Emails in on autographs
The new emails are in, and autographs are the main topic of the day.
Rich: “My first MLB game was at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in 1973 against the Mets. I was 14. It was Willie Mays’ last year. We were in the third-base box seats. My friend and I went to the rail before the game to get his autograph. Willie never came out. With a popcorn box in hand, I acquired an autograph from Duffy Dyer and somebody else whose name I couldn’t read. I probably didn’t know enough to check for his number in the program. That popcorn box didn’t even make it home with me. I have never asked for another autograph. But I also have never forgotten Duffy Dyer. Your story sounded very familiar.”
That’s the point. Autographs are mostly about memories.
Scott: “Just a word on behalf of us 46-year-old autograph seekers. I have been getting signatures since 1994 and have seen and heard it all. For people like Jim Traber who think athletes are doing the right thing by not signing for adults, I would just like to ask them to consider what our motives are? Money? How much money can someone make selling autographs? Nobody is getting rich at this level of autograph seeking. I personally got tired of friends and family buying signatures and later on finding out they were fake. I have to admit there are some people in this hobby that make it tough for guys like myself. For instance, I have seen these autograph crews that come to games and get players to sign, but if a player or players won’t sign I have seen these people get band members or even players on the other team to sign items and then sell them as team-signed items. These are the reason’s I get and sell autographs at age 46. My customers are real fans of the athletes whose signatures I sell. It’s someone who may never have a chance to get that signature. I like to think I give some 10-year-old an item that he or she will be thrilled to have and without my efforts perhaps they never would have had the opportunity. I feel that for the most part these last 15 years I have been patent and respectful to the people I have gotten signatures from. As for the money, I started seeking in Dallas back in 1994 and have never had a year where I have broken even. I would love to hear from you or Traber. Perhaps one of you could convince me to retire.”
Well, I’ll take on that challenge. Selling autographs – buying autographs – is silly. I think Traber’s right on that one. The thrill of an autograph is not HAVING the autograph, it’s GETTING the autograph, in person. What’s the big deal about someone handing you something that someone else signed? Here’s a life lesson. Great possessions don’t come from a store.
Brandon: “I have in my possession a basketball autographed by Oklahoma’s 1988 Final Four team and by Oklahoma’s 2002 Final Four team. The first set of John Hancocks was obtained for me in 1988 by my childhood chum Jason Skurcenski, who by ’88 was my Lambda Chi fraternity brother. I kept the ball all those years, then in the summer of 2002 took it with me to Kelvin Sampson’s annual father-child basketball camp (which I have attended with my son for several years). I’ll never forget how the ’02 players treated the ball with respect; they were honored — some seemed a bit apprehensive — to sign alongside the Kansas City clan. It seems unlikely that Kelvin ever met Andre Wiley, but they are forever linked on this memento. Hollis Price is sandwiched between Harvey Grant and Dave Sieger, while Yo-Yo posts up the Sky King. Michael Bell reminds us he’s the helicopter; Ricky Grace’s scrawl is as amazing as some of his assists. An unobtrusive Ebi Ere sits quietly by himself. In the end, it’s not about the ball or the autographs. It’s about the memories.”
That’s quite a ball. A football signed by the ’55 Sooners and ’75 Sooners, or a basketball signed by Big Country and John Lucas and all their teammates, that’s a nice memento. That’s what makes autographs meaningful.
Ed: “I like autographs. They give me a feeling of having touched history, what you called a connection. Some folks feel it, some don’t. I recall my first time to walk around Boston. I was stunned when I found myself standing by the graves of Ben Franklin’s parents, which for me was similar to an autograph. I don’t have Galileo’s autograph, but it took my breath away to visit the vault in the History of Science collection in OU’s Bizzell Library on the fifth floor. They have a first edition of a book he wrote, and the librarian showed us corrections in the margins, the corrections having been written by Galileo himself. As regards autographs, I prefer seeing the person sign, so I know it is authentic, but even at my age, I wasn’t around to verify Galileo’s having written those corrections himself. I will have to take that one on faith. But I have some interesting ones that I saw signed. And some that I didn’t.”
Can we all agree that the quality of my readers is pretty high, considering a discussion of autographs leads us to the gravesite of Ben Franklin’s parents and a piece of paper bearing Galileo’s words?
Doug: “Besides connecting to the game, getting an autograph is like owning a part of history and you’ll always remember the story behind how you obtained it. Now I don’t consider myself an autograph hound, but I own a few. A shared plane ride with James Garner. All of the OU Heisman Trophy winners except the latest. Billy Vessels from eBay. Billy Sims from one of his events before an OU game. John Blake used to live across the street from me, and one morning I looked out the front window and saw him on his driveway talking with Steve Owens. I had Steve’s ‘starting lineup’ figure, so I took it out to him to sign, which he did. Jason White was at an event for a Blanchard Chevy dealership, so I went and got his autograph and, oh yeah I bought a truck. One day a few years ago I was at a book store looking at a copy of World War II magazine. On the cover was a picture of a Marine fighting on Okinawa. An elderly gentleman came up and asked me if I knew about that battle. I said not much. He replied, ‘You should read about it. I was a member of the 1st Marine Division. I was there.’ I promptly bought that magazine and asked him to autograph it while thanking him for his service. You just never know what an autograph might mean. Now, to complete my Heisman collection, how can I get Sam Bradford’s autograph?”
Oh, I assume Bradford will be around next year, before he has to report to some NFL camp. Probably do some signings. But great story on the Okinawa veteran. That’s an autograph to treasure.
Craig: “I went in Billy Sims’ store on Asp two seasons ago to purchase his jersey. He saw me walking out of the store and yelled at me and asked me if I would like him to sign it. I said sure. My sons are 30 and 28 years old. They were big baseball fans when they were young and we went to the Rangers games several times. They were young kids who had notebooks with baseball cards of their favorite players. I still remember how giddy with anticipation they were while we were heading to the stadium. We arrived early for batting practice, we actually were waiting in the parking lot of where the players parked. Their vehicles were behind a small parking lot with a chain link fence and guards. I will never forget Ruben Sierra pulling up in his red Ferrari and strutting to the door without so much as looking at or acknowledging the kids screaming his name. Raffy Palmeiro pulled in a pickup truck and parked directly in front of us and was literally 10 feet away when he got out of his truck. He told the crowd of about 10 kids he would sign autographs after the game. Mickey Tettleton and Cecil Fielder twice after the game the area they walked out of was roped off and they went straight to a bus. Raffy hid in the clubhouse until everyone but us left. We finally gave up as well. This may sound unbelievable but in three games the boys never got one autograph. They didn’t want to go to a fourth game. Today, as adults, they could care less about baseball. My oldest son takes his son to Redhawks games maybe once a summer. Baseball is a novelty, not a passion. Football is the national passion.”
I know autographs must be a hassle for athletes. But there’s got to be accommodations for the fans, otherwise the connection is lost.
Nate wrote about my mention of ex-Giants outfielder Frank Johnson, who in 1970 became the last player I ever asked for an autograph: “I, too, feel that it is a little strange that a grown man wants a ballplayer’s signature. But you can see the joy it can bring a fan. I thought it was great that you brought the positive and negative effects of autograph seeking from both the fans and players. It really gave a great all around view on the issue. This got me thinking of my Frank Johnson moment. I live in Houston when I’m not in Norman at school. Right before my freshman year I came up with my mom to register for classes. We decided to try and buy books from the former bookstore off Lindsey and Jenkins. And I can still picture the moment, much like you, as if it was now. My mom and I pulled into that parking lot and I told my mom, “That’s Adrian Peterson filling up his car at the gas station right there.’ So I quickly rounded up a pen and sheet of paper and made my way over to the gas pump. As I was about halfway there he got into the car. So I sprinted over to him and he gladly signed my sheet of paper. He was very nice and said thank you to all the comments I gave him. It made my day. I was like a teenage girl at a boy band concert after that and will forever remember that moment. Your article opened my eyes that getting an autograph can really provide a special moment for a fan. And that it may not be as cheesy as I thought after being provided the right perspective.”
Well, I don’t know that Adrian Peterson wants to be compared to Frank Johnson, but I get the drift.
Jon wrote about an autograph rebuff: “I just wanted to tell you how classless and insensitive Bob Stoops came off during the Big 12 Media Days. I was one of the two fans today that Stoops shunned on his way from the convention center to the main lobby. There were exactly two adult fans and one little boy who he raced passed and barely spoke to when spoken to. At least Sam did sign the boy’s football, but when I asked if Sam would sign my jersey that I wore to the BCS game in Miami, Stoops said, “We can’t do that,” whatever that means. I have been a season ticket holder for almost 20 years and followed the team from Miami to Phoenix to Pasadena to support OU in various bowls. OU season tickets are the one area where my wife and I splurge as we both enjoy watching and supporting OU athletics. Not only that, but I took a half day off from work to come out to try and meet Sam, Jermaine and Gerald since they were close to my home. With only three fans seeking autographs, it’s not like it would’ve caused a scene and taken an hour or more to accommodate your supporters. I was shocked at Stoops’ callous attitude and unwillingness to spend five minutes with fans that came out and spent their day just waiting for an opportunity to meet Stoops and the players.”
I certainly think Stoops could have signed for the guy, but this brings the discussion to autograph etiquette. Asking for autographs at strange times can be fruitless. While someone is dining. Or out with their family. Big 12 Media Days? You generally don’t expect to encounter fans there. Maybe Stoops was just thrown off. But that’s still no excuse. He could have signed.
A couple of OSU fans were upset by my column on the lack of an indoor practice facility. Bri wrote: “I used to laugh off my OSU brethren that claimed conspiracy theories about how The Oklahoman had it in for OSU. In fact I usually defended The Oklahoman saying everyone in this state needed to take off their orange and crimson glasses and see that it really was not a bad paper. I have now seen what others are talking about and starting to buy into this theory that some people at your paper just don’t want OSU to look good. Over the past three weeks, you all have misidentified two OSU players in pictures in your paper (one being Perrish Cox, who is a star player). Then someone butchered the ticket sales story saying we were down 8,000 vs. last year. Now I get up prior to church this morning and read about the indoor facility. Tell us something we do not already know. Why tear down the program three weeks prior to kicking off one of the most hopeful seasons in history? Everyone in the state knows OSU does not have an indoor practice facility and needs one. So why would you write an article in the front page about it? Looks to me like maybe I was the one with my head in the sand all of these years when my orange clad friends were claiming conspiracy.”
Well, does the fact that OSU had a practice wiped out the other day by a lightning alert have anything to do with it. Think about it. OSU is about to embark on what could be an historic season, Georgia is the season opener and the Cowboys are trudging off the practice field even though a little more than a year ago the athletic department had over $300 million in a building fund. The OSU hedge fund story is not over-reported. It is under-reported.
Stephen: “Nice Debbie Downer article on OSU. Mr. Smith’s $20 million pledge was to endow MM PLEDGE was to endow the operating costs of an indoor practice facility after it was built. I am sure Holder had some high-powered financial advisors instructing him to stay in the fund. Quit laying this at his feet. We all want the indoor practice facility, and it will happen. We are celebrating the incredible success of Boone Pickens Stadium, but you keep on rehashing old news. Maybe when four sports go on probation under his watch you will start praising him like you do the AD in your neighborhood. Holder is doing an excellent job.”
Actually, Stephen raises a very good point, albeit unintentionally. When will the indoor practice facility happen? It didn’t happen when OSU had $300 million in a building fund, plus the $20 million Smith donated for this specific purpose. So if not then, when?
David asked, “Why no column on Rick Pitino? Don’t you think he is a pretty bad example to his young charges? We could get a pool up on how many of the ten commandments he has broken. Quite a few if you count abortion as murder.”
Maybe I didn’t write about Pitino because a basketball coach acting like a fool no longer has the ability to shock me.
Bob was one of many who wrote about my Special Olympics column on Eunice Kennedy Shriver: “I am a 64-year-old, yellow dog Democrat, Notre Dame grad, avid sports fan who has lived in Oklahoma the majority of my life. As you can imagine, my experience with the media in Oklahoma is usually less than satisfactory, as I listen to our president being called a Nazi and my football team being called a joke. Needless to say I read your paper with a jaundiced eye and have learned to tune out the ‘Total Dominance Hour’ except when the Sooners get beat. But you hit it way out of the park with your wonderful article on Eunice Kennedy Shriver. She truly was a special lady. My hope is that in some small way your column will provide a launching point for the realization that kind and generous people come from both sides of the aisle (politics, religion and sports) in this terribly divided country that we live in today.”
It’s a good thought, my man, but no chance.
Jason just wanted to talk OU football: “I’m glad I saw the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction of Randall McDaniel this weekend. First, because he seems like a classy gentleman. Second, because I found out he was a 225-pound tight end at Arizona State before becoming a two-time All-American at guard. Who knows, maybe Brody (Eldredge) could be a great player at that position.”
I tend to think that all sports teams are better off by getting their best players on the field. Which is how Willie McCovey came to play left field for the Giants in the early ’60s and Ralph Sampson power forward for the Rockets in the ’80s. I’m not saying Brody Eldredge is Willie McCovey, but someone who can block like he can needs to be on the field, even if he shares a roster with fellow tight end Jermaine Gresham.
John asked about Tiger Woods: “Why does Tiger Woods win so much? I asked my wife this and she could care less, but if I could apply what he does in my life, I could do a lot of things better, work and personal. Does he practice more? Does he work out more? Mentally tougher? All the above?”
Excellent question. Tiger Woods found something he was really good at and worked very hard at it. I don’t know if any of us could be the Tiger Woods of something, but we all ought to find something we’re good at and work hard at it.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
I just love to collect autographs from any major sports team. It gets me involved with a team.