As a grown man, I still enjoy the autographs I collected as a youngster, but no longer seek out new autographs to add to my collection. What I enjoy are the memories of interacting with my favorite Mets ballplayer.
I’m going to start with an autograph that I did not obtain in person, but is my favorite collecting story to share and is therefore my my favored autograph:
Gary Carter was one of the first ballplayers to request money for an autograph. Personally content with his contract, he asked the autograph seeker to donate $25 towards Leukemia Research, a disease his mother had passed away from while Gary was only 12 years old. Gary had been a favorite of mine even before he joined the Mets, so I was really overjoyed as a youngster when the Mets traded Hubie Brooks, Floyd Youmans, Mike Fitzgerald, and Herm Winningham.
Frequently booed during the 1988 season during a long slump, I wrote a letter to the Shea Stadium addressed to Carter explaining that he was my favorite player, that it was unfair for him to be booed at home, how I knew he would come out of the slump, and fans should just remember all of the great hits he had had with the Mets.
I concluded that while most letter writers would be seeking an autograph, I was not as $25 was an awful lot of money for a teenager earning a $3.35 per hour in a part-time job, but I understood why he requested money, and I completely understood that I would not hear back from him.
As a testament to the type of person Gary Carter was, I did hear back from him. While I did write to many Mets players that season seeking autographs and enclosing cards and SASE and heard back from only a few, Gary hand-wrote the envelope shown above, having obtained my address from the return address label, and enclosed his own baseball card that he autographed, as well as the pamphlet on being a Christian ballplayer and a member of Pro Athletes Outreach. Gary Carter, great ballplayer and better man.
The autograph below is not from a Met, but it is signed on a Mets ball, and it was obtained in person at Shea Stadium. The last home game of the magical 1986 season was on October 5 and our uncle gave my kid brother and I two box seats to the game that were directly behind the visiting team’s dugout.
Prior to the game, several Pirates were signing autographs for fans around the dugout, their young center fielder included. While batting only about .230 and with a mere 16 home runs coming into the game, his game was built around speed. Several other autograph seekers crowded around us and the player stood there taking balls and card thrown from the stands and then returning them in kind.
My brother and I were both frozen out as more vocal, brazen fans kept cutting the line or throwing over my head to the player. My brother went off when another Pirate player emerged from the dugout a little ways off, but I thought this kid had a bright baseball future and I wanted an autograph.
After a good 20 minutes of being first in line and him not signing, I yelled, as I had heard others do, “Hey Barry” and rolled the ball across the dugout to him. He took it and rolled it back to me without signing and took a picture from a loud behemoth behind me who yelled the exact same thing I had but had not been waiting for 20 minutes like I had. I was upset, disappointed and probably had a very angry look on my face as my brother returned with his signed ball.
However, my persistence and patience were rewarded as the Pirates player then asked me for the ball, autographed it and rolled it back across the dugout roof. I had just obtained Barry Bonds‘ autograph. My brother then asked me who #88 was for the Pirates in the program and when I looked it up, even with September roster expansion, there was no #88 for the Pirates. A closer examination of my kid brother’s ball revealed that he had just obtained the autograph of the Pirates Batboy, and the 88 was really a “BB”……..brothers
The next autographed card story I wanted to share is an autographed card of Ron Darling, who before he was a Mets announcer, was an outstanding Mets hurler, playing the Matlack to Gooden’s Seaver. The card below was signed by Darling after his playing days at a fundraiser at a local synagogue. I actually was not there to receive the autograph in person as I was home sick, but a great friend Doug was, and he obtained multiple autographs, including the one below for me.
Looking at the card above, I am reminded of how good a pitcher Ron Darling was only after I remember how good a friend Doug was.
Speaking of memories, younger Mets fans and MMO readers may not recall how good a shortstop Bud Harrelson was. The Ozzie Smith of the 1960-70s, Harelson led the league in assists three times, fielding percentage at short multiple times, was a two-time All Star and even received down-ballot MVP votes three times during his career despite being a .236 man with the stick in his hand.
Harrelson stayed active in the community in many ways, including being long-time manager of the Long Island Ducks, an independent team on Long Island. It was several seasons ago at a Ducks game that Harrelson autographed the card below for my son. The fact that my son was attending the game in diapers seemed irrelevant.
Someday, once he’s old enough, I’ll sit him down to bestow the card and share tales of Harrelson manning short for the Mets.
Do you have a favorite Mets autograph and story of how you obtained it? In the comments section, please add a picture of your favorite Mets autograph and share the story of how you obtained the autograph. If more than one or the story is too long for a short comment, consider submitting a FanShot from the home menu.
See you at Citi. Lets Go Mets!
