Gene, Many, many years ago, when I first moved to Florida from Utah, of all places, I went to all of the spring training baseball sights around the state in my attempt to get players to sign their baseball cards & other stuff. Miami had the Orioles, Ft. Lauderdale had the Yankees, Pompano had the Rangers, etc. I could get current players, coaches & former players who were visiting Florida for the winter. Most of the players would sign their cards as well as cereal boxes, bats, balls, jerseys, & display ads. I got Cal Ripken to sign a chicken box lid from a fried chicken joint in Baltimore, which a friend sent me. I would also get autographs at golf tournaments. In one day I got Mantle, Rizzuto, Maris, Skowron, Berra, Sain, Turley, Bauer, as well as Joe DiMaggio. They were all laid back, but things have changed during the years. Teams have moved on & players are reluctant to sign for adults, which I understand. If I go to a spring training game, I now take the sheet music to "Take Me Out to The Ball Game" which the players love to sign. I have Yankees on one copy, both outside & between the notes on the inside. Whenever I see Phil Linz, he always asks for a copy of the music which he gets signed for himself as well as for me from "difficult" players who don't usually sign. I get a real kick & now have 30 to 40 copies of the sheet music signed. Just thought I'd share an experience. As Barney says, "Sharing is caring".
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