TAMPA – The signings of these star-struck times have changed, so you have to have a game plan.
Kevin Okun, 21, may be the craziest Yankees fan on the planet, but he also is one of the best strategists when it comes to getting autographs.
Nailing such a pinstripe prize these days may be as difficult as hitting for the cycle. Legends Field does not have anything near the fan access of other spring training ballparks, and the walls between ballplayers and fans seem to get taller each year.
“The Yankees are like the Beatles,” Okun said yesterday as he waited to strike along the right-field corner of Field 2 during an intrasquad game. “You can’t get near them, and there are too many people for them to accommodate. A lot of people stay in one spot, I try to browse around and when I see someone coming, I push my way in.”
Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera are the Fab Four. Toss in legends at Legends like Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson and newest Hall of Famer Goose Gossage and you begin to understand how the Yankees are different than every other team.
Are the Yankees signing less than they used to? Not according to the players, they just may be busier than ever before under new manager Joe Girardi, who is running a tight camp. Even if they have personal contracts with a memorabilia company like Steiner Sports, the players insist that does not stop them from signing for the fans.
“You try to sign as much as you can, but a lot of times you have to be places and you can’t sign,” Derek Jeter said, “and I think a lot of times fans don’t understand that.”
That’s when Jeter said he hears comments like, “You don’t have time for us.”
“That’s not the case,” the Captain said. “We are down here to do some work, and we do have three fields all over the place.”
Girardi said he doesn’t mind his players signing autographs, if it doesn’t interfere with their workouts.
“My personal feeling is I like to sign and I love to sign for kids because I used to be a kid that used to scream over the wall for autographs. That’s who I was,” Girardi said. “You have to get your work done and then you can sign all day long if you like.”
Bench coach Rob Thomson, who coordinates all the field activity, said, “We never discourage guys from being fan friendly, but when it’s time to work, it’s time to work.”
Jeter said there is only one situation when he will never sign.
“I will not sign when people follow us, when they jump in a car and follow us,” he said. “Then it makes it seem like it’s OK to follow people.
“I can forget names,” Jeter added, “but I don’t forget a face. You have some of the same people, you know you signed, they’re dealers and they ruin it for others. They follow you home; they follow you to go eat, to the store. I won’t sign for those people.”
Johnny Damon, who signed 250 autographs on Monday in Kissimmee, agreed.
“There’s a lot of money to be made on the Internet,” he said. “A lot of collectors use kids, and there’s pushing and then you leave and they follow you,” he said. “It’s almost like they see it on TV, like paparazzi stuff and that’s dangerous. I can’t blame Britney [Spears] for accidentally running over somebody’s foot. There’s too much of this reality stuff going on.”
The reality is fans have to be in the right place at the right time, and there aren’t many of those places here. It’s easier to get autographs when the Yankees are on the road or when star players stay behind at Legends Field and the team is away because then the crowds are much thinner.
“This would be easier if I were a fan of another team,” said Okun’s buddy, Avi Sussman, 20, of The Bronx. Both men said they collect for themselves, not to sell. “It’s for sentimental value,” Okun said.
Rivera spent more than an hour yesterday in the clubhouse opening mail and signing autographs. The closer had a system. He would open an envelope or package, meticulously sign a card or baseball then hand it off to clubhouse attendant Jake Ryan, who on this day was Rivera’s closer, sealing the envelope or package.
Recently I watched Rodriguez sign for five minutes by the third-base dugout at Field 2 during a water break. A security guard had to keep fans from crushing each other against the fence. Rodriguez made the day for one young fan, signing the cast she wore on her left wrist. “It is harder here to sign than other parks,” Rodriguez said. “Some parks like in Clearwater, you can do your running on the main field and that’s a good time to sign.”
The Yankees don’t do their running at Legends. When players leave the game early, they run on a back field.
Fans aren’t as friendly as they used to be and players have noticed. In Dunedin on Tuesday several young men kept asking for $100 bills as the players made their way to the bench for batting practice, and these were Yankees fans.
“There are some bad apples, and that makes it tough for everybody,” Chamberlain said. “The best opportunities come on Field 2, but you have work to do, and you don’t want to be showing up your teammates, signing while they are working.”
If all else fails and you really need to get that autograph you can do what Okun did.
“I got A-Rod‘s autograph at the Vinoy one year. I pretended I was a guest and made my way around.”
He worked as a hot dog vendor at Yankee Stadium to get access to Joe Torre. How did he get general manager Brian Cashman’s autograph? “I waited for him to come out and play basketball across the street at the Stadium and I played with him,” Okun said with a smile. “You could say I’m 75 percent stalker, but it’s one of my hobbies.”
You can sign off on the fact that he’s not alone.