Caught off guard

[deltacards]

Was pulling autographed items out of storage to decorate my new "man room" with, and realized that over the last 20 years i've accumulated some pretty nice autographs and some stuff that will look pretty good displayed but i've also come across some of those autographs that i got when i was unprepared or caught off guard... Most people who do alot of graphing probably know what im talking about, you get an autograph of a guy who you didnt think would sign, or you run into some all star old timer who happens to be working as a scout, coach, announcer, front office guy etc. who you didnt even know was there and you end up with a great autograph on a randim scrap of paper or pocket schedule and you really wish you would've brought that extra ball with you that day... Here is my list of some paper scraps, ticket stubs, and pocket schedules that i really wish were on baseball

1. Chipper Jones (luckily got him at spring training about 2 years later on a bat)

2. David Cone (5x All Star and 1994 Cy Young winner)

3. Ozzie Guillen (1985 ROY, 3x All Star, 2005 Manager of the Year)

4. Tim Wallach (5x All Star, 3x Gold Glove, 2x Silver Slugger)

5. Jim Sundberg (3x All Star, 6x Gold Glove)

nobody too huge other than chipper and luckily i was able to get him again later on... I was just curious to hearing those stories about randomly running into Nolan Ryan at a steakhouse and having him sign you napkin (didnt happen to me but i did hear a guy tell that story at a baseball card shop once)

lets hear 'em

thanks
Nate

 

[yank23rulz]

I got a few that way...
David wells is the only be name.i can think of..Never thought he would sign..Luck got him on and IC that someday I will make in to a custom..

 

[tglg]

Mine was when I sat 3 seats away from Wayne Gretzky at a Cardinals game right after he came to St. Louis. Had him sign one of my business cards. It was cool, and he was gracious to fans, signing for those around him during the half innings. Then some schmuck about 10 rows back stood up and yelled, "Hey, it's Wayne Gretzky". Poor guy had to leave after the third inning, as they were lined up. He got a standing O though. Wave to his wife, who was in the first row right in front of us. He was sitting in the fourth row (guess we know who rates, lol).

But it is a personal touch, to have one of my business cards signed by the Great One.

 

[pltcards]

I got Paul Hornung at Churchill Downs on a Program. He spent the minute it took him to sign to tell me how bad the horses sucked that day. LOL, He was very nice about signing though. I also got Sam Huff on a cocktail napkin one time. Long time ago. I almost forgot about the time Bob Feller sat down next to me and my wife(girl friend at the time) at an Indians game and shot the crap for quite a while. I had nothing to sign except the visor they gave away that day. My wife wouldnt let him sign hers, she said "who was that old guy" when he left. She has laughed about that a lot of times. Pat

 

[MichiganFan9]

I was 12 at the time. Ran into Darrell Evans at Busch Gardens in Tampa. This was in March of '86. The Tigers had just won the previous World Series, and he was with his wife. He tried at first to ignore this 12 year old kid yelling his name, but when he realized I wasnt letting up, he took about ten minutes away from his wife to take several pictures with my brother and I and our cousins. He signed several pieces of paper. The best part of it was that he "invited" us to spring training the next couple days. We went up to Lakeland and got all of them. Kirk Gibson, Whittaker, Trammell, you name em. My dad also noticed a car pull in with a guy "slumped" over in the front seat, as to hide. We did some investigating and it happened to be Tom Monaghan. I dont think that last name is spelled right. Anyway, great time. Thanks again, Darrell.

 

[CW13]

Sweet thread...A few I can think of are: I ran into Xavier McDaniel at a mall in Dallas when I was in high school and yes, got the scrap of paper signed. Obviously we knew who he was as he stood out in a crowd. a couple of years ago, Vernon Wells showed up at a Rangers banquet to present Michael Young with an award(they grew up in minors together) and not having an extra ball to sign, we got him on a cocktail napkin. And yes, last but not least, I have Nolan Ryan on some kind of piece of paper...

 

[mrmopar]

They never amounted to much in the pros, but both were college greats, or at least stars in their day.

My dad recognized former (actually he might have been current at the time) WSU QB Jack Thompson on a Washington State Ferry boat ride. We were heading to a M's game at the Kingdome and lived "across the pond", as we say here, at the time. I had my glove and Thompson signed it. Still have the glove, but after several years of Little League, the auto wore off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(American_football)

We also ran into Sonic player Steve Hawes on the ferry boat at one point as well. I don't remember if we got an auto or not, but I didn't care one way or another then or now!!

My other surprise auto was getting Brock Huard on the UW campus. He had a student at the time, as was I. We were attending a rally being held to support the new football stadium being proposed at the time. Warren Moon was a guest speaker, but I was prepared for Moon. Spotted Huard in the crowd and had him sign the flyer for the event. Still have that one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brock_Huard

Not exactly surprising, since it was a baseball event, but at the 2001 AS Fan Fest, I was wandering around looking at the booths when I recognized former MLB player Darrel Evans working one. He was pitching some sort of dial-a-MLBer program, where you paid for phone minutes to talk to baseball players on the phone. He had nobody at his booth and he wasn't exactly advertising himself, he was just a guy working a booth, although his face was on the brochures. Got him to sign one for me. Still have that too.

 

[seawolf17]

I have old Islanders goalie Billy Smith on the back of my friend's dad's business card. Saw him at Chuck E Cheese's when we were kids; we had no idea who he was, but his dad was impressed.

 

[travistrue]

When I was in Junior High my buddy and I had just got back from swimming at our local lake. We grew up in a small town with 1 grocery store. We could buy off brand pop for 25 cents. We went in to get a couple of pops and started walking to the back and saw 3 guys in black suits standing around. This was odd for a rural grocery store in the middle of July in Kansas. Then around the corner was Senator Bob Dole. That just happened to be his last time campaigning for U.S. Senate. He talked to us for about 10 min about the lake and baseball and asked if we wanted a picture. We followed him outside and one "handlers" pulled out a Polaroid camera. After we got our picture taken with him he signed the white part at the bottom of the picture.

 

[SLNoble13]

When I was in middle school I was at a Durham Bulls game in Durham, NC and ran into Chipper Jones. Not knowing who he was, I got him to sign my ticket stub from that night's game. I have that stub somewhere in my collection.

I also met Antwon Jamison when he played at UNC at a mall. He was probably the rudest athlete I ever met. I was, I think 18 at the time and went up to him and congratulated him from his successful season and asked him for his autograph. He basically refused and told me to get out of his way. I couldn't believe it, but I guess thats why I am a Duke fan!


Also, a few years ago I went to a foundation dinner for cancer and my wife and I ran into a 2 future Hall of Famers. Of course we didn't have anything with us for them to sign.



Marshall Faulk - had the personality of a wall. Really didn't want to take our picture.




Funny story with Larry. I got him on the joke I played on my wife, who did not know who he was. She asked me if I knew what he did and I told her to ask him. She went up to him and asked him and he said, "My name is Larry." She then asked him what he did and he simply said, "I play football." I was laughing when she asked him and he laughed and smiled at her when she asked him. My wife still gives me grief about this, in good fun though. Then all of a sudden he grabbed some random guy and demanded him to take our picture. Super class act guy and a great wide receiver!

 

[majdic2136]

My story doesn't involve me getting autographs or pictures but its a good share. Last spring break I worked (volunteered) for the NCAA to work in Canton, OH at the swimming and diving national championships. The venue where it was held was right across from the football hall of fame. We got to go to the hall for free if we worked at the event and when we walked in the man who worked tickets said we were in for a surprise. He then pointed out Jim Tressel to us. As soon as Tressel saw us though he ran and hid in an office room. Then we walked upstairs and saw none other than Emmitt Smith. He at least was nice enough to realize that we were working in sports and not just trying to bug them for pictures or autographs. He stopped and talked with us saying it was his third time here and he kept getting stopped for pictures and autographs so he wanted to enjoy the hall. we were just so amazed he was there we didnt care. He did sign one autograph though for my friend who had a cowboys hoodie on. He'll never wash it again lol The story gets better. Our venue was right next to a big high school gym where the ohio state basketball playoffs were being held. We walked over and got in with our even management credentials and guess who was playing? St Mary/St Vincents high school so oyu know who was there? None other than King James himself. Like I said no autographs, but it was just awesome to run into these athletes. If this is any indication of what my job will be like when i am done with school and working I'm in heaven! Thank god there is a sports administration major!

 

[DaNotoriousNIC]

Floyd Mayweather Jr, posted this story a few times now so won't go deep into it but I saw him and the posse and he did the "what up" and nod at me as they walked by, knew I recognized him but wasn't sure how, clicked once I got back to the car went back in and he signed a Superman visor for me and thanked me for not yelling out his name since they had been at the mall for quite some time and nobody had seemed to recognize him or make a scene. Don't know why he was happy to not be getting extra attention seeing the huge fur coat he had on and all the jewelry, I live in his hometown so I've seen him a few times since but not often enough I'm gonna carry a photo or boxing gloves on me.

 

[abeabe]

I guess my story is sightly off topic because I didn't get an autograph. Yet I'll tell it anyway. I was at The Roots opening for Erykah Badu with the roots as her backing band @Mizner Park here in Boca Raton. I showed up with no ticket because they promote you hanging outside the shows and hearing the music. I was sitting on the sidewalk pre-show and Chris Carter the former Viking site down right next to me on the curb. I said "Your Chris Carter right?" he said "yea, I'm just waiting for my wife." Another guy came over and started screaming Go Peterson! Go Vikings! So he got up and left. I wound up getting walked into show for free and handed a VIP braclet and saw him up in VIP with his wife. Decided not to bother him, the experience was cool enough.

 

[longhornjunkie]

When I was a kid (mid-late 80's) me and my dad ran into Randy White at Putt-Putt golf in my hometown in east Texas. I remember having a Cowboys sweatshirt on and him liking that of course. He signed the back of a Putt-Putt scorecard for us with one of the little scoring pencils, I still have it. Don't remember why he was in town, maybe I'll go to one of his local signings and ask him about it, from all the stories I see he is an awesome guy in person to this day.

 

[Canadian_Jim]

During the 1993 ALCS between the White Sox and Blue Jays, I was staying at the hotel in the SkyDome. Going into the elevator I notice Bo Jackson and since it was only the 2 of us in there I struck up a conversation. By luck we were both on the same floor and we continued talking for a couple of minutes. He was very easy to talk to but I did not have anything to get an auto. So I ran back to my room and grabbed a game program from the night before, and he signed it for me waiting outside of my room. He was very nice and easy to talk to and I was hoping to bump into him again but never saw him again.

 

[whalerfan9]

Many years ago John Glenn was on my flight from Washington DC to Dayton, OH. Needless to say I got his graph on the Piedmont airline napkin from my pop...

 

[kingsfaninri]

October 17, 1989 is a memorable day for me for two reasons... one is that that was the day of the San Francisco earthquake (the World Series one) and the other was what I was doing about that same time......

I was at a Kings game and as we headed into the Forum I saw a big crowd around a limo. As we got closer I saw a very distinctive profile, none other than Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe. Wayne Gretzky had broken Howe's all-time scoring record the game before and Gordie was in LA for a ceremony.

Gordie was fantastic and stayed signing for everyone, including signing my ticket stub. Just need to get #99 to sign it now.

Another one was about 7-8 years ago when the Kings had their minor league team in Mass. and one of their players was there on a rehab assignment. I took a gamble that the team's GM, and my all-time favorite player Dave Taylor, might be there, so my wife and I made the drive. We were walking around the concourse and who did I almost bump right into? Dave Taylor.

I had a puck for him to sign but my pen wouldn't work. He was cool and said "You got that thing working while I go fix my coffee." When he came back I was apparently just babbling and being stupid about being that close to my hero. My wife told me later that I seemed like a teenage girl that had just met one of the Beatles.

 

[PRosefan1]

My story doesn't involve me getting autographs or pictures but its a good share. Last spring break I worked (volunteered) for the NCAA to work in Canton, OH at the swimming and diving national championships. The venue where it was held was right across from the football hall of fame. We got to go to the hall for free if we worked at the event and when we walked in the man who worked tickets said we were in for a surprise. He then pointed out Jim Tressel to us. As soon as Tressel saw us though he ran and hid in an office room. Then we walked upstairs and saw none other than Emmitt Smith. He at least was nice enough to realize that we were working in sports and not just trying to bug them for pictures or autographs. He stopped and talked with us saying it was his third time here and he kept getting stopped for pictures and autographs so he wanted to enjoy the hall. we were just so amazed he was there we didnt care. He did sign one autograph though for my friend who had a cowboys hoodie on. He'll never wash it again lol The story gets better. Our venue was right next to a big high school gym where the ohio state basketball playoffs were being held. We walked over and got in with our even management credentials and guess who was playing? St Mary/St Vincents high school so oyu know who was there? None other than King James himself. Like I said no autographs, but it was just awesome to run into these athletes. If this is any indication of what my job will be like when i am done with school and working I'm in heaven! Thank god there is a sports administration major!

I can relate to your story. Since I grew up in Canton Ohio and live just 10 minutes South of it now. I drive by the Hall at least three times a week and have been to the Hall many times. I ran Into Steve Leargent there once and got his sig on the back of a dollar bill. When I was younger you could run up to the cars carrying the hall of famers in the HOF parade and shake their hands. Also get to see the state football championships every year as they hold them at Fawcett Stadium (Hall of fame Stadium) and Tiger stadium in Massillon. I have seen many current stars in their highschool games and likewise got to say Hi to Tressel, Dierdorf, and Spielman to name a few. The only thing better then Living in Canton for me would be living in Cooperstown.

 

[DMBfan]

I have really enjoyed reading this thread and I have two occasions of being caught off guard:

1. About 5 years ago, my wife had a conference in San Diego and I tagged along for the ride. One morning before the conference started, my wife and I were walking to a local diner to eat. We passed by a patio area where a local sports radio show was setting up to broadcast. I saw this guy wearing San Diego State University gear and kept walking. About five feet past him, I hear his voice and knew right away who it was...Tony Gwynn. I had nothing for him to sign but did say hello to him.

2. Yesterday (Saturday), my wife and I were at the UNC Football game and were talking with the Assistant for Coach Butch Davis. We've talked with her before and have never met Coach Davis, until yesterday when he came walking by and she introduced us. Again, I had nothing for him to sign, but he is truly one of the nicest guys that I've met.

 

[pandaboy911]

When I was at packer training camp I had a meetin with red batty talking about becoming an apprentice and trying to get a job when Brett Favre walked in asking for an extra face mask. Ill never forget it.