Brush With Greatness

GG-3 - don't think that was me at Back to School night - but I do get to Boston area [Marlborough] a couple times a year - have managed to get "The Look" there a couple. times too. He is a pretty regular guy. That must be his younger daughter Leah - she is good - his other daughter garduated in June - oustanding player - forget where she is going. They waited for her to graduate before moving.

quote:

Originally posted by windmill:
Tried to talk to Johnny Bench in the Cincy airport one time: JERK

Met him twice - have to agree - a REAL JERK!

Met Jim Eisenreich when he was with the Phillies. Actually he agreed to a meeting with my son (then 9yo) as both have Tourette Syndrome and Eisenreich does a lot of work with TS kids - super nice guy, posed for picture, signed baseball, and talked to my boy about dealing with TS. And all this in the locker room at Riverfront when they were playing the Reds. It tooks weeks for son to come down from that high.

You hear a lot about the JERKS, but there are many good guys out there too.

That is a very nice story topdogfan

I would think most have run across celebrities at one time or another. When I was a kid, it meant alot to me. Now I try and respect other people's privacy. As a teenager, we snuck into a radio station and met Lyle Alzado who was very gracious and kind with us. I'll never forget the images of him years later when he was near death from brain cancer.

From my limited interaction with him while waiting for a cab in Seattle, the previous descriptions of Joe Theisman appear to be accurate. The guy I always thought would be cool to meet was Bob Hope. He just seemed like he would be as nice in private as he appeared in public.

I have to disagree on Bench. I had the opportunity to be a batboy in a spring game back in 1971, and Bench was most gracious. Tommy Helms was really nice, but SPARKY (who signed his name "George" back then), was the BEST..

The next year (1972), I go to do the same for the Cardinals, Lou Brock and Ken Boyer were classy guys, sitting next to the 11 year old with many questions and stars in his eyes. Thank heaven for the old Super 8 movies.

Windmill-- The older daughter is playing softball at UNC... thats what Leah told me. Supposedly shes an outstanding player too-- she was going to try out for the baseball team... but recently she told me she's sticking to softball... haha I was worried about my job for a minute!

gg3

I have stopped a couple of the Angel players for very minor traffic violations. Great guys, no attitude. Was at my sons baseball practice a few weeks ago and looked over at the dad to my right to see Jim Tracy who has a son on the varsity, mine is on the freshman. He seemed nice and spoke with several other parents.

I work for one of the largest sports memorabilia suppliers in the country and rub elbows with athletes all of the time. I photograph them while signing for authenticity. my son has been to Ken Griffey's house. I've met Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Fergie Jenkins, Lou Piniella, Reggie Jackson, Dr. J, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Vince Carter, Dan Marino, Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, too, too many to mention. Overall, in my atmosphere, they are all great (we are paying them).

I guess as I look back I have been very fortunate to meet a few great ones.

1) Brooks Robinson, Gayle Sayers & Bobby Orr - hosted a golf outing that they were a featured guest. Good guys, especially Brooks
2) Joe Morgan - flew with him as he was going to San Fran to do announce a ball game.
3) Ted Williams - ate breakfast next to him at a hotel was speaking at or do a card show (we didn't bother him)
4) Pat Riley - meet him at corporate event (great speaker)
5) Pete Rose - Not a nice man, ran us out of a batting cage so his son could hit.(20 years ago)
6) My Dad - Nice man, always made time to have a catch.

quote:

6) My Dad - Nice man, always made time to have a catch.

jerseydad - nice post I hope my kids feel the same way.

Pretty embarressing. My firends dad does Pro-Am golf tournaments locally, and out of luck I happened to see him while eating breakfast at a local diner. He happened to be with John Antonelli (sp), a local great who pitched for the Giants in the '54 World Series (I think), he also went to school with my grandpa. I immediately set my eyes on his series championship ring, and asked him if I could put it on. He saw no harm in it, so he let me for a gradn total of about a half a second. Not because he wanted it back, but because I was very unaware to the weight of the ring and that diamonds had some weight behind them, and thus the ring fell right off my finger and scampered across the table. Pretty humuliating to say the least, he thought it was pretty funny though.

Of the various athletes I've met over the years, a couple memories stand out in particular.

Back in the mid-80's I was working for a construction company. My boss was close friends with the Sax family, and asked if I'd mind taking him and Steve Sax duck hunting. We go out, and Steve is a total bundle of energy, can't sit still. We have some birds decoying toward us, and my boss has to hold Steve down by his belt so that he won't jump up too early. When I said "go", we began shooting and I missed my first shot. Before I could shoot again, Steve shoots my bird. I swung to get the other bird, but it was already on the water too. I couldn't believe how quick he was, and such an accurate shot. A few minutes later, after I'd retrieved the birds, he was looking at them and talking about how cool they looked. I didn't get what the big deal was, so he told me those were the very first ducks he'd ever taken. It was his very first time duck hunting in his life. Amazing hand-eye coordination. His brother Dave is also a good guy and pretty good shot himself. One thing that was kinda funny and scary was when Steve signed with the Yankees, there was a clause in his contract that said he couldn't hunt or he risked having his contract voided if he was injured while engaged in a prohibited activity. When I asked what he thought about that, he just said he'd better not get get hurt while out in the duck blind.

Another neat experience was doing a home loan for Stu Miller. Being a long time Giants fan (what the heck was I doing taking a Dodger duck hunting, anyway??) it was nice to meet such a gentleman. For those who don't remember the oldtimers, Mr. Miller was a pitcher for the New York and then San Francisco Giants. Perhaps his greatest claim to fame was being blown off the mound while pitching at Candlestick Park. He is a very gracious gentleman whom a lot of modern day players could learn a few lessons from. Of course, there are probably very few modern players who've ever heard of Stu Miller, or most of his teammates either, other than Willie Mays.

Reviving this thread after 7 years because there are cool stories here.

 

Yesterday, I had a brush with greatness at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport with Terry Francona.  I was walking along in the C terminal and there he was.   My favorite MLB manager EVER.  I've read his book and followed his career so I know just enough about him to start some small talk about the Indians and his two championships in Boston.  He was very cordial,  shook my hand and wished me well.  He was taller than I thought, and wasn't walking with a limp as you sometimes see on TV or at games.  

 

As you would expect, he is very high on the Indians chances in 2015.  I wasn't going to disagree.

I've had a few, but my favorite story has to do with a feuax brush with greatness. When I lived in Atlanta in the late 90's my wife had a friend whose husband was a dead ringer for John Smoltz. I mean you couldn't tell them apart. We'd go out to dinner with them a lot and people would constantly ask for autographs. When he would tell them he wasn't Smoltz people would get downright nasty about it to the point that the real Smoltz was probably getting a bad rep around town. After quite a bit of this, he actually just started signing autographs and taking pictures with people because he was tired of being cursed out by outraged people who thought Smoltz was just being a big *^&%. So, if you have a picture taken in public with John Smoltz or an autograph yopu got at the mall or in a restaurant...maybe you don't.

A few tales:

 

I think it was in 1998, I took the family to Disney World in March.  Took the kids out of school so we could see a Braves pre-season game while we were at it.  We saw one of the parks each day.  The day before we were scheduled to see that game was our day at the Magic Kingdom.  If you've ever been there, you know you park on one side of the reservoir, then you ride a tram over a causeway to the park entrance.  The parking setup is a well oiled machine, so you pull in and other people pull in beside you, one after the other.  We parked and got out of our car, and as we were gathering, I saw Javy Lopez (then the Braves' catcher) pull in about 3 cars down.  I did a "psst!" to my wife to get her attention and she immediately went apopleptic.  She always thought Javy was about the hottest man she'd ever seen, so I thought she was going to have a conniption being that close to him.  Of course Javy's wife also emerged, carrying a very young child.  We encouraged Midlo Son (then 8) to go over and introduce himself, but suddenly he was terrified.  I finally walked him over and Javy couldn't have been nicer.  I was struck with surprise to see he was, like 6'4", which I had never realized.  So I'm looking up at him and when I look down, my son is dumbstruck and shaking.  Javy tried to break the ice; noticing that my son was wearing an Orioles shirt, he said, "Hey man, you got the wrong shirt on!"  I explained that we were coming to see him play the next day, so the Braves shirt was being saved for the big day.  We parted, son still unable to speak.  I think he got to where he could nod a bit. 

 

My wife spent the entire tram ride trying to sneak photos of Javy and his family.

I was at Jupiter one year, and found myself behind the backstop with all the RADAR gun guys on the main Blue quad.  The kid we were watching was running 89-91.  I heard a voice with a thick Latino accent expressing disbelief.  Someone said, "This is nothing, I've seen guys throwing 94-96 at this event."  The reply came, "No way!  Any kid throwing that hard has to be on the juice!"  I started to turn to protest, but found everyone just laughing, because it was just Ozzie Guillen being Ozzie Guillen, not to be taken seriously.

My few chance encounters with famous ballplayers are unremarkable, so I'll share one that's not sports related.

 

When I was stationed in Puerto Rico with the Coast Guard, the Miss Universe pageant was held in San Juan, and the promoters wanted to do a photo shoot with the contestants aboard one of our cutters. 

 

The young ladies showed up wearing long dresses with high heels--completely unsuitable for climbing the ladders leading to where they needed to be for the pictures.  Ever the gentleman, I carried several of them up to their places, a task I found to be neither unpleasant nor difficult, since none of those tiny women weighed more than a small sack of potatoes. 

 

As a reward for my gallantry, I was invited into a group shot with about a dozen of the contestants, and the picture appeared in our base newspaper the next week.

 

That was when I found out that when your wife asks, "Why are you standing with your arm around Miss USA?" the correct answer is not, "Well, she put her arm around me first!"

Selfie pregame photo bomb with Peter Gammons last summer, if that counts.

 

 

 

I've had the opportunity to meet or know many famous athletes, most of them in baseball.  They are just like the rest of us, some good, some bad, and some ugly.

 

Two people I've never talked to that would be most interesting are Lebron James and Mohammad Ali. With our Nike partnership there is still a chance I might meet Lebron. I know there are Lebron lovers and Lebron haters, but the guy fascinates me.  Not just his obvious skill set and athleticism, but his over all outlook on things. Plus I've heard about the many things he does to help children without any fanfare.

 

My first pro athlete encounter was when a friend and I sneaked into the visitors locker room at the old Boston Garden. We were fourteen. A friend, who was the visitors ball boy left the door unlocked. I spent fifteen minutes talking to Oscar Robertson before getting tossed out at Lew Alcindor's request. 

 

From living in the LA area for a long time (Redondo Beach and Oak Park/North Ranch) I met plenty of athletes and entertainers. Some of them lived in the same neighborhood or town. Plus I flew a lot. Thinking back it's surprising how many I met living in the Philadelphia area. Then there were the MLBers and NFL players I knew from playing with and against them growing up.

 

The most polite athlete I met was Dale Murphy. By chance I sat down next to him at the counter in a restaurant in San Diego. We talked mostly about west coast college basketball and football.

 

Harry Callas (former Phillies and Astros announcer) used to hang out in a local bar. When some drunk got tossed for rude behavior he did the play by play. As the guy was shoved out the door Callas called, "That baby's outtah here."

 

In 2011 I met Zdano Chara as he was strolling the Stanley Cup around Boston in his kid's stroller.

 

The best looking athlete I met was Heather Mitts (USA Soccer). She was a neighbor when she played women's pro soccer for Philadelphia.

My son and I where waiting for a shuttle bus at LAX a few years ago.  We where on our way to a showcase so my son was holding his glove.  This gentlemen comes up and starts a conversation with my son then asks if hes ever seen a world series ring.  He then pulls his off his finger and hands it to my son.  It was an A's ring but the funny thing is this man never said who he was other than that he played outfield for the A's a number of years ago.  

Back in the sixties, my little brother and I played LL BB at a field that was next to the local CC. Across the street was the college field called Stengel Field. Flash forward to HS. My brother is a junior pitcher on Varsity. The senior starter got sick, coach tells my brother he's going to start. I get to see my little brother throw a no hitter. After the game, my brother comes up to me and says " did you see Casey Stengel sitting in the stands behind home plate". Doh!

I wonder if he found it at a pawn shop?  

When son was with the Cardinals he got to sit in the dug out with Whitey Herzog and Bob Gibson. Not to mention a few other great encounters he has had since he began playing baseball.

These folks are regular guys just like everyone else.

 

 

Had the opportunity to sit in a box with Roger Clemens, also met Nolan Ryan.  Sat next to Mr. Baseball (Bob Uecker) on a plane from Phoenix....funny guy!!  BFS, Jr.'s summer coach is Jeff Kent (his kid is on same team with Jr.)...also had a few adult beverages with Bobby Knight.

I have a good one. One night my neighbor introduced my husband and I to his brother, we started talking baseball, he was from Puerto Rico, and we were telling him how son was there playing for the winter season. He mentioned that he knew the guy who was the GM for sons team which somehow lead do  talking about  golf, it then  dawned on my husband it was ChiChi Rodriquez. I had no clue who that was.

Anyway, talk about a guy who has had a brush with greatness. He played in PR with lots of famous guys, and he was very good friends with Clemente, as well as  some of the famous golf players of our time.

We sat there for hours, fascinating stuff, never to be repeated!!!!!

I have been very fortunate in this regard, I guess, as my job for quite a while put me in lots of lunches, dinners, meet & greets, shows, athletic events, fantasy camps, golf outings, etc. with a very long list of high profile athletes.  It was sort of wasted on me, though, as I am the last person in the world to put celebs on a pedestal of any sort.  The only time I would get excited is when one of my kids got to meet some one and their eyes lit up.

 

Some highlights would be a lunch with Rod Laver who told incredibly interesting stories about the pro tennis circuit in it's infancy, spending an evening at a Vegas show with Michele Smith (one of the most genuine I've met), breaking a bat hitting against Vida Blue, having Ozzie Smith's security crew track my son down after he gave an induction speech, having Ben Crenshaw shake my other son's hand when I was carrying him in a baby sling,  and my wife and I taking the same elevator with Kareem Jabbar at an NBA All-Star game event. I was in a dugout full of baseball old-timer HOFers.  I passed on presenting Barry Bonds with a Gold Glove because it was on my wife's birthday.  That one used to mean a lot more when I held it over her head.

 

 

Several years ago we were headed to a Travel Baseball Tournament and passed by a small airport on our way. My son was about 10 or 11 at the time. I saw several Mitchell B-25's sitting on the tarmac. I pulled over and we walked out to check out the planes. When we were about to leave a couple of SUV's pulled out next to the plane. Four elderly gentlemen got out and began to walk out to the planes. My son and I walked with them and they spoke to my son about the planes and were very nice to him. They were 4 of the last few remaining Doolittle Raiders (only three left as of this week..the gentleman that just passed was one of them). It was really emotional to watch them walk around the aircraft, touch them and even talk to them. I am not embarrassed to say that it brought tears to my eyes! My son still talks about meeting those guys! My son and I both shook each of their hands and thanked them for everything they had done.      

Funniest encounter I've had was at Pinehurst.  The Tuesday after US open was hosted at #2 (1999, Payne Stewart year).  Group of us were on a week long guys golf trip and three of us ventured into the pro shop, checking out the US open gear.  Only one other person in there with us.  He was looking at the hats that were on a wall display.  My buddy is about 6'2" and reached over the short black gentleman that was in front on him also looking at the hats with his back to us.  As my buddy basically armpits the guys head, I recognize that it's Joe Morgan.  Hilarious.  Joe chuckled about it and tells us he just finished a round with Michael Jordan.  Sure enough, about two minutes later, MJ strolls in, so the five of us chatting in the pro shop.  MJ was in a good mood as he'd won Joe's money that day.

 

Still pales to my single greatest brush with fame.  In Houston Marriott in 1990.  I get in elevator on 2nd floor going up and hop on with one other person.....Joe DiMaggio.  Very nice and polite.  He always was and still is my all time favorite.  Only time in my life I was truly star struck. Chatted between floors.  A brief moment I'll never forget.

I have a few.

 

Early 80s,sat next to Al Oliver at the counter of the Pampano Beach Howard Johnsons.

 

Road an elevator with Justice Scalia.  Pretty normal guy.  Funny as hell. 

 

Watched Payne Stewart sign countless autographs at the Western Open.  He was awesome.  Many other players sprinted away when they were done with their round.  Payne stayed till everyone was taken care of.  Even when driving off, if some came up he stopped the cart and took care of them.  He signed one for a little girl who walked away and said "Wow, I got Payne Stewarts autograph.  It's not Tiger Woods though."  Mother was horrified.  Payne smiled, laughed and said "Good luck getting his autograph."   

 

Finally, we where at a White Sox game.  Watching BP.  The kids where getting whatever autographs they could.  Some players briefly obliged.  Others did not.  From out of nowhere, Josh Hamilton (visiting Tex team) walks up and engages the kids.  Signed everything and took pictures.  It was nice. 

I've met a few, but the one I cherrish the most is the night my friend and I drank the whole night with Pele at the Stephen Talkhouse in East Hampton, NY... What an AWESOME dude!

My son and I used go to Arizona for spring training( until high school ball). He actually got to play catch with Ron Washington and Michael Young. The following year he was asked to pick up balls in the cages with Vlad,Josh Hamilton, Chris Davis and Taylor Teagarden. My memory card in my camera was full, so I was only able to take 3 pictures of him in the cages...

We took our boys to Atlanta for vacation one summer (not realizing at the time that we would later spend "vacation" there for three straight years doing PG events).  Of course, going to a Braves game and touring the stadium were on the agenda (we wound up going to 3 games....different story there).  As I was reading the paper I told my boys that  it was Bobble Head night....some guy named Warren Spahn.  We toured the stadium earlier that day before the game, and in the parking lot leaving my husband jerks the car into a 180 degree turn and starts following a truck.  It was the truck carrying the statue of Spahn that they were about to erect.  We stuck around to watch and got to see Spahn (and actually meet the sculpter).

 

In our town, we have a pro player that played locally but retired from the Red Sox organization at retirement age, staying on to manage, and later office work.  My older son got to interview him (I got to go since he couldn't drive at age 12) for a school project and son got to wear 4 of his 5 world series rings for a photo op.  He signs a baseball card for him, gives him some token trinkets, and tells of times with Ted Williams.  Later, the fellow was "featured" on son's ESPN day-of-the-week calendar for doing some bizzar play that lost the game.   Oh well.

 

Several "one on One" special stories.

 

Talking hitting with Edgar Martinez in the Seattle Stadium; discussing Ted Williams with Lefty Gomez and Charlie Silveria; coaching strategy with Tommy LaSorda; promotion for my Tire business with Willie Mays and visiting with Sam Jones [who I coached in the US Army] for 13 years when he played on the Boston Celtics.

 

Bob

 

When I was younger I workout at a major hotel and met a few guys during the winter meetings.  Lasorda was a butthole, Took George Steinbenner and wife to their room.  Met Doug Williams when he was with the Redskins.  My youngest son used to play on Steve McNairs youth baseball team.... Played a round of golf behind Bobby Knight once.  Talked  to John Smoltz once back in the Braves days...... Talked to Gary Player about a horse he was selling.... strange convo.  talked to Kris Kristofferson a while back...  oh but the coolest guy ever was Bill Hornbuckle... VP of the Mirage at the time. everything he has was the best money could buy

 

 

Had dinner one night with Raul Ibonez by mistake, bumbed into a friend who was with him. Interesting man.

Probably my best was meeting Bernie Federko at the airport.  NHL hall of famer for the Blues.  Probably doesnt register too big around here, but it was to me as he was active at the time and I was a high schooler, so it was cool.

 

My wife had a good one. She actually is a huge baseball fan.  We were at a cousin's wedding in downtown St Louis.  It was at one of the better hotels in town so we got a room for the night.  Anyway, before the reception, I had to use the bathroom, and she ran up to the room for something.  So I go to the main elevator area on the first floor to wait for her.  I'm just daydreaming or whatever, and hear the ping of an elevator door.  Door opens and I hear my wife say "have a nice weekend" or something nice like that.  I look up and see her get off and say "Barry Bonds??"  As the door shuts and he flashes me a huge grin.  My wife turns around really fast and says "Barry Bonds?  I didnt even recognize him out of uniform"  The Giants were in town and staying at our hotel.  She rode down the elevator with Barry Bonds, talked to him the whole way, and had no clue who it was. But I'm sure he enjoyed the moment of having a conversation with somebody and not hounding him about autographs or baseball in general.

Mizzoubb,

 

My friend has a similar story. They are staying in a hotel in Santa Barbara and his wife says she is going to go down to pool and hot tub to loosen up her back before they go to dinner. She is down there for 45 mins and comes back and they get ready and go down to eat at the hotel restaurant. She is sitting there with her husband and Pat Riley (at the time the Lakers head coach) comes over to their table and says "hi, nice to see you again how you doing, etc", and they talk small talk after she introduces her husband, who is sitting their wide eyed. Her husband asked where she met him and she said "Oh we met in the hot tub and talked for a while, he said "he was here on basketball business" seems like a very nice guy......she had no idea who he was.

My son spent three summers playing with sons of Roger Clemens, Woody Williams, and Craig Biggio.  Needless to say we had some great times.  Roger had a hard time being a dad.  Too many people hounding him all the time.  Craig and Woody are some of the classiest guys you would ever meet.  I played with Woody in summer ball during our college years and he hasn't changed a bit.  Craig was so down to earth, my kids never even asked him for an autograph.  He stayed in the same Hotels we did, ate the same food, etc.  He just wants to be a normal dad watching his kids.  Several times he would say to me, "Let's talk about something important."  That was deer hunting.  He got tired of answering stupid questions like, "You ever get hit by a pitch that really hurt?"  His reply was 'It hurt every time.  Let me throw a 95 fastball off your ribcage.'  But just took it all in stride and laughed every time.  I have the utmost respect for those guys.  They threw BP to the kids before games for three summers, even going so far as to let my younger kid get in and get some hacks after every BP session.  Craig is now a Hall of Famer but he is still Cavan's Dad to my kids. 

That would have been a great conversation for me. Edgar is the guy who my son matched up withon the right view pro...he has spent hours looking at his swing overlayed with Martinez.

Old School;

yes we had a very interesting discussion. One hour later we meet the Mariners film director. I mentioned that he should have filmed our interview.

Edgar was in his shorts and we meet in the Mariners gym. We discussed his hitting philosophy - going deep in the count and then [inside out with 2 strikes] except for one pitcher. Which one, I asked - "Roger Clements", because of the split finger. Edgar goes for 1st fast ball. "It is a game of adjustments".

 

Because of the DH, he can access the film room under the stadium and study his last AB. He swings left handed off the tee for muscle memory. In Spring Training we visited again as he "cranked" the pitching machine to 100 MPH for tracking only. Ichiro was swinging.

 

The purpose of my visit to Seattle was to coordinate the 1st Pro team for a trip to Beijing, PRC. The Everett Class A team made the trip a few months later.

Bob