1987 Fleer 5

#U-117 Danny Tartabull

This card right here is my favorite autograph. Sure I have some cards and balls and 8x10's signed by much bigger names, but this is the one that started it all. This was my very first autograph.

I got this card signed at a card show at a local motel in the winter of 1988. I bought this card at the card show. I surely had some '87 Topps or Donruss cards of him, so I must have wanted a Royals card of him signed. This card is from the Fleer Update set and the picture must be from spring training of that year since he is wearing 15.

This was my first card show and, since I was a year away from attending my first big league ballgame, the first time I was in the presence of a professional athlete. So, naturally, I was in awe. My mom got me to get it personalized, and it says "To Zach My Best". But the biggest thrill for me was after the show. We were sitting around in the lobby waiting for my dad to come pick us up. The next thing you know, Tartabull is leaving the show and walking by us. Again, I was in awe and didn't know what to say or do. He said hey or something to us and then stopped, looked at me and said "you be good now, you hear" and left the building. I was eight or nine years old and that was the highlight of my life at that time. A pro ballplayer talked to me. I will never forget that.