I met him at a Minor League game at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Florida in 2014, when the St. Lucie Mets, whom he was the pitching coach for, came to play the Clearwater Threshers.
I saw Phil walking out of the stadium and an autograph seeker walking with him but noticed Phil wasn't stopping. When I caught up with him, I heard Phil telling the guy that he doesn't like that
people turn around and sell autographs on eBay. I interrupted their conversation and asked if he'd do
personalizations. He said he had no problem doing
those and I told him my name as he reached for my card. Phil then asked me, "have you been on eBay?" I replied, "yes, I bought that card on there." He said, "have you seen autographs on there?" Again, I said yes and immediately added "but I don't sell autographs." He smiled and said, "that's what they all say." I agreed with him. I'd like to think that I'm the only one who actually told him the truth when telling him that. Maybe he'll see this site and remember me. As for the other guy, I didn't stick around to see if he ever got his card signed. As I was walking away, I heard Phil say to him that he'd sign and then asked for his name and the guy said, "well, you see..." and that's all I heard.
Phil signed a 1965 Topps card #191.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reganph01.shtml
Smart thinking on getting it personalized. I'm not sure that I would have come up with that on the spot.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you had told me about him giving into signing as long as it was personalized. I remember my son and I watching the starting pitcher for the St. Lucie Mets warm up in the bullpen pre-game in Clearwater. Braden yelled out, "Let's Go Mets!" Mr. Regan smiled, walked over and handed Braden a baseball. Braden and I both thanked him. I then asked, "Would you mind personalizing a card each for my son and I?" He seemed annoyed at that point, but he did it! Thanks, Dan!
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