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Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

G-Fafif Aug 25 2019 01:04 PM

If you're a subscriber to the Athletic, read this story about the Giants fan whose mission was getting everybody listed in the club's 1979 media guide. https://theathletic.com/1131390/2019/08/23/in-search-of-halicki-hector-and-howdy-the-strangest-tale-youve-ever-heard-about-the-1970s-giants/ If you're not a subscriber, consider signing up.

G-Fafif Aug 25 2019 01:10 PM Re: Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

Here's a good lesson in baseball karma. Fracchia never, ever booed Johnnie LeMaster. “My friends gave me so much grief for trying to defend him,'' Fracchia says now. LeMaster heard so many catcalls that he famously wore “Boo” on the back of his uniform for one day in July 1979. The name was earned. He was a lifetime .222/.277/.289 hitter with a career WAR of -5.4. Then again, LeMaster was also selected as the San Francisco 25th Anniversary Dream Team shortstop. “He's a major-league player. He's doing the best he can!” Fracchia says now, still acting like an attorney for his client. “He was good defensively, and he's playing at Candlestick, which kind of sucks.” After retiring, LeMaster went on to serve as the head coach at Pikeville College in Kentucky, where he left after 12 seasons as the school's all-time wins leader as a coach. Fracchia reached coach LeMaster in his office one day with a cold call. “And he was the nicest guy,'' he said. LeMaster's autograph arrived in the mail on April 11, 2000. The day is better remembered as the regular-season unveiling of Pacific Bell Park. Fracchia attended that day and came home to find a cosmic connection to his first game at the ‘Stick. “The flukiest thing I could imagine,'' he said.

MFS62 Aug 25 2019 02:25 PM Re: Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

Their fans boo-ed Willie Mays and cheered Orlando Cepeda. Of course one of them would want Johnnie LeMaster's autograph. Ptui! Later

Edgy MD Aug 25 2019 03:23 PM Re: Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

I think all the best stories connect to 1979.

G-Fafif Aug 25 2019 04:09 PM Re: Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

Edgy MD wrote: I think all the best stories connect to 1979. Smashing Pumpkins think so.

bmfc1 Aug 25 2019 04:16 PM Re: Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

This is a fantastic article. Thanks to G-Fafif for the link. Subscribe to The Athletic here: https://theathletic.com/checkout?pc=raf40&plan_id=45&shared_by_name=Jeff&shared_by=133087

G-Fafif Aug 26 2019 06:10 AM Re: Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

=MFS62 post_id=19947 time=1566764728 user_id=60] Their fans boo-ed Willie Mays and cheered Orlando Cepeda. Of course one of them would want Johnnie LeMaster's autograph. Ptui! Later

He wanted everybody's autograph. That was the point of his 35-year quest. He wanted Lemaster's. He wanted McCovey's. He wanted the September callup with two at-bats. The subject of the story was 13 years old in 1978 and fell in love with a team that surprised everybody by making a run at first place. Cepeda was long gone from the Giants by the time he became conscious of baseball and I doubt he remembers much of Mays's career first-hand.



It's a really lovely story of a fan's lifelong attachment to his childhood ideal and the sometimes absurd lengths he goes to in adulthood to affirm it. It's sweet, it's funny, it's incredibly rewarding to read regardless of one's rooting inclinations.

seawolf17 Aug 26 2019 06:29 AM Re: Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

I have a near-complete 1986 team set of autographs, missing only Randy Myers, who's notably ornery about signing autographs.

cal sharpie Aug 26 2019 07:35 AM Re: Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

i was living in San Francisco in 1979. They were a pretty likable team back then. LeMaster not so much however.

Vic Sage Aug 27 2019 11:22 AM Re: Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

Also from SF was forkballer Danny Frisella. I got an autograph from him when i was a kid, in `72. I think he spoke at our little league breakfast that year. When he died in a car accident a few years later, i was devastated. It was one of my first experiences with tragic death of somebody i... well, i didn't KNOW him, but i had met him.. and he gave me his autograph when i was 11! So i took it personally. i still have the autograph somewhere. He was a good reliever for the Mets for a few years, before getting traded for Millan and George Stone, who helped get us to the WS the following year.

batmagadanleadoff Aug 27 2019 02:54 PM Re: Adventures in Autograph-Seeking

Vic Sage wrote: [Frisella] was a good reliever for the Mets for a few years, before getting traded for Millan and George Stone, who helped get us to the WS the following year. As significant as that trade turned out to be for the Mets (you left out Gary Gentry), did you know how close that trade almost came to being a blockbuster? The teams were determined to upgrade their catchers -- the Mets wanting more offense and the Braves wanting more defense -- and so the teams came very close to including Jerry Grote and Earl Williams in that deal The catcher part of that deal was nixed at the 11th hour. Not sure if the Mets woulda made the playoffs without Grote. They were a 90+ win team with Grote in the lineup in '73.