Bill Simmons raves about "The Summer of Doc"

[Zvon]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: Post the story NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol.
k.
But the story has little to do with Gooden. Ill try to make it quick.
I was doing baseball portrait art during the 80s, and tried to get players to sign the original.
So I took the drawing to shea with my bros and me sometime in '88. I had it rolled up in a cardboard tube for protection.(also in the tube was another drawing that I did get signed, of a Phil named Glenn Wilson) The only time i was able to get close to Gooden was after the game, by the bullpen, when he came out to his car. But I wasnt prepared, or id have had the drawing out of the tube so he could see it. well, it wasnt and my brothers and i were yellin 'hey doc, can you sign this!" and im waving the tube at him. he probly thought it was a pipe bomb or something, I dunno. But he kept walkin and ignored us and I rushed to get the drawing out and unroll it and i did, but i dont know if he ever saw it. he had to drive out past us but i dont remember any of those details. I only remember i missed that chance(all other drawings i had signed by payin the fee at card shows).

So, anyways, my bros and i did what we usually did while waiting for the parkin lot to empty out. we got out the frisbee and started tossing it around. I put the tube on the back bumper of the car. We tossed the bee for around 20 minutes and then jumped in the car, and took off.

About 15 minutes out of the stadium, heading to NJ, I felt what i can only describe as dread as i suddenly remembered the drawings were left on the car bumper. So we turned around and went back. We looked and looked and looked around where we were parked, but couldnt find the tube. So I thought maybe it ended up being picked up by maintenance, so I went to this trailor they had and asked, nothin. Then i searched the dumpsters myself. We were looking for over an hour, and across the lot, way far away from where we were parked, one of my brothers was yellin he found it. It was squished up against a curb. Flat as a pancake. Looked like it was run more than once. But we found it, and both drawings were in there.
If you look closely you can see i greyed out the area behind Doc digitally, to hide the creases that still exist in the drawing.

whew.....thats the short version of the story,lol.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

LOL - great story!

So, which drawings have you had signed?

[Zvon]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: LOL - great story! So, which drawings have you had signed?

Mets?

Only Lenny Dykstra.
Ill post it someday.

I did many drawings, wasnt to successful in getting them signed :cry:

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Well, that's great.

Which non-Mets signed for you?

[Zvon]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: Well, that's great. Which non-Mets signed for you?

Glenn Wilson, lmao.

Like i said, I wasnt too successful.
The best way was the card show, but many times Id get the date of the show and not have the actual drawing completed. Dykstra signed his before it was colored, when it was just a pencil sketch. And you get that certificate of Authenticity from the shows.

The baseball portrait signed thing was just another project i started and never finished.

Plenty of drawings tho.
The only ones I have scanned are Cal Ripkin, Eddie Murray, Johnny Bench, and the signed Dykstra.
Dykstras is all color and a tribute to his 86 playoff homer.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Nice choice.

[Zvon]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: Nice choice.

Glenn was a Met killer in those days.
Had to pay like 7 bucks for the signature( Dykstras was more like 30 bucks) at this lil tini card show.
He was kinda like an asshole when he signed.

1st, he wanted me to give him the original for nuthin.
I said hellno.
I said write down your address and Ill mail you a copy.
He did write his address on a piece of paper but wouldnt write his name with it, cuz he said that would be a free autograph. Ha!
Dork.
I threw the address away when i got home.

[Elster88]

This article came out less than a week before Doc's latest escapade. Sadly, this is less coincindental due to the frequency with which Doc's name appears in the paper.