"I ain't going to sign that…" Detroit Tigers outfielder, Torri Hunter referring to a photo of his near catch in last year's NLCS.
I chuckled when reading about how Hunter's tumble into Boston's bullpen has continued to haunt him. Besides the physical fallout, the veteran outfielder has also had to dodge autograph seeker requests for him to sign photos of him backside-up in Fenway. "They think it is funny. It's not funny to me. I was trying to win," he said.
While some, like Pete Rose, will sign whatever you put in front of them (see: his embarassing "I broke up the Beatles" inscribed balls), it is not uncommon for players to refuse to write a certain inscription, or in some cases, sign pieces of memorabilia that remind them of a time in their career they would rather forget. For example, before he made it big as a prennial Cy Young Award candidate, Dave "Smoke" Stewart was a lightly regarded swingman for the Dodgers, Rangers and our Phillies. In trying to distance himself from those days, Stewart will still not sign anything showing him dressed as either a Ranger or a Phillie.
Here are a few other notable Phillie-related dead ends:
Rick Wise – "No-Hitter, 2x HR"
On June 23, 1971 Wise threw achieved a rare accomplishment, throwing a no-hitter in a game in which he also hit two home-runs. Balls with a referencing inscription exist, but for whatever reason, he now refuses to sign it.
JC Romero – 2011 Topps Update
Romero signed with the New York Yankees in July 2011, and was released less than a month later having never thrown one pitch. Despite this, he was still part of the 2011 Topps Update set – as a Yankee. Sounds like this refusal is grudge based…
Chase Utley – "WFC"
It was surprising to hear the words come out of his mouth that day, but I would be flat out shocked if the Phillies second baseman ever put pen to paper for the purposes of referencing this exclamation. One brave fan reported requesting the inscription during last season's Phillies Phestival. No one should be surprised that Utley politely refused.
More Phillies collecting updates…
A Letter from Fregosi – Interesting insight into the 1993 Phillies directly from their skipper…
Mike Schmidt hits the autograph circuit – The Phils' HoFer is on his way to recovery with two new personal appearances.
My Phillies Spring Training TTM Guide – All the information you need to send autograph requests to Clearwater.
The Return of Donruss! - Panini America is bringing back some of the great subsets from Donruss.
