That Time I Met George Brett

NOTE: This is a guest post from Tim Harms.

Manners matter.

More on that in a moment as I share the story of meeting my baseball hero and getting his autograph.

My formative years as a baseball fan came in Wichita, Kansas, in the late 1970s. Kansas City is a three-hour drive from Wichita, and the Royals were dominating baseball, winning four division titles in five years and making a trip to the World Series in 1980.

Could there be any doubt that George Brett was my favorite player? The man who flirted with .400 for much of the 1980 season before finishing at .390.

I became an avid collector of baseball cards that same summer and soon was hoping to score a Brett autograph.

I remember one family trip to Kansas City when I had my prized George Brett card in hand. As I waited along the wall near the dugout I got my card autographed – by Larry Gura.

No offense to Larry Gura, but thinking back on that now, what was I thinking – my Brett card with a Gura autograph?!

We moved to Fresno, California, during the summer of 1981, but my love of the Royals didn’t die (and still hasn’t).

In June of 1982 we took a family trip to the Los Angeles area. On a Saturday evening, the entire family went to watch the Royals battle the Angels. Somehow my parents and my sisters hung in until the conclusion of a 12-inning loss.

The next day my mom and sisters went to Magic Mountain. My dad and I returned to Anaheim for a Sunday matinee.

The Royals lost again – this time 9-1 with Brett delivering the only run via an RBI triple.

But after the game, my manners helped me get Brett’s autograph!

As my dad and I left the stadium to head for the car, we walked past a tunnel entrance used by the team bus. A lone security guard stood at the top. My dad and I stopped and asked if there was any chance we could go down there and get some autographs.

The answer of course was “No.”

We decided to wait around at the top of the tunnel anyway.

As we waited, a number of fans tried to walk down into the tunnel, forcing the security guard to shoo them away.

The guard saw us patiently waiting.

He gave me a wave and said, “Go ahead and go down there.”

I was thrilled. I walked down and stood at the door of the team bus. I had Brett’s card along with top pitcher Dennis Leonard’s (who was injured and I later learned not traveling with the team).

After a few minutes, I saw Brett walking toward the bus.

It was a simple, “Would you sign this?” and nothing more. But I got his autograph – and a lesson that manners matter.

Have you met one of your baseball heroes from the 1980s? I want to hear about it! Click here for details and tell me your story.

ABOUT TIM HARMS: Tim Harms has been a lifelong fan of the Kansas City Royals and happily celebrated their World Series title in 2015 after a 30-year drought. He was fortunate to work in minor league baseball for 12 seasons in a variety of roles. Currently, he serves as communications director with the American Heart Association, an organization dedicated to fighting the leading cause of death in the United States. You can support their work via http://www.heart.org./