Brush With Greatness

Same trip, standing in line to get into Dodger Stadium and Kareem Abdul Jabaar walked right by us. Very tall...very skinny.

OK, I can't resist (besides, this is a good goofing-off day at work). Granted, this wasn't exactly 'spontaneous', but...

When Kyle Davies got called up with the Braves last year the Atlanta paper ran a photo of him as a kid taken with John Smoltz. My son is a catcher, and last November we got a photo of him with Brian McCann. We can at least dream...

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Have had lots of those but the one that I remember the most was...

Orel Herschiser (sp) popped in on a Mustang game...no kid playing was just in the negihborhood...signed everyones hats...Very approachable...a real highlight...great guy!...thanks Orel!...

44

At a K.C. restaurant... George Brett, certainly one of the top 10 hitters since WWII, gave one line of unexpected advice to my son, who was 10 or 11 at the time. George said:

"First thing, catch the ball!

Hubby and I went to hear Dave Dravecky speak last year. He is the courageous pitcher who battled and then lost his pitching arm to cancer. Dravecky is now a motivational speaker who speaks not so much about baseball but mainly about living a Christian life. Anyway, after his "feel-good" speech, we had him sign a couple of his books so we could give them to our 2 sons, both pitchers. Before we left, he pulled us aside and said, with a fiery gleam in his eye, "Tell your boys to never be afraid to pitch 'em inside!" Always the competitor

Was on a flight from Pittsburgh to Philly, and thought I saw Dick [Richie] Allen - asked the stewardess[they were still called that back then, ] if that was Dick Allen - she said, "Gee, I don't know - who's Dick Allen??" Turns out it was, and we chatted him up after we de-planed - pretty funny guy - not the surly jerrk that the media made him out to be [although he probably earned some of that rep].

Good thread to make my first post in!

I coached a competitive baseball team here in Missouri and Mike Matheny's son was one of my players. Mike's a great guy and was always willing to talk baseball and work with the kids including my son who was also on the team. Pretty rare to get catching lessons from a 3 time gold glover but my son will have that story to tell the rest of his life.

I met Muhammad Ali in a hotel elevator when I was 17. Star struck to say the least and still have his autograph from that day.

Other run ins we've had while at the ballfields here locally include Keith Tkachuck, Andy Benes, Nelly, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, and Ozzie Smith.

Redhawks 27:

Welcome aboard the HSBBW...hope to read a great deal more from you!

Thanks gotwood4sale.

My son's only 12 but has been playing competitive travel ball for several years now and I just enjoy reading about youth baseball and what high school ball will eventually bring.

I may not be able to share much about high school experience but hopefully will be able to contribute in other ways.

Redhawks 27, welcome!

My story isn't baseball, but when my younger son was in middle school, his favorite sport was basketball. His class went on a field trip which took them to downtown Minneapolis. He and his teammates/classmates unexpectedly ran into Shaquille O'Neal, in town for an NBA game against the Timberwolves.

His teacher asked if the boys could meet Shaq, and although at that time he did not have a completely favorable image in the media, he was very gracious - spoke to them, shook hands, and then posed, smiling, for a photo op in the middle of this group of young fans - with his huge hand resting on my son's shoulder!

When my older boy was playing peewee football in the sixth grade, one of our dads who worked for the Dallas Cowboys had Tony Dorsett come speak to the boys after practice one day.

Many of the boys were too young to remember his greatness, but us dads should hadn't forget. Shook his hand and he was great with the boys.

Katarina Witt. Had front row seats at some kind of Stars on Ice thing. Brought a bouquet of roses and held them out over the wall. She came by, took them and gave me a big kiss on the cheek.

Beat that!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Holden Caulfield:
Katarina Witt. Had front row seats at some kind of Stars on Ice thing. Brought a bouquet of roses and held them out over the wall. She came by, took them and gave me a big kiss on the cheek.

Beat that!!!

Dang, she is better looking than Dorsett.

Tried to talk to Johnny Bench in the Cincy airport one time: JERK

Tried to make casual conversation while waiting for luggage at the airport with Paul Holmgren [Phila Flyers]: JERK

Was in an elevator in Pittsburgh with Joe Theisman: JERK [should have stuck with the THEESMAN pronunciation]


recurring theme here: maybe it's me!! JERK

Actually had several conversations with Jeff Manto who runs a baseball academy near us, He is now the Pirates hitting coach, but has a share of the record for 4 taters in 4 ABs: Definitely NOT a jerk!! Good guy

quote:

Everyone I tell this story too asks me if we took a picture of the ring....Doh!

Biggerpapi,

Here's your picture!

'83 Orioles ring

I'm kind of a Championship ring collector. I have photos of almost every ring out there.

.
HC....



44

I've known and been around a lot of professional sports types. One interesting conversation I remember.

Having beers after a golf event, my son and I were sitting wtih Eric Dickerson, Seth Joyner, Mychal Thompson and another ex-NBAer Truck Robinson. Dickerson was passing around his just received Hall of Fame ring and the question came up:

Would you rather have a championship ring or a hall of fame ring?

Pretty lively argument. Also pretty revealing about what motivated the guys at the table!

So, let me pose the same question here? Maybe it deserves its own thread!

RK, Post a new thread. I'd love to talk Championship and HOF rings with others here!

Oh here's another one for the "can you top this?" thread.

I once wore Vince Lombardi's first NFL Championship Ring for a full day.

Beat that!

OK it is posted as its own thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Kremer:
Oh here's another one for the "can you top this?" thread.

I once wore Vince Lombardi's first NFL Championship Ring for a full day.

Beat that!

Congrats. That was the first Super Bowl ring ever, the '66 Packers. I just sold a saleman's sample of that ring a few weeks ago. Starr was the name on the ring however, not Lombardi.

For some reason, I've met a lot of music people:
Steve Perry, Joe Walsh, Ted Nugent, Kenny Loggins, Bryan Ferry, Lemmie from Motorhead....and I'm not even in the music business!
My wife got cut off by John Travolta in Santa Barbara and then they got into a fun 'pretend' drag race for a few seconds because of it.

When I was a teenager, went to a Dodger game. I was trying to get Steve Howe's autograph but he wouldn't sign. Ended up in an elevator with Dave Stewart and I think Dennis Eckersley. Had to take it down to the players locker area. Unfortunately, I was too star struck to ask for an autograph but they were nice guys.

Once spent a summer with Don Mattingly when our kids played on the same team in a PONY regional tournament way back when they were 12.

Don was the quintesential father. He knew more about baseball than all the rest of us dads combined. Yet he let the volunteer coaches coach. He was there to support his son and the team never interfering. But then that is Don. To this day he still is the same low key guy.

Redhawk:
Actually it was the 1964 NFL Championship ring, before the Super Bowl existed.

Couple of years back we were waiting to catch a plane home from Orlando. Lots of activity nearby. It turned out LeBron James had just gotten off plane and was signing autographs.

When he was done, I approached him and asked for a picture of him with my 12 year old son. He obliged and was very nice about it.

I almost gave someone else a pseudo-brush with greatness.

We flew to Boston to see the Red Sox play. At lunch on the way to the game, I exited the restroom wearing my Red Sox cap and noticed a table of people were looking at me.

One woman stopped me and asked me if I was Tim Wakefield.

Unfortunatly, she caught me by surprise and I didn't think to say yes and sign fake autographs!

I got to interview a number of NFL & mlb players & coaches as a young reporter. Also, Lenny Kravitz when he was an unknown playing college bars.
Made a sandwich for Tiny Tim & a drink for Clyde Drexler & some other celebs as a young guy.
Coolest brush - Walter Payton was at my wedding for about 30 minutes (wife worked for him) & visited and took lots of photos.
My son was too young to remember him as a player but Payton had a good laugh when son told him he was his best player on Nintendo.

The other day during school Blaine Boyer, pitcher for the Braves, came into the weight room and talked to our football coach. He was a graduate of my high school and he comes up and visits the coaches all the time. He's not exactly the most famous Brave, but its cool to see an MLB player come back and talk to his former coaches and say hey.

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Kremer:
Redhawk:
Actually it was the 1964 NFL Championship ring, before the Super Bowl existed.

OK, but are you sure it wasn't 1961 or 1962 then because Cleveland beat Baltimore in '64 for the NFL Championship and Buffalo beat San Diego for the AFL Championship.

Green Bay did win in '61 and '62. Maybe it was his ring from one of those years. Either way, it's cool to have even held it. I've owned a few real rings and held many others. Many players don't even wear them.

Stan Musial's 1942 ring was stolen from him. Not a ring that can easily be replaced!

Met lots of sports celebrities. Mike Marshal was my son's coach for a summer, Steve Buechelle's son played with my son last summer, Ray Burris is my son's pitching coach.

Did work on Pete Incaviglia's, Larry Brown (Cowboys Super Bowl MVP), Nate Newton, Rolando Blackman (mavericks) houses.

Met Jerry Jones at a Cowboys Training Camp, he let my son wear one of his Super Bowl rings for a picture.

Jeff Fry who played for the Rangers and the Red Sox, met him once, and couldn't get him to shut up

Every sports celeb I've ever met was nice. Guess I've had good luck.

Met Evangeline Lilly from the TV Show LOST on a plane to Hawai'i right after the show started. I didn't know who she was but my wife did. She kept standing up in the aisle waiting to see if anybody noticed she was a celebrity, and when the closest thing she got was my wife pointing her out, she came back and talked to us.

Signed an autograph for us and we didn't ask for it. Super nice lady, and MUCH hotter in person. When I tell the story now with my wife around, I tell it that she was flirting with me.....my wife just laughs and says, No, she was flirting with me.

Got a spin off Papi's post:

I bear a VERY striking resmeblance to Terry Francona. When he was managing the Phils, I would get "the LOOK" all the time. Got lots of free beers, too!! Had a bartender I was friendly with that worked it great - tell a guy at the bar - "Hey, you know who that is down there?" I ended up meeting Francona a couple times - my daughter played basketball and softball against his daughter. First time I went to the other schools gym for b-ball, I climbed the stands, took a seat, and couldn't figure why all these people were looking at me - about four feet away, one row down was Francona - even his wife did a double take - got a picture with him after the game - good egg. [If I can find it, I'll post and let you all decide]. Same game, Troy Vincent came in - his daughter/niece [actual relationship was never quite figured out frm our standpoint]played with Ms Francona. Troy just sat in the stands, eating Burger King and BSing with the fans.

fenway park 1986 world series.got there earley for bp,not many people around. just bought 8 hot dogs and a coke,about 172.50.just finished loading the dogs with mustard .pick up the tray turn around and bumped into reggie jackson,i yell REGGIE go to shake his hand,but my hands are full so i give him a hot dog.priceless.


surprisingly he wasn't a very tall man at all

Just yesterday i was shopping for a gift for valentine's day and I turn and there's Maury Wills. We spent a few minutes chatting and especially about the '62 season when he broke the base stealing record (all very vivid memories for me). He could not have been nicer.

Several years ago I was standing in line at a hot dog stand and next in line was former dodger catcher John roseboro (of the infamous Juan Marichal incident). We ending up eating together. Funniest thing to me was I told him I had to ask him a question. He pauses and laughs and says yeah, about Marichal. And i said no, i asked about a game where a ball went through his mask. He couldn't believe i remembered it, but gave me all the details. GREAT conversation.

Met Steve Garvey at the park one day and he ended up playing catch with my son a few minutes. Very nice guy

Met Frank Robinson at the park one day. MAJOR JERK

Was sitting once a few seats from Dave Winfield at a Clippers basketball game and got to talking, very nice guy.

One of my favorites as a kid was Ernie Banks, also met him at a Clippers game. Could not have been nicer, signed an autograph and chatted for quite awhile.

Alltime greatest though, many moons ago, my grandfather (who was no baseball fan) tells me he's been having lunch with a guy who works part time at the bank across from his shop and the guy seems to have been in baseball and did I ever hear of him. The "guy" was Casey Stengel. I got to meet him, had lunch (I was probably around 13 or so), got an autograph (long ago lost). Unreal.

Living In South Florida we are used ot seeing many players around town, Dolphins, Heat, Panthers. Many times we would be at a game and the parents in the stands were former players, from many different teams. Sons coaches were former players (manny Sangia his fav coach). I had my own promotianal company for years and we worked with may athletes, Dan Marino one of my favorites. I remember one day my son was getting his hair cut and Don Mattingly sat down next to him and my son formed a special Bond with Moises Alou (when he played for Expos) many years ago.
However a few weeks ago I went downtown to get my hair done and while waiting I struck up a conversation with a gentleman about BASkETBALL which turned to baseball. He asked me what team was my favorite and when I told him Clemson because my son played RHP #47, he said "oh are you David Kopp's mom"? That's when I spotted the ring and asked his name, Brian Doyle. I wasn't so much stunned at who I was speaking with but that HE knew of my son!

windmill, was that you at my school on back to school night? Well at least I hope it was Terry! His daughter goes to my highschool and he was there, live-- in person!

And believe it or not he was a regular guy... I was wearing a sweatshirt from my club team and he asked me about baseball... boy was I nervous. And to cap it off he said he'll stop by the field when spring comes around...



SWEET!

gg3

Hey Batter:
I used to chat with Ernie Banks all the time when I was in college, waiting tables at a restaurant he frequented. He was a total prince of a guy. This was early 80's. He was always one of my heroes growing up and I thought it was pretty neat to know him a little.

RedHawk: You may be right... it may not have been 1964. It was his first championship, according to Lombardi's brother, who owned it.

Mariah Carey and I once slept together.

Oh... did I mention we both fell asleep as we sat next to each other on a LA to Newark red eye. I hope I didn’t snore

my inlaws had a home in winterhaven.i am an earley riser so i went to wags for breakfast.its about 545.i'm reading the paper having coffee. i look up to see a couple guys sit at a booth.i look again and it's ted williams.awsome moment for me.i read that ted isn't a people person but i have to get an autogragh.just when i feel i'm ready to try,someone asks him if he would sign something.he pulled a nutty, yelled at the guy told him to leave him alone etc.happy it wasn't me.i later saw him in a crowd of fans at the ball park,push people aside to get to the kid in the wheelchair.did whatever that child wanted.he gained a little more repect from me that day.