the focal point of the group. I felt congratulatory back slaps and heard a few awesomes sprinkled in while one old woman wanted to actually see the autograph. I stupidly handed her my prized possession for her to look at and she stared in amazement the ink that was on the baseball. Thankfully, she handed it back and I ran back to my parents to show them when I had just received. To this day I remember this event like it was yesterday and vow that someday I will actually pay to get a Bench autograph so that I can meet him and relay to him this story. I have heard he can be a bit of a prickly person so he may not really care that he made a ten year old's day but it will be worth it to see his reaction.
My other story is one in which I was a local promoter of card shows where we would always bring in a retired athlete to sign free autographs. I had caught wind that Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lattner lived within an hours drive of where our show would be so I called him to arrange his appearance at our show. The day of the event rolled around and about 45 minutes before he was due to arrive I had someone tell me an older guy is looking for me. I found the gentleman and introduced myself and he smiled and told me that he was my autograph guest for the day. Johnny Lattner was a slight, unassuming man that nobody would ever guess that he played at the highest level of college and pro ball let alone with the Heisman. I stood and talked with him for a few minutes and realized he was pushing a K-Mart shopping cart. I looked down in the cart and I believe my heart stopped because right there, staring back at me was his Heisman Trophy. I remember gasping when I saw the trophy and I looked at him in amazement when he said he wanted to bring it so fans could actually see and touch it. Needless to say the trophy might have been a bigger hit than Johnny himself.
