Your favorite 'fan interaction' memories

[MijiT88]

My first game at Camden Yards when I was 12 was also the time I got Cal's autograph. During his whole warmup routine with a wall full of people you could see him looking at everyone in the crowd and smiling, waving but more importantly it was like he was surveying to see where to go first for autographs. After his stretches and jogs he started to walk over to the wall and right towards me! As a young kid I won't ever forget this moment because my idol was walking right towards me. I was sure he was going right to me first and I couldn't have been more excited. When he got up to the wall he reached out and grabbed the ball from my little sister, then me next. It wasn't until about 20 minutes later it set in with sibling jealousy that he picked her first. Then I went through the emotions of being mad about that and wondering why for about 5 minutes and didn't really care after that. But looking back as an adult, he always took care of the fans and picked out the kids first to make a lasting memory for them. I may always be jealous of my sister in that moment but what it meant to me was wayyyyy more impactful than any other encounter I have had over the 24 years since then haha.

[MijiT88]

I guess another really cool story was when I went to a day game on my way back to Rochester and walked up and bought a ticket 6 rows behind home plate. Sat next to another guy who did the same thing. The O's played against the Jays with Roy Halladay pitching and what a sight to see him throw from that seat. He dominated the O's for 7 innings and then got pulled and the BP gave up the lead and it went into extras. The guy next to me had to leave and I told him you never leave early because something great can happen. The jays scored 2 in the top of the 11th and then we scored 1 in the bottom and then Nolan Reimold hit a 3 run walk off HR. MAN, that was awesome. This started my love for Nolan haha. But the next year when he was rehabbing and norfolk visited Rochester I went to the game, met him and handed him a ticket and just asked "Can you sign this special ticket for me?" He looked at it and then looked up with a huge smile and said "No way you were at this game!" we talked for a few minutes about it and his hopes to get past the injury bug and back to the majors and shared a few laughs. Really good guy that I wish his injuries didn't hamper his career. 

[mall-O-cup]

43 minutes ago, ThomasTomasz said:

I wonder if someone was playing their first game with Aberdeen, or had some other milestone that he wanted to give them the lineup card.  That kind of “authentics” collecting certainly wasn’t popular like it is today. 

We still have that lineup card, buried amongst other sports memorabilia, in our son's closet.

If we ever pull it out, I'll have to take a closer look. 

The memory of that day is forever etched in my mind.

[oriolediehard]

In 1966 I was 15 years old, The O's already clinched the pennant.  My brother was a big time Dodger fan, me and him went to Connie Mack stadium in Philadelphia to see the Dodgers last game of the season, and I saw Sandy Koufax pitched his last regular season game ever and the Dodgers clinched the pennant that game, they had to win the doubleheader to get to the WS against the O's. Don Drysdale won the first game.  I walked on the field at the end of the game. 

[mall-O-cup]

23 minutes ago, MijiT88 said:

My first game at Camden Yards when I was 12 was also the time I got Cal's autograph. During his whole warmup routine with a wall full of people you could see him looking at everyone in the crowd and smiling, waving but more importantly it was like he was surveying to see where to go first for autographs. After his stretches and jogs he started to walk over to the wall and right towards me! As a young kid I won't ever forget this moment because my idol was walking right towards me. I was sure he was going right to me first and I couldn't have been more excited. When he got up to the wall he reached out and grabbed the ball from my little sister, then me next. It wasn't until about 20 minutes later it set in with sibling jealousy that he picked her first. Then I went through the emotions of being mad about that and wondering why for about 5 minutes and didn't really care after that. But looking back as an adult, he always took care of the fans and picked out the kids first to make a lasting memory for them. I may always be jealous of my sister in that moment but what it meant to me was wayyyyy more impactful than any other encounter I have had over the 24 years since then haha.

Players interact with the fans in some very subtle ways.

Here is another story. My son and I, when he graduated from high school in 2009, took a trip out to California.

The Orioles were out on the west coast so we bought tickets to see them play the Angels on Saturday, July 4th and Sunday, July 5th (which is my son's birthday).  For the July 5th game, we had field level seats down the RF line. The crowd was on the lighter side that day so there were plenty of empty seats around us.

My son was wearing an Orioles shirt and cap. Early in the game there was a final out to an Angels inning with a fly ball to the right fielder. I can't remember who the right fielder was but I'm thinking it was probably Markakis. After the catch we stood up, hoping that maybe he would toss the ball our way. It became apparent that he was eyeballing us and was moving in our general direction. We were maybe about 15-20 rows up, so it wasn't an easy toss. Sure enough, here comes the ball, on a perfect throw, right to us. What a birthday gift for my son!

There were several other fly outs to right field to end an Angels inning that day and every ball was sent in our direction. We ended up with about five baseball's that day.

Also, right before the game started, Orioles manager, Dave Trembley was in the stands near the Orioles dugout talking with some people. It was getting close to game time and he began to move towards the dugout. We happened to be standing about 10-15 feet away. He casually looked in our direction, no doubt aware that we were Orioles fans because of what my son was wearing. He looked at us and acknowledged us by giving a simple nod of his head and took a ball out of his back pocket and tossed it to my son. It was such a subtle gesture of acknowledgement and one I will never forget.

 

 

 

[NCRaven]

1. Fantasy Camp '96.  My team had played our double header at Ed White when it was still a White Sox stadium. The camp staff forgot to lay on a bus to take us back to our hotel.  The head guy said they had some vans and asked any of the campers that had rental cars could give others a ride.  One of the guys looked at me and asked if I'd like a ride and I said "sure Brooks, thanks."

2. At a game in KC with my 10 year old.  We're standing next to the 3rd Base railing watching guys long tossing one was Brad Pennington.  I told me son he could through harder than anyone on the team but never knew where it was going.  Guy next to me says "that's my boy."  I'm thinking I sure hope I wasn't too obnoxious!

3. Finally, at a Stallions game a couple of years later.  Guy sitting in front of us asks if I'm always this bad.  My son says "heck no, you should see him at Orioles games."

[Birdland in NC]

When I was a teenager I got Brady Anderson’s autograph after a game and immediately held it up in the air and said “Hey I got Billy Ripken’s autograph!”  
Brady groaned loudly, I got him good.  
It was the year he hit 50.  

[Otter]

Was playing in a high school baseball tournament in Anaheim, and our hotel was close to the Angels stadium and where the visiting teams stayed.  Saw a lot of players in the hotel lobby, elevators, and restaurant, and most were very nice and gracious.  I remember Kirby Puckett having a nice conversation with all of us on the elevator one day.  On the other side of the spectrum was Randy Johnson.  We were eating breakfast at the hotel restaurant and saw Johnson sitting at a table by himself.  A father and young son approached him politely, apologized for interrupting and asked for an autograph.  Johnson stared at him for a long while, gave him a nasty look and said "get the hell away from me, I'm eating breakfast!"  I certainly get being annoyed with being bothered by fans all the time, but you're making millions of dollars to play a game and you could at least be cordial to a young kid...

[Kurt]

My favorite Oriole growing up in the 60's was Brooks Robinson and over the years I rooted for so many almost favorites, but Brooks was always "The Man".  My 1st Oriole game was as a 5 yr. old when my older brother took to me to a game because it was Ted Williams' last game at Memorial Stadium. He wanted me to see the Greatest hitter of his lifetime.  It was a treat but I have just about no recollection  of the game except finally getting to watch Brooks throughout the game (he was somehow already my favorite).

In one of the following years I remember going to a Mars Supermarket in Dundalk where Brooks and Bob Turley were signing autographs.  Yep, back then it was a thing.  Also stopped once at his sporting goods store when he was again signing autographs.  I tracked him over the years whenever he played close to where I had moved, and after his retirement when he was at a couple of card shows and an appearance at the Bob Feller museum.  Just wanted to get close ask random questions that came to mind and say enjoyed following your career and Baltimore (and me) will always appreciate the grace and class person you were.

Fast forward to May of last year and I was diagnosed with a couple of bad maladies and wondered how much longer I would be around and couldn't help noticing the seemingly ever young Mr. Robinson was aging too.  Thanks to Tony and Roy, he was contacted on my behalf because I just wanted to send him an old fashioned fan mail telling him a bunch of thoughts that I'll bet many of folks my age have.  Within a couple of days I got a call from Brooks and he spent over 20 minutes talking Orioles history, baseball and some other light topics like modern baseball and sports in general.  Made me laugh recounting waiting to bat against Ryan Duren back in the day.

He owed me nothing, I am sure he never remembered from any other meeting, and probably had better things to do but he made that call and gave his time freely and completely added to a reputation I thought could not get better if he was pulling kids from a burning building.  We miss you a bunch!