Best Autographs You Ever Got

Now, having done the exact same thing...that I get.

And BW...using me and famous in the same sentence is just silly. I am a fat lazy guy that locks himself in a closet and talks to himself for a living.

 

Yeah, but it's not nearly endearing ... well, it was kinda cute to see the wife get all excited about getting her own picture with Eeyore.

 

I collected autographs between 13 and 17. I lost interest in a hurry after that. No doubt: It's creepy to seek autographs once you reach adulthood (with rare exceptions...that guy who gets autographs of every presidential candidate is brilliant). If you meet a famous person you like/admire, a handshake and a "Hey thanks for the memories" works just as well.

That said, two autographs I sort of got after I hit college remain memorable. One of my dad's clients returned from Phliadelphia Eagles training camp with a spate of autographed pictures. "Give these to your son," the guy said. One of those pics? The late Jerome Brown.

And when my wife and I went to spring training as college students in 1996, she got Tigers first baseman Cecil Fielder to autograph...a Yankees baseball. That became a pretty cool memento a few months later.

 

Back in the day when I would visit Gentlemen's clubs I would ask dancers that I thought had some talent to sign a baseball for me.

 

Methinks you picked the wrong kind of ball. :-\

 

I'm honestly not knocking anyone in this thread, and I don't know how old you were when you got your autographs, but since the age of about 12 I've really never seen the point. I can understand some really nice photo/poster that you are going to frame and display, but having someone name on the back of a program just does nothing for me.

I could be butchering this story, but I think it was Bill Russell who was never big on granting autographs. Many people thought he was a dick, but he said he'd just rather shake a fans hand and have conversation with them rather than signing his name on a piece of paper.

 

And like I said before, that's not the case for most people. "The public" doesn't interact with people they hear about in the news on an everyday basis. We do.

For most people, regular people, an autograph is proof that they spent time in the company of someone their friends have heard about. Yes, that's a big deal. For us, not so much. For most people, absolutely.

 

Well, when I was 12 I thought it was cool to meet someone I emulated.

How does it feel for your 12-year-old self to be looking down your nose at my 12-year-old self?

 

When I was a kid I idolized all professional athletes.

I also knew, though, that somewhere down the line all the autographs I was getting would be worth some cash down the line. And I was proven right -- big-time -- when I sold my collection a few years back.

That being said, I kept a number of items which I proudly have on display at my place now. Autographed baseballs, baseball bats, footballs and basketballs of players who really meant something to me when I was younger. I still remember getting every item signed, which makes it even cooler.

 

Never have been a big autograph guy. I have asked two athletes for a photo.

First was Michael Jordan during his baseball stint. He was standing near the on-deck circle prior to a game and no one was around. I went to the fence, got his attention and politely asked for the photo. Just knew the guy was gonna either completely blow me off or tell me no. Instead, he turned around, walked over and grabbed the camera. Took a shot of me, handed the camera back and turned around to walk off. I was like, WTF? He looked back at me -- my mouth open, simply stunned -- and smiled. Walked back over, took the camera again, leaned back and got a shot of the both of us.

Here's the sickening part: The place I took the film to be developed somehow managed to screw it up. Ruined half the photos on the roll, including the photo Jordan took of the two of us.

The other photo was Jeff Gordon. My parents have a condo just south of Daytona Beach and the family spends about a month there each summer. In the summer of 96, I was taking the condo elevator up after a trip to the grocery store. Had about four bags I was trying to handle and was paying no attention at all when a guy offered me a hand. Turned out to be NASCAR's youngest champ. The team owned a few condos in the area and Gordon was using one in our building for the week while the series was in town. He actually helped me carry groceries into our condo, took the photo and talked with me and my brother for a long time. To this day, Gordon remains one of the nicest pro athletes I've ever encountered.

 

I wrote a column a few years back about being at Rangers' spring training when Nolan Ryan was working with the pitchers. He was only there for a single day, and I wanted to meet the guy more than anything. When I arrived at the park, though, there was a hoard of people with everything imaginable for him to sign. Most were adults with gloves, balls, photos, bats, balls, hats, jerseys. It was ridiculous.

I stood with the crowd for about five minutes and watched Orel Hershiser working with a few guys. Ryan never came over. And I can't blame him. It was obvious that most of the people were just there to make a buck. Several of them didn't even have game tickets. Had the crowd consisted of only those people who wanted to meet Ryan, I bet he'd have recognized that and made a quick stop.