In my lifetime, I have met a total of five Yankees, all former. I met every one of them in the last month or so.
First was Bobby Murcer. He was having a book signing for his new one, Yankee for Life. He was friendly, but I also got there pretty late and he seemed a little tired. I mean, he is a cancer patient, so doing the signing was pretty cool of him. That was a freakishly long line, too.
Next, three in the same day. Graig Nettles, Ron Guidry, and Don Mattingly all sat at their respective tables and signed balls and photos while that day’s Yankee game played on an enormous TV behind and above Mattingly. I spent the few minutes left waiting on line in the room before getting autographs watching the game in awe- I have never seen a TV so huge. Those were larger than life-size baseball players.
Nettles and Guidry seemed a little grumpy, since most people chose to just pay for Mattingly’s autograph instead of all three, but they were nice enough when I went over. Mattingly was just plain friendly, and my dad and I ended up having a conversation with him about horses, my other love. Apparently poor Donnie is down to five horses now (pity), but he seems to think it’s for the best, since horses are a pretty big responsibility. It seems like the Mattinglys own Saddlebreds and the youngest son is the rider.
Last, just yesterday, was Yogi Berra. This time we got there a good 45 minutes early, which meant we got to meet Yogi pretty early in the signing but also that we had to stand outside in the heat for a good amount of time. Oh well. The guy on line before us seemed to be an avid collector of baseball memorabilia and, based on the conversation he was having with his dad, seemed slightly obsessive about authenticating autographs he’d gotten himself. Okay. If you’re selling the stuff, whatever, people want to be sure it’s real. But personally, if I’m keeping that memorabilia, I don’t need to prove to other people that it’s real. Isn’t it good enough that you got to meet a famous baseball player and get something signed by him just for you? I think just having that memory is a whole lot cooler than having an official, shiny sticker to put on whatever you got signed.
So, that guy needed to take out all kinds of papers and forms and things and make the whole autographing thing official before he left. I basically stepped up, got the book (You Can Observe a Lot By Watching) signed, said hi, and left. I’m pretty sure Yogi said, “Hi, Dear,” to me. Or at least I’m sure enough that I’ve been telling everyone about it all day.
Next game: 7 days
Possible historic moments: Jeter’s 200th homer
Missed historic moments: Griffey’s 600th (My next game is a Reds game.)
