The Team I Bought Dinner For

The Team I Bought Dinner For by gpiv

March 16, 2010, 1:31 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized

Ninety five bottles of beer in the wall.

Quite a few famous or semi famous people have made their way through Stadium View over the years.  Most are of College Baseball fame, some of broadcasting fame and the occassional pro athlete or either moderate or semi moderate fame.

During the CWS several organizations run youth baseball tournaments.  There are literally hundreds of teams and thousands of aspiring baseball players in town at the same time as college baseball’s best teams and many take the opportunity t o try and see a game or take in the atmosphere on 13th Street.

With a primary business of sports cards and memorabalia, most of the youth will find their way into my store at some time.  Some of them are collectors, but most are just looking.  Sometimes, when the place is full of 30 or 40 customers (beer drinkers), it becomes a little difficult to handle all the questions some of the youth may have.

On a particular day a few years ago Iwas dealing with a couple of particularly inquisitive 12 or 13 year olds.  After answering questions about every price of the thousands of cards in the case one of the pesterers asked, “So I’m from Kansas City, how much would you pay for a George Brett ball.”  After explaining my policy of never selling anything that I do not see autograpghed or know the reputation of the person selling it to me, I said somewhere in 50-60 dollar range.

Lights went on in the lads head.  He indicated he could get me several, right away.  I was skeptilcal.  He pulled out I.D. from Kansas City indicating his last name was Brett.  Now that name isn’t exactly as rare as Pivovar, so I was not yet impressed.  But after a while I was convinced enough to discuss a possible deal.  I agreed to purchase a dozen balls at $50 each, on the condition he could get George to leave the local watering hole he was currently in and stop by so I could attest to their authenticity.

My trusting personality can be both good and bad.  About twenty minutes later the youth shows up with my dozen baseballs, all autographed, but no George Brett in tow.  Imagine my disappointment.  Having been in the business for several years I was certain that the autographs were authentic.  But it still did not sit well with me that I could not absolutely swear to their authenticity with first hand knowledge.  I voiced my disappointment with a half hearted thank you and an admonition that the young man had broken his promise.

About twenty minutes later a man in sunglasses and another team full of baseball players entered the store.  The man in the sunglasses took them off and greeted me by saying, “My team would like to thank you for buying them dinner tonight.”  It was George Brett!

Now I’m pretty sure that George would have been able to buy them dinner without my $600.  But the team gave me a resounding thank you and George got the Stadium View greeting,  “Would you like a beer?”  He stuck around about  fifteen or twenty minutes and he talked about not usually signing autographs like this but that his son had been so impressed with the way I dealt with him that he made an exception.

There’s something to be said about treating people the way you would like to be treated.  Next time you have the urge to be rude to someone at your job or in your personal life, just remember, he may be your George Brett.

Or he may be just a rude and obnoxious s.o.b., in which case you give him what he deserves.

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