Jimmy Sez Meets More All-Stars

Last year I told the story of meeting Don Mattingly and from there committed to the quest of getting the rest of the living Yankees All-Time All-Stars to sign a copy of the book. Luckily, the folks at Hall of Fame Signings hosted another Pinstripe Pride event earlier this month in north Jersey. There, I was able to get the autographs of five more legends, which means seven of the 17 living All-Stars have now signed.

While it was thrilling to meet each of the five who signed this year, I won't have nearly as much to say about the encounter as I did with Donnie Baseball. Ya know, you only get to meet your childhood hero for the first time once. So here's a brief description of each exchange with a picture of my ugly mug next to some guys that you'd much rather see.

Before digging in, I do need to give a shout out to Hall of Fame Signings for a dramatically improved experience at the event for 2024. There was far more space at the venue, organization, and predictability when it came to the schedule. It was night and day compared to last year and I highly recommend attending their events if you have any interest in getting signed memorabilia.

Graig Nettles

Mr. Nettles was a bit distracted by my son, Seamus, who was in tow for this one, and who could blame him? I was all set to explain how making him the starting third baseman in the book has probably stirred the most controversy among any of the choices I made. However, his face lit up when he saw a shy, soon to be six-year old and he mostly just chatted with him. After the pic, he gave Seamus a fist bump and told him to stay out of trouble. I like Graig Nettles even more now.

Ron Guidry

Things were much more lively at the event on Saturday and Gator was first up for me. He hasn't lost a bit of his cajun accent or the trademark tan he had in his playing days. As he signed I told him that I would love to get his recipe for frog legs that I learned about while researching for the book. He smiled big and simply said, "I learned that recipe from someone very special" (his father, naturally). With that, we exchanged handshakes and thank you's. I didn't get the recipe.

Reggie Jackson

As you'd expect, Mr. October was by far the most stylish of the Yankees I met this time around. When I told him about the book he was genuinely interested to the point that he took time to read the entire quote from Catfish Hunter at the beginning of his chapter. The quote is a bit of a backhanded compliment from Catfish that captures the complicated legacy Reggie has with his Yankee teammates. If he was annoyed, he didn't show it. We departed with a handshake, and while Reggie isn't an imposing physical presence, I left confident that he could crush me into a million pieces with those meathooks he calls hands.

Mariano Rivera

The Sandman has an infectious smile that stayed on his face as I complimented him on his autobiography (highly recommended), which I read while writing his chapter. When I gave him a signed copy of my own book he said, "Thank you very much, sir. I'm gonna read this thing." I trust he'll read it as much as I trusted him in the ninth inning.

David Cone

Last but not least was my author buddy. Of all the guys I met this time, Coney was certainly the most interested in really digging into the book. Of course, since I've sent him one in the mail before (and maybe got lost?) I didn't have one with me to give him which I instantly regretted. I also told him how I tried, through one of his representatives, to get him to write a foreword for the book with no luck since he was writing his own book with Jack Curry at the time. He was quite apologetic for not being able to do it, but I told him it was worth it to be able to read Full Count, which is truly an amazing book.

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So that's seven down, and hopefully I'll report back again next year with a bunch more signatures.