Story Behind your first Autograph*

[Kirbyfan34]

I guess that this really wasn't my first autograph but it the one I remember the most. I was in 7th grade in the fall of 1985 when my church youth group went up to a convention in the Twin Cities. It was cool cuz it was the first time that me and my brother really had gotten to stay somewhere over night without parents, and out of town. Anyway the convention was at the hotel that the Vikings players stayed at during the season. The funny thing was though, at the opening of the convention the MC had mentioned that David Hartman, (former host of Good Morning America) was staying at the hotel and that we were NOT to call his room and say "GOOD MORINIG AMERICA!" he mentioned no such thing about NFL players staying there. Anyway to make a long story short, after we got settled into our room I announced that I was going to go down to the gift shop and look around. So go down and find a deck of playing card with the Vikings 25th Anniversary Logo on the back, so I bought them. And as I'm riding up in the elevator there are these two huge dudes standing right behind me. One of them says "Hey I see your a Vikings fan huh?"
"Yeah sure am"
"Well I play for the Vikings, I'm Tim Irwin"
Now granted Tim Irwin was a hell of a lineman, but that's it he was a lineman, back in those days you didn't get much pub unless you were super human, and in the TC market you could blend in a little better. Now if it were Tommy Kramer or Joe Sensor or Ted Brown I may have believed him a little better but was really just not buying the story.

So just before I get to my floor and after failing to convince me of who he was, he takes the luggage tag off of his suitcase and says "well i will sign this for you anyway keep it if you want. So I did. Afraid of what the rest of my suite would think if I told them this story I kept the auto in my wallet and pulled it out a couple weeks later still not knowing if it was legit or not.

Around Christmas my mom had bought a gallon pail of Ice Cream. It was Kemps and again had the Anniversary logo and facsimile signatures from all the players, and matching up was guess who....Tim Irwin. In subsequent moves it got lost in the shuffle but it was my first* and most memorable autograph.


* I had gone to a basketball game when we first moved to Minnesota where the Vikings players played the Winona Police dept. in a fund raiser game. There were several of the Vikes stars there and obviously before such activities were banned from their contracts as Tommy Kramer, Ahmad Rashad, Joe Sensor, Sammy White and a few others were there and got autos from all of them but also lost that one as well.

 

[abeabe]

I can't remember my 1st auto, though I can guess who it may have been, I remember having several different Mel Stottlemyre autos, as he was the pitching coach for the Mets as I grew up. My most memorable early graph, was Johnny Mize at the Joe Dimaggio legends game when I was a kid, my dad pointed him out to me, as of course I had no idea who he was. I remember how big he was, and he signed my ball across the sweet spot!!!

 

[dbarbos1]

I was at a Twins/Reds spring training game in Sarasota, FL. I had gotten a foul ball at the game and was leaving early with my friend and his dad. As where where walking to the car, we saw a ball player standing near the bus. We talked to him for a while, and he signed my foul ball. The guy was Torii Hunter. That was my first OMLB signed.

 

[mrmopar]

I may be off here, but I am going to guess my first autos were of Seattle Mariners. If not, it was one of the opposing teams of the same era (late 70s/early 80s) during batting practice. I used to get a decent number of items signed at games I went to, but I would have never considered myself an "autograph hound" in those days. I got to games a little bit early to catch BP and then lined up along the foul lines to snag players and an occasional practice ball. A few notables I remember getting and still have today were Jim Rice, Eddie Murray, Gaylord Perry, Jim Palmer, Dave Winfield and Carl Yastrzemski. There were other lesser players as well.

The only autographs I remember getting outside the ballpark in those days were at a Mariners baseball clinic, a card shop signing (Bob Feller) and I even sent a TTM request to Duke Snider way back when. I got Seahawks center Jim Yarno at a home improvement show too.

For arguments sake, I'll say my first were the Mariners at the baseball clinic my Little League hosted. Dan Meyer, Don Bryant and Wes Stock were the names I can remember and still have the scrappy, taped, cut signatures from.

 

[just-for-cards]

I did this recently but here it is again.
As Paul Harvey used to say ‘And now, the Rest of the Story’:
I had been to quite a few games in Milwaukee before that day and heard that the Braves would come out a Stadium door to walk to their cars and would sign autographs during their walk. There were no more than a dozen of us kids waiting that day and I really wanted Eddie Mathews. But Warren Spahn came out and I surely was shaking by the time he got to me. He signed my scorecard and the next kid also got his signed. Then, he asked Spahn for a ride to the bus stop. I was just stunned to hear him ask that. But then Spahn said ‘Sure I can, hop in the car’.
The next 2 or 3 games that I went to I did the same thing and got several autos from the players and watched and listened as some of the kids would ask and get rides from the players. Then, I finally got a chance and the guts to ask Spahn and I got my 1st ride of many to the bus stop or all the way home from him. I also got rides from many other players and coaches in the next couple years.
It was just a magical time to be a fan of the Game. I don’t know if the players from other cities did this but it was clearly something that you never forget.
Then, Kennedy was killed, the Braves left Milwaukee, and the Beatles arrived. It was time to grow up quickly because the Times, they were a-changin.

 

[seawolf17]

Really neat stories, everyone!

I got an autograph from Cardinals backup catcher Orlando Sanchez on my game program at my first game in 1982; sadly, that autograph has been lost to the ages. My other "first" autograph came from a visit to Chuck E Cheese's as a kid; my friend's dad recognized Islanders goalie Billy Smith, who's now a Hall of Famer and was in the middle of his incredible Stanley Cup run with the Islanders. My friend and I weren't hockey fans, so we had no idea who he was at the time -- but I still have Billy Smith's autograph "To Chris" on the back of one of my friend's dad's business cards.

 

[BiggioDiogu759]

First real auto was last year from Cameron Garfield, catcher for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

 

[hatesgoats]

My first auto was from Brian Piccolo. I will have to post it. I have 2 from him.He lived not too far from where I lived because he and his wife ate at a restaurant about 3 blockes from my house at the time. My parents ate there every Friday night. My dad asked him for an auto and he went out to his car and signed a picture for him. The other I got from him at the same restaurant. It was smaller like a 3x5 and he had them already signed . He just passed them out. I would have been 8 or 9 at the time.

 

[SLNoble13]

When I was 8 years old my mom took me and a friend of mine to Atlanta on a bus tour. Our last day on the tour was a Braves game. My idol back then was Dale Murphy so I went hoping and praying to get him but he didn't come anywhere near the team dugout to try to get him. But Ozzie Virgil actually came over and signed for about 10 minutes. He stopped one person short of me in the line. I was so upset that I went back to my seat and couldnt believe that my friend got him but I didn't. Then all of a sudden he started to walk by the first base line side again and I ran down to the front row and he saw me and came right to me. Got my Braves ticket signed by him.

For a funnier story from my childhood, I was at a Durham Bulls game in 1992. Me and a bunch of my friends were doing kid stuff not really watching the game and chasing foul balls. Then we were hanging out where the players walked from the bullpen to the locker-room and a Bulls player walked by and I asked him for his autograph. Then I thought to myself, he is a scrub b/c he wasn't playing and I really didn;t want his autograph but I thought I would be nice. So I got him to sign my Bulls ticket and then took it home. Over the years, I forgot about it and then one day I found it and the Durham Bulls 3rd baseman that signed it was Chipper Jones. Still have that ticket today!

 

[BiggioDiogu759]

When I was 8 years old my mom took me and a friend of mine to Atlanta on a bus tour. Our last day on the tour was a Braves game. My idol back then was Dale Murphy so I went hoping and praying to get him but he didn't come anywhere near the team dugout to try to get him. But Ozzie Virgil actually came over and signed for about 10 minutes. He stopped one person short of me in the line. I was so upset that I went back to my seat and couldnt believe that my friend got him but I didn't. Then all of a sudden he started to walk by the first base line side again and I ran down to the front row and he saw me and came right to me. Got my Braves ticket signed by him.

For a funnier story from my childhood, I was at a Durham Bulls game in 1992. Me and a bunch of my friends were doing kid stuff not really watching the game and chasing foul balls. Then we were hanging out where the players walked from the bullpen to the locker-room and a Bulls player walked by and I asked him for his autograph. Then I thought to myself, he is a scrub b/c he wasn't playing and I really didn;t want his autograph but I thought I would be nice. So I got him to sign my Bulls ticket and then took it home. Over the years, I forgot about it and then one day I found it and the Durham Bulls 3rd baseman that signed it was Chipper Jones. Still have that ticket today!

Never heard of him..Did he even make it to the big leagues LOL JK

 

[SLNoble13]

Never heard of him..Did he even make it to the big leagues LOL JK

LOL!

 

[seawolf17]

One more story. I went to a game with my dad in the early 90's, and after the game he let me hang out by the players' exit to Shea to see if I could get any signatures. Daryl Boston came out, and although I didn't get him, there was a guy who was trying to get him to sign the cover of his program, which had Darryl Strawberry on it. The guy said something like "Come on, sign right on the other Darryl's face." Boston gave the guy a look and said "Man, you know I can't do that." It was pretty funny.

The only guy I did get that day, on a baseball that I brought with me, was a young radio guy named Gary Cohen; I still have the ball on display in my basement. I was the only person there who recognized him when he walked out; he couldn't have been nicer.

 

[SWCAutographs]

My 1st autograph was by one of the all-time favorite Astros players Cesar Cedeno. This was 1989 and we were playing in an all-star tournament in South Belt (Friendswood). He had 2 twin boys playing on the team we were playing against. My grandfather spotted him right away and told me to go get his autograph. I got my 1st base glove signed and a Little League baseball signed that I took out of the practice bag. LoL!!

After the game I went home and starting digging through my baseball cards and found a 83 Topps Reds card and team leaders cards. I took them back with me hoping he would be there again before or after my game. He was and I got them both signed. Since then I was hooked. Going to the Astrodome and getting autographs (always best on visitors side) before and after games. The last signature I got at the dome was from Darrell Ward. The next year they moved to Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park).

...And that's what recently started my 1983 Topps autograph project.
-Rob

 

[majdic2136]

I got a few autographs when I was young and going to Red Barons games but I have since lost them and don;t even remember who they were of. My first that I remember was 10 years ago...I had season tickets behind home plate and got a team set card signed by starting pitcher Brandon Duckworth while he was sitting in the stands charting pitches in between starts.

 

[otgoal]

About 40 years ago, Tug McGraw was appearing at a local garden center.
I don't remember the exact year, but it probably would have been after the 1969 World Series.
My dad took me to see him and I got a signed B&W photo, I think it was 5x7.
Over time, the signature faded a bit more than my memory of it.

 

[sturgeon]

i live out in lonely oregon and all we have is the blazers yay. drexler days long over, anyway i was about 10 maybe younger and who comes along to do a signing ( i gotta say here that theres not much for a collector around thes parts) but the one and only Gale Sayers. My family didnt have much money at all and my dad finally gave in ( he must of got tired of my whining and begging ) and paid the high cost of $10 dollars and the ride to portland, making me the happiest kid around. long gone are the days of the hof $10 dollar autograph.

 

[Kirbyfan34]

Have a story about one that got away also. In 96 I had won a pair of tickets to TwinsFest, during their annual Winter Caravan. For those of you who don't know TwinsFest is one of the largest team ran fan festivals in the country. Well this year (96) for some reason they decided to hold it at the Mall of America. (mistake) Kirby was signing in the 3rd level of Sears that day and when we got there the line wrapped all the way around the store and half way through the third level of the mall. Knew I wasn't going to get him that day allthough did get some good ones (Morris, John, Smalley, Battey) to name a few... The next year we were back at the Metrodome, and my mom had come with just to get out of the house. Well we established a home base on the third base side of the stadium and ma sat with our extra stuff so we wouldn't have to lug it around all day. Well low and behold I get in line for Puck again, and again super long line. Right before his signing time he talked with Wcco radio at the time the Twins Flagship station. As he's coming to the booth, he walks up shaking hands with fans and chatting a little and my mom sticks out her hands and says "Hi Kirby nice to meet you" Kirby shakes her hand and says hi. The whole time I'm standing in line (2-3 hrs) and get nothing. Ma had 2 baseballs in her pocket but didn't ask for an autograph because he "had two huge bodyguards by him that made me nervous" I did end up getting him the next year and then once again in 2001 before he passed. Although I haven't let ma forget her golden opportunity!

 

[mort]

The first baseball game I went to was at Fenway Park in 1982. During batting practice my Dad managed to get a foul ball that was hit into the seats. I hung onto that foul ball until the following year. The next game I went to ... I went down to the field level and got Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd to autograph the ball. Through the next few years I added a bunch of autographs to the ball in all colors ... blue, black, red. Lots of signatures including Dave Henderson, Rich Gedman, Bill Buckner, Al Nipper...still have it in my ball collection 30 years later.

 

[houbb]

My 1st autograph was by one of the all-time favorite Astros players Cesar Cedeno. This was 1989 and we were playing in an all-star tournament in South Belt (Friendswood). He had 2 twin boys playing on the team we were playing against. My grandfather spotted him right away and told me to go get his autograph. I got my 1st base glove signed and a Little League baseball signed that I took out of the practice bag. LoL!!

After the game I went home and starting digging through my baseball cards and found a 83 Topps Reds card and team leaders cards. I took them back with me hoping he would be there again before or after my game. He was and I got them both signed. Since then I was hooked. Going to the Astrodome and getting autographs (always best on visitors side) before and after games. The last signature I got at the dome was from Darrell Ward. The next year they moved to Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park).

...And that's what recently started my 1983 Topps autograph project.
-Rob

Cesar was brutally tough when he was playing. He very rarely (but did occasionally)signed IP and never TTM. Great story about one of my favorite all time Astros, Rob.

 

[SWCAutographs]

Just to make this clear, this was at a little league game and not the Astrodome. I just mentioned the Astrodome as for examples after that time.

Cesar was brutally tough when he was playing. He very rarely (but did occasionally)signed IP and never TTM. Great story about one of my favorite all time Astros, Rob.