WHY I JUST MISSED MEETING MICKEY MANTLE

I was in grade school and it was the 80’s. One thing I was always passionate about was the New York Yankees and baseball cards and all that crap. I was clearly a nerd, and I still am today. I still go to signings and card shows on occasion. Read WHY THE NERD SHOW OPENED MY EYES, that will set the tone.

So... I was a kid and my buddy Mike called me to told me he and his dad were going to a Mickey Mantle signing. I had 1 item at the time, a Sports Illustrated that my dad bought me in Cape Cod a few years earlier, so needless to say, things were about to get better in this nerd's life. For weeks we talked about the signing in school, it was pretty exciting to think about actually.

That morning, I woke up sick, fever and all. I was in no state to meet one of the greatest living Yankee players of all time, there was nothing that I could offer or add to the conversation. It was an absolute disaster. Thankfully for me, my buddy took my Sports Illustrated with him to the signing.

When they called me that night, they told me all about the day, it sounded amazing; to meet a legend like that and shake his hand would have been a dream come true for me. I was pissed at everyone for missing it, me, the Yankee Gods, my little brother, it just sucked. A few days later I was handed an large envelope in school. It read “do not open until you get home”. So, I didn’t. My buddy Mike was smiling. I knew what it was, but the rest of the day I was panicked. “Did he get it signed?” HE didn’t tell me, he just handed it to me. “What if Mickey Mantle didn’t sign it? I’m gonna be pissed.” I was a wreck.

I got home and opened up the envelope. It was like Ralphie in A Christmas Story except this was no Little Orphan annie decoder pin. I was holding a 1956 Sports Illustrated Mickey Mantle Cover, signed, by Mickey Mantle. This was not only a good day, It was the greatest day of my life. Sure, meeting Mantle would have been greater, but at that moment I was glowing… Mickey Mantle signed my magazine. I realized something years later. What a great friend I had. Mike could have just bailed on me, went to the event and I would have had to hear about it for the rest of my life. Instead, he took the time to get my magazine and get the deed done… and what a good deed it was. Thanks to Mike, that magazine still sits in my rec room…next to my Leg Lamp from The Christmas Story… what can I say, I truly AM a nerd.

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