You're not getting Alex Rios' autograph

I hate hearing these stories, because there's really no excuse for not being polite, even if a player can't or doesn't want to sign.

Just makes me appreciate even more that I was a kid in Baltimore during Ripken's heyday, because he made time to sign for everybody. And he did that his whole career.

 

This is the brainiac that responded with a strip club when he was asked his favorite thing about Toronto last year.

Mike Bielecki told me to scram when I was a kid and asked. No feelings were hurt and no grievance filed. Some of this is chickenshit stuff.

 

On the another hand ... Mike Bielecki? Really? You're Mike Fuckin' Bielecki. Sign a fuckin' autograph.

 

To be fair, I've heard that Toronto has some great strip clubs.

 

Correctomundo.

 

From the notes attached to the Jays game story in today's Toronto Star:

Jays right fielder Alex Rios apologized to teammates and fans yesterday, not for his five strikeouts in a 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels the day before, but for swearing at a fan on Thursday night. The incident was caught on video and shows Rios walking to his car with a woman after a gala charity event when he appears to ignore an autograph request from a young fan. An older man yells at Rios, saying, "The way you played today, Alex, you should be lucky somebody wants your autograph." Rios responds with a profanity, then swears again after the fan calls him "a bum." "It's something I should have never done," said Rios. "I don't think it's (the fan's) fault. I just lost my cool in that situation and it was bad."

 

My parents took us (well, OK, Dad took me, and Mom and my sister grudgingly went along and prayed for the afternoons they could just stay at the pool) to spring training in 1988 and 1989. Mike Aldrete blew me off. My Dad was so pissed.

My most memorable story from those trips: 1989 was the year I was convinced Ron Gant was going to be the next big thing. So one afternoon I'm hanging out beneath the stands outside the Braves locker room (shit, it was so laid-back back then) when I see a few people surrounding somebody else. I catch a glimpse of the player, recognize him, realize I have his card and decide to go over there.

He signs it. Meanwhile, in the interim, Gant comes out, is surrounded by kids and no-life adults, signs for a few minutes and disappears. I never get his autograph. I am LIVID at myself. Fucking just blew a shot at an autograph from a sure-fire superstar for...for...for a guy who is 9-21 in his big league career? I'm a fucking idiot.

Well, Gant sucked the big one in 1989, got sent to the minors and never really panned out. Meanwhile, the guy who did sign for me just got cut Wednesday, 296 wins later.

 

In his defense, he probably didn't hear you all the way down there.

 

Was he in uniform? How did you know it was him?

 

Yeah, Mike Bielecki. Guess he was having a bad day. He almost never had a good year.

Bob Kipper did sign though, later on. So all was good and right.