A little background first. My family moved to a small island near Seattle in 1977, Bainbridge Island. We were living in Redmond prior to that and I had just finished 2nd grade. We moved over the summer into a neighborhood that was relatively new and was in development when we arrived. It was not the typical neighborhood you see today, where a bunch of houses get crammed together at the same time. This neighborhood had larger lots and were not being developed by a single entity or at the same time. I believe the homeowner bought the land and then had a home built to suit their needs when they were ready.
It was not long before the neighborhood was filled with kids, ranging in ages but many my age or close to it. Turns out, that place was a great place to grow up. I had a lot of fun and many great memories from that time in my life. This was also when I was introduced to baseball and card collecting. This literally changed my life. A kid named Steve moved into one of the houses not long after we had settled. His family had come from Southern California and he and his older brother were both big baseball fans and card collectors. His brother Greg loved Pete Rose and Steve was a big Dodgers & Garvey fan. They got me into baseball, collecting and I copied Steve and became a Garvey fan myself. This was 1978 and I have never really looked back since.
Just about every year as a kid, my parents would drive us down to Southern California for our summer vacation. They were both originally from the area and still had family there. We enjoyed the sun, seeing our cousins, Six Flags Magic Mountain or Knotts Berry Farm most times and the trip itself was always a 2 day adventure in the back of a truck with a canopy each way that we loved too. 1980 was no exception and we were enjoying the typical time down in California that summer. My dad's brother Jim lived in Palos Verdes and had a pool, so that was always one of the better stops on our trips. This trip was going to be even better though. While staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Palos Verdes that year, my Aunt told me that Steve Garvey was going to be appearing at the May Company that week and would I like to go meet him? The May Company was a department store and apparently signings like this were not all that uncommon.
Needless to say, I was extremely excited. The day arrived and I was anxious to get there. The store was a slight drive, I don't recall how far away or even where exactly it was. That was not important to me. My job was to meet Steve Garvey and that is all that mattered. I do recall being frustrated that we were not leaving soon enough though, a trait that has lived with me to this day. I always arrive early to appointments. My Aunt kept saying that we'd leave soon, there was plenty of time. Looking back, she was simply judging the time it would take to get to the store and nothing more.
We finally left (my younger brother Dave, me and my Aunt) and arrived at the store a bit later. The details themselves are a bit foggy at best, mostly living within this story I retell from time to time, mainly because I was 11 and didn't pay attention to this type of detail. We got in line and my Aunt bought my brother and I each a Dodgers logo ball (made in China plastic ball - Not good for signatures it turns out) and a 1980 Yearbook for us to get signed. I believe Don Sutton was also signing, but I am not positive. Time ticked away slowly as we waited, as did the line movement it seemed as we inched closer to our turn. The signing was a set time frame if I recall (like 1pm-3pm) and at one point, someone came and closed the line not far behind where we were standing (we must have gotten there late). The ending time for the signing was fast approaching, but we thought we were fine because they closed the line behind us. They have to finish everyone in line, right? However, major disappointment was about to strike when we found out the players apparently had to leave. They did not stay to finish the line and we never made it to the front for our turn. I never even got to see Garvey in person as we didn't even make it close enough to see them signing. The disappointment turned into anger and that was focused on my Aunt, mainly for not leaving when I wanted to and because of this, we had missed the chance to meet Steve Garvey. I don't think my younger brother cared all that much about it, he was just along for the adventure. He was 9 at the time, but I was shattered. My Aunt felt bad I'm sure, but she didn't really understand when I was going through at that moment.
Living in Washington in pre-internet times, I continued to collect cards and follow the career of Steve Garvey, but another chance like the one I just had to meet Garvey never came. I did mail a Topps Super card to Garvey the following year that it was returned to me signed, but I wondered if I would ever get the chance to actually meet him and get an in person autograph. I grew older, eventually joining the Navy and while I was in bootcamp in Orlando, FL on January 13, 1988, oblivious to the world of current events at the time, Steve Garvey announced his retirement from baseball.
I would eventually land in San Diego for Navy A School in 1989 and would catch my first and only Padres game, but Garvey was out of baseball then and it wasn't the same. My card collecting actually slowed to a crawl and possibly stopped depending on who you ask, after I left San Diego for my final duty station in the USN aboard a submarine. However, by the time I was ready to return to civilian life in 1993 though, I had caught the card collecting bug again and was back at it before I even got home.
Not too long after I returned home, I was buying baseball cards like crazy. The 90s were a fun time and cards were everywhere. I also discovered online card interactions (message boards and websites dedicated to collecting) and eventually ebay by 1998. My collection was growing fast and beyond what I could have imagined, but I still longed for that in person meeting with Steve Garvey that I had come so close to having back in 1980.
In 2001, Seattle was hosting the All Star Game. I had heard that they were looking for volunteers to work the Fan Fest area and if you volunteered, you had free access to the festivities as long as you were not working at the time. It was rumored that Garvey might appear as an autograph guest so I volunteered. I took several days off from my job to work the Fan Fest and the autograph signings were my go to when I was not working. Either by coincidence or by negotiation, I was able to be off work the day Garvey was to appear. I talked my wife into coming down with me and I was going to do my best to meet Steve Garvey this time.
The way the autographs worked at the Fan Fest was that there were two lines set up. Each line lead to a table with two players signing for a set amount of time. At the end of the rotation, 4 new players sat down and the time reset. Unfortunately, it was not always possible to get signatures from all 4 players during each session. The time it took to work your way through the lines was dependent on where you started. If you were close to the front, you could easily get all 4 players, but if you were a ways back, you might be half way to the table in line 2 when the player swap occurred.
My plan was to have my wife get in one line and me get in the other for the Garvey time slot, that way one of us would get to him for sure. I don't recall now, but something went wrong and she was not there yet when it came time for the Garvey line up. I believe she was meeting me there and was having problems finding parking. I had to pick one of the lines, so I picked the shortest line and hoped for the best. I figured if I was in the wrong line, there was a chance I could either jump into the other one or make it through the 2nd line in time.
When the players switched out and new players appeared, the staff hung jerseys of the 2 players at each table. These were typically the predominant team, so you could see who was in your line. This jersey swap came shortly before the prior duo was done signing. As I was getting close to the front for the prior signing, I began to let a few people jump ahead of me so that I didn't reach the front before the new signers appeared. At the prescribed hour, the jersey swap was happening and I saw a Dodgers jersey get hung at my line. I was now 95% sure that I had picked correctly and Garvey would be out shortly. I was nervous, yet relieved at the same time.
When the actual swap happened, I saw Garvey step onto the stage and sit down and I knew it was on. I did not have long to wait at that point. I was finally going to meet Steve Garvey...21 years after my first ill-fated attempt had failed. As I reached my turn at the table, all I had for him to sign was a cheaply printed color copy of the 1975 Dodgers Yearbook image of him leaping up for a errant throw. All of my stuff was in storage and didn't have time to buy anything, but by that point I had so many autographs, my main goal was just to meet him. The meeting went fast, I asked a couple questions, one might have been if the ring he was wearing was a World Series ring, got a quick picture and my autograph and then shuffled off the stage. Just like that, it was over. It almost seemed anticlimactic, but I now had the experience to remember.
It is interesting to note that years later, I found a May Company photo featuring Garvey on ebay. I know now that a lot of signing appearances have sponsor specific items like photographs that they often give out and I suspect that this photo was used at one of his May Company appearances, possibly the one I attended, although I'll never know for sure. I bought one for my collection, although this one shown is not mine. I just wanted to find the image to share with this story, without having to dig mine out. After all, I did not get it at the May Company or in person anyway. It was simply an item that "could have been".
I would like another shot at meeting Mr. Garvey one more time. I'd prefer it to be less formal than a signing appearance, but would take anything. I would really like to have time to plan for and think about it, talk to him without feeling like a nervous kid at a school dance and just enjoy the moment. Not sure that will ever happen, but I still hold out hope. I know a big Jose Canseco collector arranged to meet his card hero Canseco in person at his home and do a private signing for himself a couple years back. I'm sure that was not cheap, but what a time he had!
I would love to have this same chance with Garvey, show him all the stuff I have collected over the years and just have that private time to talk but I doubt I would spend the money needed, nor do I even know if Garvey would even agree to do it. He is 71 years old now and I believe lives somewhere in the Southern California area. I am still in Washington, so this might be a dream that dies with me, but at least I got one very brief in person meeting to remember for the rest of my life.
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