Francessa says

Unfortunately I went to a show in Richmond, VA several years ago. One autograph I thought I wanted was Alex Rodriquez. As I handed the baseball to one of his assistants I asked Alex, " Could you please add your number to the baseball?" Lo and behold, he rolled the baseball back to me as his assistant claimed he only signs his name. I looked at Rodriquez and said, " Can't he talk?" Never looked up once. Creep, creep and loser.
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Problem is money goes to some people heads. Its called character. .Being humble Hope they keep him out of the HALL..
 
Met Dwight Gooden recently and he was a really friendly guy.
 
Not sure you ever got the chance to meet him Beast, but my dad did some business with Elston Howard way back when and said he was the nicest guy you could ever meet. I have his autograph and a nice note from him somewhere in my parents' basement.
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I never met Howard, but wish I had, as he was said to be a fine man and a gentleman. I've met a fair number of former star athletes, most recently Starks and Frazier at the SJU Lapchick event. Both were polite and signed birthday greetings on photos I brought along as a gift to my son.

It's amazing but some guys totally forget that it is the fans in the aggregate that have made them rich. Without fans, there are no stadiums, no TV contracts, commercial endorsements. Athletes don't owe the fans anything per se, as some rude fans seem to think, BUT some athletes act like they can't be bothered. Without all that comes along with being a star, they are just guys who can hit jump shots, or crush a baseball.

If I have the energy, I'll tell you about my interaction with Willis Reed, which is pretty incredible on the negative side.
 
I have a great amount of memorabilia including autographs from Koufax, Brooks Robinson, Chipper Jones, Mantle, Gretsky, Aaron, Matthews, Greg Maddux, Gwynn, Brees, Clemens, Di Maggio, Ripken, Musial, Kent, Brogna, Peyton Manning, Franco, Montana, and Rice - these were in person. Brogna observed my St.John's shirt and was disappointed that political correctness was responsible for changing our name.
Those above were the good guys, now for the phonies. Dick Schmidt ( a guy in front of me asked him to put his homerun numbers on the ball ) Schmidt yelled, "Do it yourself." Mr. Personality on TV, Emmitt Smith was another Rodriquez. Mays wouldn't allow a family to take his picture. A complete opposite at the autograph show was Stan Musial. After telling Mr. Musial how much I enjoyed watching him at Ebbets Field, despite the crowd behind me he went on to tell me a story about shifting to first base at E. F. and never ever going back to the outfield. I asked him if he would sign Stan the Man Musial. His reply," I'll sign anything you want." He also put his Hall of Fame date (69), and hits (3630). My kind of guy.
 
I have a great amount of memorabilia including autographs from Koufax, Brooks Robinson, Chipper Jones, Mantle, Gretsky, Aaron, Matthews, Greg Maddux, Gwynn, Brees, Clemens, Di Maggio, Ripken, Musial, Kent, Brogna, Peyton Manning, Franco, Montana, and Rice - these were in person. Brogna observed my St.John's shirt and was disappointed that political correctness was responsible for changing our name.
Those above were the good guys, now for the phonies. Dick Schmidt ( a guy in front of me asked him to put his homerun numbers on the ball ) Schmidt yelled, "Do it yourself." Mr. Personality on TV, Emmitt Smith was another Rodriquez. Mays wouldn't allow a family to take his picture. A complete opposite at the autograph show was Stan Musial. After telling Mr. Musial how much I enjoyed watching him at Ebbets Field, despite the crowd behind me he went on to tell me a story about shifting to first base at E. F. and never ever going back to the outfield. I asked him if he would sign Stan the Man Musial. His reply," I'll sign anything you want." He also put his Hall of Fame date (69), and hits (3630). My kind of guy.
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Interesting...I have a ton of sports memorabilia also, so it's interesting hearing how these guys really are in person. Not to get off topic so I apologize, but I'll throw some out there too: I met Curtis Martin in 2003 at training camp at Hofstra and he signed anything I wanted with his number and all, even gladly posed for a few pictures. As other players ran to the locker room, he stayed out and made sure everyone got what they wanted. Just a true gentlemen, they don't get much better than him. Wayne Chrebet was another great guy. Got him to sign a few things when I was younger at Bob's (clothing store) and spoke with him for a minute...very sincere and down to earth. Sam Garnes (played Safety) is another player who came over in '03 at Hofstra and I asked him, "Mr. Garnes, can I have your wristband if you aren't using it for a game?". He told me to stay there and he would be right back. When he returned he signed my helmet and threw me and a friend a wristband...he went back to get one for my friend so he didn't leave empty handed. Me and my friend slapped hands all giddy we just got a man's sweaty wristband (we were 14). Me and my friend also emailed Scott Kazmir's mother back when he was in the minors and asked if he would be able to sign 2 pictures and mail them. She was extremely friendly and eventually she came through for us sending 2 personal pictures of him gripping a baseball signed by Scott.

And ontop of that, I'm going to send a letter to Dan Marino one of these days, because believe it or not he is my 3rd or 4th cousin. How do I know? A family tree my grandmother gave me made in 1984. His great grandfather was brothers with my great grandfather. Anyway, I think it would be cool to send him a copy to prove the relation and hey maybe we can have a catch and a signed 8x10 wouldn't hurt either even though he tormented me as a Jets fan growing up!
 
I have a great amount of memorabilia including autographs from Koufax, Brooks Robinson, Chipper Jones, Mantle, Gretsky, Aaron, Matthews, Greg Maddux, Gwynn, Brees, Clemens, Di Maggio, Ripken, Musial, Kent, Brogna, Peyton Manning, Franco, Montana, and Rice - these were in person. Brogna observed my St.John's shirt and was disappointed that political correctness was responsible for changing our name.
Those above were the good guys, now for the phonies. Dick Schmidt ( a guy in front of me asked him to put his homerun numbers on the ball ) Schmidt yelled, "Do it yourself." Mr. Personality on TV, Emmitt Smith was another Rodriquez. Mays wouldn't allow a family to take his picture. A complete opposite at the autograph show was Stan Musial. After telling Mr. Musial how much I enjoyed watching him at Ebbets Field, despite the crowd behind me he went on to tell me a story about shifting to first base at E. F. and never ever going back to the outfield. I asked him if he would sign Stan the Man Musial. His reply," I'll sign anything you want." He also put his Hall of Fame date (69), and hits (3630). My kind of guy.
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Interesting...I have a ton of sports memorabilia also, so it's interesting hearing how these guys really are in person. Not to get off topic so I apologize, but I'll throw some out there too: I met Curtis Martin in 2003 at training camp at Hofstra and he signed anything I wanted with his number and all, even gladly posed for a few pictures. As other players ran to the locker room, he stayed out and made sure everyone got what they wanted. Just a true gentlemen, they don't get much better than him. Wayne Chrebet was another great guy. Got him to sign a few things when I was younger at Bob's (clothing store) and spoke with him for a minute...very sincere and down to earth. Sam Garnes (played Safety) is another player who came over in '03 at Hofstra and I asked him, "Mr. Garnes, can I have your wristband if you aren't using it for a game?". He told me to stay there and he would be right back. When he returned he signed my helmet and threw me and a friend a wristband...he went back to get one for my friend so he didn't leave empty handed. Me and my friend slapped hands all giddy we just got a man's sweaty wristband (we were 14). Me and my friend also emailed Scott Kazmir's mother back when he was in the minors and asked if he would be able to sign 2 pictures and mail them. She was extremely friendly and eventually she came through for us sending 2 personal pictures of him gripping a baseball signed by Scott.

And ontop of that, I'm going to send a letter to Dan Marino one of these days, because believe it or not he is my 3rd or 4th cousin. How do I know? A family tree my grandmother gave me made in 1984. His great grandfather was brothers with my great grandfather. Anyway, I think it would be cool to send him a copy to prove the relation and hey maybe we can have a catch and a signed 8x10 wouldn't hurt either even though he tormented me as a Jets fan growing up!
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You being related to Marino actually explains a lot. :lol:
 
Rod Gilbert has a summer place around the block from my parents. If I didn't hate the Rangers so much I'd go hunt him down for an autograph. :cheer:

Mike McEwen signed a stick for me, but for some reason I kept playing with it and the blade eventually broke on me.

My dad has one from Ali, which I thought was the coolest thing ever growing up.
 
I have a great amount of memorabilia including autographs from Koufax, Brooks Robinson, Chipper Jones, Mantle, Gretsky, Aaron, Matthews, Greg Maddux, Gwynn, Brees, Clemens, Di Maggio, Ripken, Musial, Kent, Brogna, Peyton Manning, Franco, Montana, and Rice - these were in person. Brogna observed my St.John's shirt and was disappointed that political correctness was responsible for changing our name.
Those above were the good guys, now for the phonies. Dick Schmidt ( a guy in front of me asked him to put his homerun numbers on the ball ) Schmidt yelled, "Do it yourself." Mr. Personality on TV, Emmitt Smith was another Rodriquez. Mays wouldn't allow a family to take his picture. A complete opposite at the autograph show was Stan Musial. After telling Mr. Musial how much I enjoyed watching him at Ebbets Field, despite the crowd behind me he went on to tell me a story about shifting to first base at E. F. and never ever going back to the outfield. I asked him if he would sign Stan the Man Musial. His reply," I'll sign anything you want." He also put his Hall of Fame date (69), and hits (3630). My kind of guy.
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Interesting...I have a ton of sports memorabilia also, so it's interesting hearing how these guys really are in person. Not to get off topic so I apologize, but I'll throw some out there too: I met Curtis Martin in 2003 at training camp at Hofstra and he signed anything I wanted with his number and all, even gladly posed for a few pictures. As other players ran to the locker room, he stayed out and made sure everyone got what they wanted. Just a true gentlemen, they don't get much better than him. Wayne Chrebet was another great guy. Got him to sign a few things when I was younger at Bob's (clothing store) and spoke with him for a minute...very sincere and down to earth. Sam Garnes (played Safety) is another player who came over in '03 at Hofstra and I asked him, "Mr. Garnes, can I have your wristband if you aren't using it for a game?". He told me to stay there and he would be right back. When he returned he signed my helmet and threw me and a friend a wristband...he went back to get one for my friend so he didn't leave empty handed. Me and my friend slapped hands all giddy we just got a man's sweaty wristband (we were 14). Me and my friend also emailed Scott Kazmir's mother back when he was in the minors and asked if he would be able to sign 2 pictures and mail them. She was extremely friendly and eventually she came through for us sending 2 personal pictures of him gripping a baseball signed by Scott.

And ontop of that, I'm going to send a letter to Dan Marino one of these days, because believe it or not he is my 3rd or 4th cousin. How do I know? A family tree my grandmother gave me made in 1984. His great grandfather was brothers with my great grandfather. Anyway, I think it would be cool to send him a copy to prove the relation and hey maybe we can have a catch and a signed 8x10 wouldn't hurt either even though he tormented me as a Jets fan growing up!
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I think Dan has had enough family members "coming out of the woodwork" for a while ;)
 
Hey Joe, I went to school with a cousin of Dan's at Cornell (and you could tell they were cousins just by looking at him, he was what Marino would look like if he was short and doughy). I think his name was Joe. He was a nice guy. If he's a relative of yours as well tell him I said hi!
 
I have a great amount of memorabilia including autographs from Koufax, Brooks Robinson, Chipper Jones, Mantle, Gretsky, Aaron, Matthews, Greg Maddux, Gwynn, Brees, Clemens, Di Maggio, Ripken, Musial, Kent, Brogna, Peyton Manning, Franco, Montana, and Rice - these were in person. Brogna observed my St.John's shirt and was disappointed that political correctness was responsible for changing our name.
Those above were the good guys, now for the phonies. Dick Schmidt ( a guy in front of me asked him to put his homerun numbers on the ball ) Schmidt yelled, "Do it yourself." Mr. Personality on TV, Emmitt Smith was another Rodriquez. Mays wouldn't allow a family to take his picture. A complete opposite at the autograph show was Stan Musial. After telling Mr. Musial how much I enjoyed watching him at Ebbets Field, despite the crowd behind me he went on to tell me a story about shifting to first base at E. F. and never ever going back to the outfield. I asked him if he would sign Stan the Man Musial. His reply," I'll sign anything you want." He also put his Hall of Fame date (69), and hits (3630). My kind of guy.
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Interesting...I have a ton of sports memorabilia also, so it's interesting hearing how these guys really are in person. Not to get off topic so I apologize, but I'll throw some out there too: I met Curtis Martin in 2003 at training camp at Hofstra and he signed anything I wanted with his number and all, even gladly posed for a few pictures. As other players ran to the locker room, he stayed out and made sure everyone got what they wanted. Just a true gentlemen, they don't get much better than him. Wayne Chrebet was another great guy. Got him to sign a few things when I was younger at Bob's (clothing store) and spoke with him for a minute...very sincere and down to earth. Sam Garnes (played Safety) is another player who came over in '03 at Hofstra and I asked him, "Mr. Garnes, can I have your wristband if you aren't using it for a game?". He told me to stay there and he would be right back. When he returned he signed my helmet and threw me and a friend a wristband...he went back to get one for my friend so he didn't leave empty handed. Me and my friend slapped hands all giddy we just got a man's sweaty wristband (we were 14). Me and my friend also emailed Scott Kazmir's mother back when he was in the minors and asked if he would be able to sign 2 pictures and mail them. She was extremely friendly and eventually she came through for us sending 2 personal pictures of him gripping a baseball signed by Scott.

And ontop of that, I'm going to send a letter to Dan Marino one of these days, because believe it or not he is my 3rd or 4th cousin. How do I know? A family tree my grandmother gave me made in 1984. His great grandfather was brothers with my great grandfather. Anyway, I think it would be cool to send him a copy to prove the relation and hey maybe we can have a catch and a signed 8x10 wouldn't hurt either even though he tormented me as a Jets fan growing up!
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I think Dan has had enough family members "coming out of the woodwork" for a while ;)
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Yeah that whole scandal makes me want to wait before mailing him a letter lol. I remember my great grandmother being a Marino but I had no idea as a kid that THE Marino's were in my family. I also remember my grandma saying the Marino's had red hair, lighter skin and were taller. I have black hair, dark olive skin, and I'm dead average height wise (5'10). We look nothing alike. I do wish I inherited his arm though then took my Jets to a SB victory.
 
I met Jeff Francoeur at Mets spring training a few years ago. The complex has a bunch of fields with cyclone fences, and players would move form field to field for different drills, where they would get snagged for autograph requests. The 2009 Mets were by and large extremely nice guys and accommodated fan requests in Port St. Lucie. So, Francoeur was signing a few autographs, and as the line quickly grew, he stopped, and said "Guys, I've got to practice, but I'll come right back after the next drill ends and sign for everyone." I thought to myself, "Gee. Why did he have to promise that just to get away from the kids. He just could have been honest and said he had to go with no promises." Sure enough about 25 minutes later, back he comes, and every time a teammate passed, he snagged them to sign for the growing group. He acted like all the time in the world, but I heard him comment that he had a golf date with HOJO. Daniel Murphy joked as he sweated in the heat that this was harder than practice. All in all, the players stayed for 30-40 minutes, signing and chatting with fans as if they were casual friends, accepting compliments and good wishes with polite thank yous or baseball banter. But most of all I was impressed with how much a leader Francoeur was, He was only about 26 at the time, but carried himself like he was a 33 year old veteran who had the respect of all his teammates. All-time good guy, and I was sad to see him go. Word was he stood up to some of Jeff Wilpon's ridiculous rules in a clubhouse meeting and they sent him packing a few weeks later
 
Now in this story, I won't mention the player's name because I don't want this anecdote googled, but let's just say I promised to write about this all-time great Knick. This Knick had the most famous entrance in NBA history, hobbling onto the court at MSG for game 7 vs. the Lakers.

As I've posted before, since my son was 8 or 9, I've written to sports stars and coaches, sending them pre-addressed and stamped birthday cards and asking them to send my son birthday wishes and positive advice in sports or life. My son now has a wonderful collection of birthday greetings from some of the greatest athletes and coaches in sports history as well as many lesser known NY athletes who are dear to all of us.

This particular sports hero also roomed with an SJU-NBA player who I won't name. That former player now works at St Johns. In my request note to the Knicks star, I referenced that player, and wrote that the player spoke highly of him and would visit him soon.

Over time I have about a 50% response rate - pretty good.

So I wasn't surprised when I didn't hear back from the player. What did surprised me though that I got a phone call from the SJU staffer who said he got a call from the Knick, demanding to know how I got his address and why I wrote to him. The former SJU player calmly (but still ranted) about how the Knicks player was very upset that I had wrote to him, and wanted to know why. Mind you it was about a birthday card for a 13 year old kid. What I expected was that the sju staffer would have explain to the former Knick that I as a SJU season ticket holder for years,a dn supporter of the school, and subsequently a card for my kid. What I got was a off-based lecture. HOFer or not, the guy is a jerk
 
darryl strawberry may have been the most accomodating of all.

i covered one of his legal woes at the federal courthouse in white plains a few years ago. some people got copies of his indictment from the clerk's office...and he signed them all!!
 
Francessa who was to Parcells what Joe Piscopo was to Eddie Murphy (only one side was espousing the depth of the friendship), was not invited to Parcell's HOF induction. Apparently they had a falling out a few years ago, but in sentinel moments you still would think that Bill would invite his old friend Mikey.
 
darryl strawberry may have been the most accomodating of all.

i covered one of his legal woes at the federal courthouse in white plains a few years ago. some people got copies of his indictment from the clerk's office...and he signed them all!!
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thats pretty funny
 
Shocking, fatso wearing a Stony Brook football jacket today.....lol and mink is wearing a St John's golf shirt
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Maybe they don't make St John's golf shirts in Fatcessa's size
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He could help China recover economically by ordering a dozen XXXL golf shirts.
 
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