"My first IP Cubs autograph was Kerry Wood when the Cubs came to play an interleague series against the Orioles. My oldest son was about 3 at the time and we went with a friend of mine to get some autographs as the players were coming in the stadium. I had a McFarlane figure base and gave my son a ball I had brought to try to do a team signed ball. Wood got out of the cab and started walking towards the entrance. We had thought there were only a handful of ‘graphers there that day but once a player showed up, people seemingly came out of the woodwork and rushed over. I was one of the first and got the base signed, but I was afraid my son would get trampled so I picked him up and got out of the crowd. Wood kept signing as he walked and when he got to the entrance, he said “Where’d that little boy go, I didn’t get his ball.” So I put my son down and he walked over to Wood and got his ball signed right across the sweetspot. I’ve stopped collecting signed baseballs because they don’t seem to age well, but that’s one we’ll keep forever."
I'm not sure that one encounter in Baltimore even helped shape my opinion of Wood because everything I've ever heard about him was that he was just a nice genuine guy. It simply hammered it home. Now that he's retired, I can get to work on the back of his ATCRCS card. Thanks Kerry!
Great story about Wood in Baltimore. Stupid onions.
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