Willie Mays National 1990 Arlington

More Mr. Peabody and the WABAC trips…

Willie Mays was the first signed baseball I remember getting. It was at the first National I attended. At the time, I didn’t know what a ‘National’ was. I was collecting Schmidt cards and I had run the course with the local shows. This was just another show but larger so I was hoping to see some cards I never saw before.

As I waited for some dealers to return from lunch or something, I wandered around. Some barker asked If Ii wanted to meet Willie Mays. How could you say ‘no’. In reality, ‘meeting him’ actually meant buying a ball to get signed and buying the autograph. And not really talking to him. But I did it and I was happy. He still had huge biceps.

When I walked away, I looked at the ball and the signature. And something I still say to this day: I got Julie Mor to sign my ball. I don’t criticize autographs. My signature is a squiggle. This just looks like Julie Mor to me.

AH