Which current and former Yankees are most fan-friendly?

[tiscipa165]

Best I've encountered: Mattingly, Mariano, Shelley Duncan, Boone Logan, Joba, Alfonso Soriano, Curtis Granderson.

Non-Yankee: Cal Ripken, Jr.

Worst: A-Rod.

[BronxBombers92]

Worst: A-Rod.

here we go

[yankeesfanatic]

Best I've encountered: Mattingly, Mariano, Shelley Duncan, Boone Logan, Joba, Alfonso Soriano, Curtis Granderson.

Non-Yankee: Cal Ripken, Jr.

Worst: A-Rod.

I doubt very much that Arod was the worst. He still signed a lot more than a lot of former and current Yankees.

[tiscipa165]

I doubt very much that Arod was the worst. He still signed a lot more than a lot of former and current Yankees.

For me, who hasn't met too many Yankees, he was the least fan-friendly. Here's why:

In 2005 at Shea, I brought kids down to the dugouts to try for autographs. He signs one, and a lot of kids swarmed to the corner of the dugout where he was, yelling his name in excitement. He throws the first ball back, and loudly says, "You know what? F this," and walks away. Dropping f-bombs in front of admiring kids was ridiculous in my opinion. He should've just walked away quietly.

[newyorkyankees6]

any of you had any interactions with Rafael Soriano, is he more of the surly type?

[yankeesfanatic]

any of you had any interactions with Rafael Soriano, is he more of the surly type?

He does signs with a smile - especially when leaving the stadium after the game.

Dont expect him to sign anything before the game - must be his superstition or something.

[yankeesfanatic]

For me, who hasn't met too many Yankees, he was the least fan-friendly. Here's why:

In 2005 at Shea, I brought kids down to the dugouts to try for autographs. He signs one, and a lot of kids swarmed to the corner of the dugout where he was, yelling his name in excitement. He throws the first ball back, and loudly says, "You know what? F this," and walks away. Dropping f-bombs in front of admiring kids was ridiculous in my opinion. He should've just walked away quietly.

Actual admiring kids are far and few in between. If you really really paid attention, most of these kids were trained by greedy adults to obtain these "quick cash" signature.

I dont expect these superstar to sign any - so if they did signed for free, it is all good in my book.

Another thing, Arod is in a no-win situation no matter what. As for the F-bomb, ha! I have kids say the worst thing when the players refused to sign.

[jlevin]

While not a current or former player, I went to a dinner in Rockland that Cashman spoke at. He shmoozed with anyone that came up to him and let everyone try on one of the world series rings. The coolest part was that while my wife was wearing it he literally walked away for like 20 minutes to talk to other people.

[yankeesfanatic]

While not a current or former player, I went to a dinner in Rockland that Cashman spoke at. He shmoozed with anyone that came up to him and let everyone try on one of the world series rings. The coolest part was that while my wife was wearing it he literally walked away for like 20 minutes to talk to other people.

If I heard correctly, Cashman has TWO (2) rings from 2009 season. One is an original and one was intended for the family members -- so even if your wife ran away with the ring, he will NOT missed it!

[4bronxbombers]

I've honestly never heard a bad fan story about Cone. He seems like a true extrovert who genuinely loves communicating with people.

I met him at Mohegan Sun and he was happy to take a pic with me. He was great. Boomer was there too and was quite the grouch but I wasn't that surprised.

[4bronxbombers]

Maybe it's because my aunt and uncle are friends with his in-laws (when he was married to Cynthia) but Alex was very nice when my aunt asked him to sign a picture of my son and his #13 car that he won an award on for the Pine Wood Derby - she put it in a frame and we have it in our kitchen. He wrote a nice note too. He also signed my cousin Jay's jersey which he has hung in his living room in a big frame. I wish I had thought to give her something like that for me.....he was def in the signing mood.

[JL25and3]

Worst: A-Rod.

From everything I've heard, Mickey Mantle might have something to say about that.

[Stick Michael]

I wouldn't use any player's willingness or lack of willingness to sign autographs as a barometer for his character. If complete strangers approached me everywhere I went I'm pretty sure I'd become a recluse within a matter of weeks, if not days.

[Prentice]

Actual admiring kids are far and few in between. If you really really paid attention, most of these kids were trained by greedy adults to obtain these "quick cash" signature.

I dont expect these superstar to sign any - so if they did signed for free, it is all good in my book.

Another thing, Arod is in a no-win situation no matter what. As for the F-bomb, ha! I have kids say the worst thing when the players refused to sign.

Unless you were there you obviously didn't see what happened so your commments are a little patronising to be honest. The guy told what he saw. If you don't like it, not his problem. And as for trying to justify someone dropping f-bombs......

[yankeesfanatic]

Unless you were there you obviously didn't see what happened so your commments are a little patronising to be honest. The guy told what he saw. If you don't like it, not his problem. And as for trying to justify someone dropping f-bombs......

I could care less about who throwing f-bomb. From my experiences, I have seen more kids and adults throwing f-bombs when they dont get what they want. And best of all, during batting practice - for a lousy baseball, people screaming murder and other profanity when the outfielders tossed the ball back into the infield.

So, the only person that I would be shocked to hear F-bomb from is Jeter or Mariano.

Why scrutinized just Alex and the hearsay "f-bomb"?

If that was the case - I would have received alot of messages if I posted a "hearsay" of Mariano or Jeter dropped the f-bomb in front of kids and so forth?

[yankeesfanatic]

From everything I've heard, Mickey Mantle might have something to say about that.

I was fortunate enough to get a couple items signed by The Mick - when he wasnt drinking, so the experience was pretty pleasant.

A nice handshake and "thanks for coming" after handing back my signed item. Not bad at all.

But I have heard other about "drunk Mick" version - boy, I felt sorry for those fans. But then again, why would you bothered some one who is drunk in the first place?

[yankeesfanatic]

As for Cone or Leiter or Flaherty -- these guys are awesome when you catch them before they head in.

You can catch them if you arrive early enough and wait by Gate 2 entrance - but you will have a better luck if you "parked" or inside the "employees or executives" parking lot next to the stadium - they will pretty much sign anything and walk away with handshake and a smile.

[Prentice]

Why scrutinized just Alex and the hearsay "f-bomb"?

I would imagine because he listed every played he has met/had dealings with and A-Rod was bottom of the list. This was due to his bad experience, which he detailed.

Just because you didn't like what he said, doesn't make him wrong.

[NCYankeeFan]

The "Worst" Yankee brings back memories from the late 70's. Our Little League used to book Yankees and One year we had Ruppert Jones who ws fantastic. Until this one year we had some pretty good players come, like Ruppert Jones, Lee Mazilli who were GREAT with the kids, stuck around for a long time and gave a lot of their time and signed autographs for every kid in the place.
Somehow we got Bucky Dent the same year he hit his "famous" home run. Never met someone who was more full of himself in my life. Didnt sign autographs, spoke to the kids for about 2 mins, and took off right before dinner. He brought a box of signed balls (maybe 50 in total) for a few hundred kids attending.

Also met David Wells and Nick Johnson in a sports bar in Tampa during their time in NY, both were real nice to all the fans.

[35Knucklecurve]

I wouldn't use any player's willingness or lack of willingness to sign autographs as a barometer for their character. If complete strangers approached me everywhere I went I'm pretty sure I'd become a recluse within a matter of weeks, if not days.

We were sitting in the hotel restaurant in Cleveland across from Don Zimmer, who was dining alone, when a woman approached him. She had her pen out and ready. The first words out of her mouth were, "I hate to bother you while you're eating....." Without missing a beat, he said, "Then don't." He didn't say it angrily or loudly - just made his point. There are just somethings you don't do and interrupting someone's meal is high on the list, IMO. Matsui and his interpreter were sitting on the other side of us and as badly as I wanted his autograph, you couldn't have paid me to go over and ask him for it.

[Sparky]

We were sitting in the hotel restaurant in Cleveland across from Don Zimmer, who was dining alone, when a woman approached him. She had her pen out and ready. The first words out of her mouth were, "I hate to bother you while you're eating....." Without missing a beat, he said, "Then don't." He didn't say it angrily or loudly - just made his point. There are just somethings you don't do and interrupting someone's meal is high on the list, IMO. Matsui and his interpreter were sitting on the other side of us and as badly as I wanted his autograph, you couldn't have paid me to go over and ask him for it.

"I hate to bother you while you're ....." really means "I hate that fact that I have to bother you while you . . . but I'm not letting this opportunity pass"

[AlbanyColonieYankee]

We were sitting in the hotel restaurant in Cleveland across from Don Zimmer, who was dining alone, when a woman approached him. She had her pen out and ready. The first words out of her mouth were, "I hate to bother you while you're eating....." Without missing a beat, he said, "Then don't." He didn't say it angrily or loudly - just made his point. There are just somethings you don't do and interrupting someone's meal is high on the list, IMO. Matsui and his interpreter were sitting on the other side of us and as badly as I wanted his autograph, you couldn't have paid me to go over and ask him for it.

This thread is really interesting. While we would like the players to be accommodating I think it is also important to understand that they probably get hounded for autographs and pictures everywhere they go. To a certain extent, it probably depends on what day you catch them on. They have moods and bad days just like everyone else.

I have never encountered any players in a public place myself, but I have heard a lot of good stories about Giambi. I remember reading (probably here) about a fan that he took the initiative to talk to in Vegas when he overheard him talking about the Yankees.

[yankeesfanatic]

We were sitting in the hotel restaurant in Cleveland across from Don Zimmer, who was dining alone, when a woman approached him. She had her pen out and ready. The first words out of her mouth were, "I hate to bother you while you're eating....." Without missing a beat, he said, "Then don't." He didn't say it angrily or loudly - just made his point. There are just somethings you don't do and interrupting someone's meal is high on the list, IMO. Matsui and his interpreter were sitting on the other side of us and as badly as I wanted his autograph, you couldn't have paid me to go over and ask him for it.

I would just walked over and ask the interpreter for handshake with Matsui - and that would be some story to be told later.

[35Knucklecurve]

I would just walked over and ask the interpreter for handshake with Matsui - and that would be some story to be told later.

We actually had a good laugh with him about 15 minutes later. My friend was trying to be proper and cut a slice of cantelope with a knife and fork and the damned thing shot right off her plate onto the floor. We had a giggling fit - the harder we tried to contain ourselves, the worse it got. I happened to glance over at Matsui and he was pointing us out to his interpreter and laughing almost as hard as we were. Somethings just don't need a translation. It was so cool.

[AJW]

Several years ago I had the good fortunetio attend an old timers dinner prior to their game, and found most of the old timers were great. They signed a ball that I had and engaged in conversation with me without any reservation. The most friendly were Gossage, Paul Blair, Brian Doyle, Tommy Tresh, Doc Gooden, Don Larsen and many others. The only one I found not too friendly was Joe Pepitone.

My mom met Joe Pepitone at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center where he was speaking and she got the same impression. She said he thought his ................ didn't stink.