ROGUE CUP CHALLENGE #9-'The Roguening'

[FlyingClayDisk]

Question from the gallery:

How did you, personally, get the autographed ball?

Hey no cutting!

That was my next question.  

More specifically, how did you acquire the ball that was to be signed in person by the '68 Tigers world series starters?

I was sitting in a box seat right behind the Tigers dugout (literally had my feet propped up on the back of the dugout).  We had annual season tickets to all Tigers home games.  Although just a little kid, I was a big Tigers fan at the time.  My idol back then was the Tigers catcher, a guy by the name of Bill Freehan.  I had tried all season long to get Freehan's autograph (a program, a mitt, a jersey with his number on it, etc., you name it).  He just blew me off every time.  He was kind of an arrogant SOB.

Right before the post season I had all but given up trying to get Freehan's autograph.  I don't remember if it was the very last game, but it was near the end, I tried one last time.  I'd always been very polite about it, only asking for his autograph at appropriate moments like before or after a game, or at other convenient times (for him), but he just blew me off.  On this particular occasion it was the end of the game.  The 3rd Base Coach came toward the dugout and my Dad's friend knew this guy, so he called him over.  He explained how I'd been trying all season to get Freehan's autograph, and asked him if he could go in the locker room and get him to sign a kids glove I'd brought with me.  He said he'd to one better than that because he'd seen me trying to get his autograph all year too.  So he walked over to an American League umpire and asked him for an official game ball.  He told me to stay put, and ducked into the dugout.

When he returned he was holding the ball by the laces.  He said for me to be careful as he handed me the ball.  He said the ink takes a while to dry on the treated leather.  Of course, I only partially listened because I was so shocked at what he had handed me.  Every single Tiger on the starting roster had signed the ball, including the GM and all the Base Coaches.  When I grabbed the ball, I smeared Gates Brown's signature.  It was then I, and everyone around me, realized it was an authentic NLB baseball that had just been signed by the Detroit Tigers who would go on to win the World Series that year!

I was pretty young, so the significance of that moment didn't really soak in to my thick kid-skull at that moment, but it would in the following years.

That very ball sits in my office, in a glass protective case...and I am looking at it as I type this reply!

This story almost makes me cry even to this day.