I have a few…
Gorman Thomas - I was 10 in 1982 and new to baseball. While watching a Brewers-Red Sox game, Thomas hit a moon shot over the Green Monster, over the 30 - foot screen on top of the monster and in the words of TV 38 color commentator Bob Montgomery “all the way to the MA Turnpike“. I was just in awe of the shot that I actually believed Montgomery. He ended up tying with Reggie for the league lead in homers that year. I was hooked.
Richie Hebner - When I was a kid, he lived two towns from me and in the off season he was a groundskeeper for the town cemetery. When I was 16 I worked in my dad’s shop - he sold and fixed lawn mowers, snowblowers, chain saws, etc. Hebner came in and dropped off some equipment to be serviced. As my dad filled the service order, I noticed the name and told my dad that I thought he was a former ballplayer. Dad said that he’d been coming in for years and didn’t think anything of it (Dad was not into baseball ). Knowing that he‘d come back in a few days, I left all of the Hebner cards I had and asked Dad if he would ask Richie to sign them. Sure enough, he came back on a day I was at school and he signed every one of them. I still have them in my autograph collection.
Kent Hrbek - No personal story here. I just liked him. His physique just allowed me to dream that I could someday play professional ball.
Brian Bohanon - He and I share similar surnames. He has one internal N while mine has two. I‘m a teacher in upstate NY and my first day teaching was when he played for the Mets. I introduced myself and one kid quickly piped “Are you Brian Bohanon’s brother or cousin?”. Of course he’s not but I felt a connection and started collecting his cards.
Jeff Juden - I‘m starting this collection. He played for Salem High School when I was in high school. I played one game against him and struck out twice.
My favorite: Rich Gedman - He was an All-Star catcher for the Red Sox during the 1980s. Additionally, he’s a native of Worcester, MA. Throughout little league, middle school and high school I was a catcher too looked up to him.