Friday, June 11, 2004
Mail call still highlight for players, fans
Mail call still highlight for players, fans
Bob McManaman
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 11, 2004 12:00 AM
DO IT RIGHT
Diamondbacks beat writer Bob McManaman collected suggestions on the etiquette of sending fan mail, as advised by Diamondbacks players:
DO IT
''Ask for one at a time. Try not to cram so many cards into one envelope."
- Roberto Alomar
''Make sure you include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Sometimes, people forget."
- Mike Koplove
''Make it a little more personal and you'll probably get it back a lot quicker."
- Richie Sexson
DON'T DO IT
''Stay away from sending envelopes you have to lick shut. Try to get the return envelopes that you can peel back. It's a lot easier, plus, yech! You don't get that awful taste in your mouth."
- Randy Choate
''Sometimes, people ask you for a jersey or a glove or a pair of spikes. I'm sorry, but we just can't do that. It's not like we've got tons of them stashed away someplace."
- Matt Mantei
''Don't get upset if it takes a while. We get a lot of mail every day and it builds up and it takes time to answer them all. We'll get to it, honest, but try to be as patient as you can."
- Luis Gonzalez
SEND IT TO . . .
Player's name
c/o Arizona Diamondbacks
Bank One Ballpark
401 E. Jefferson St.
Phoenix, Az., 85004
Robby Hammock's jaw just about dropped when he opened up that letter during spring training workouts in Tucson earlier this year. It was from a teenage boy somewhere in Asia, who kept gushing on and on in broken penmanship about how fascinated he was with the Diamondbacks' second-year catcher.
"How does he know so much about me?" Hammock wondered. "What have I done in this game to warrant such a touching letter from a kid a million miles away who probably has never even seen me play?"
Hammock, recovering from knee surgery at the time, couldn't help but pass the note around to some of his teammates inside the Diamondbacks' clubhouse at Tucson Electric Park. Some of them just glanced at the smallish piece of yellow notebook paper. Others intently read it over Hammock's shoulder, word for word.
"This is what it's all about," Hammock turned and said, holding up the letter. "This. This is why we don't mind going through all that fan mail and signing all those baseball cards they send. It's because of special, personalized letters like this."
For every tear-jerking request from an innocent, young face, the Diamondbacks receive a multitude of soulless, form-letter, fill-in-the-blank demands that come into the clubhouse at Bank One Ballpark in mail bags so big, Santa Claus would be jealous.
Unit's haul
Randy Johnson's yearly fan mail alone could likely fill a U-Haul truck. Luis Gonzalez gets so much every week, he has a clubhouse attendant sort through the piles and spread them out on a table in a back room, where the popular slugger then signs as many autographs as he can before his arm falls off.
"All I have to do is sign and seal 'em up," Gonzalez said. "There's just so much, you don't always have time to read every single one yourself, although I try. The neat letters, if it's something personal or has to do with charities, those are set aside so I can read them first.
"Those are always the best, like the ones when people say they met you and you were nice to them. That makes you feel good, people appreciating you treating them like normal people. We're no different than anybody else."
But who among us receives 10 letters a day from perfect strangers that not only send baseball cards and 8x10s, but sometimes, everything from explicit photographs of themselves to marriage proposals in a self-addressed, stamped envelope?
"If it's something ridiculous, those letters get tossed right into the trash," Gonzalez said, adding he, personally, hasn't run across anything inappropriate. "I've heard about some strange ones over the years, though."
Relief pitcher Mike Koplove said the strangest fan mail he ever opened was from a man in Poland who wrote "almost in gibberish."
"I have no idea how he found me or whatever, and the letter didn't make any sense, but I signed the card and sent it back. He didn't have the self-addressed stamped envelope, but if figured, 'Hey, if a guy takes the time to mail something to the United States all the way from Poland . . .
"I'd say most of what we get, though, are form-letter requests. Probably 85 percent of them."
Richie Sexson, the Diamondbacks' slugging first baseman who is out for the season following shoulder surgery, recently proved that point while opening up some mail in front of his locker back at the BOB.
"Look at this one, for example," Sexson said, showing a typed request. "It's from this guy who says you're his favorite player and would you please sign these baseball cards he sent. But the same guy sends the same note to Gonzo, telling him that he's their favorite player.
"We've compared them before and it's obvious. Everybody's sitting here, we're signing at the table, and you look over and the next guy will have the same letter as you. It's the same note, different name."
And yet they still sign them all. Over and over.
Some take the letters home, and sign them there. Some wait until they land on the disabled list, and take care of the signatures then.
"I try to pound them all out in one day so they don't pile up too much," relief pitcher Matt Mantei said, adding with a grin, "And so far, every piece of fan mail I get, everybody thinks I'm the best pitcher in baseball, so that's nice.
"You wonder, though, have they seen my ERA lately?"
Alomar allegiance
Second baseman Roberto Alomar has played in only 13 games this season, having been out since April 21 when he suffered a broken bone in his right hand. But Alomar remains as popular as ever, as witnessed by the fact he ranks fifth among National League second basemen in balloting for the All-Star Game next month in Houston.
The letters, just like the votes, keep pouring in for the 36-year-old who is 313 hits shy of 3,000.
Have a question for your favorite Suns, Cardinals, Coyotes, D-Backs player? Click here to submit the question for one of our reporters to take it to the source. Look for the answers on Page 2 of Saturday's Arizona Republic.
"I do the best I can answering them all," Alomar said. "I know a lot of the fans think, 'Why is it taking so long?' But sometimes, people send you three, four, five, six cards in the same envelope. I wish people would only send one card so we could take care of everybody, but there's so many, you can't take care of it all right away."
Sometimes, it isn't always friendly mail, either. It can be hateful and racist. Alomar still gets letters not asking him for an autograph, but telling him what a jerk he was for once spitting in the face of an umpire.
"Some real nasty ones over the years," Alomar said, shaking his head. "People cursing you, wishing you bad things. It even happens when you leave a team and go somewhere else. They get mad at you and blame you."
Alomar remembers stories his father, Sandy Alomar Sr., would tell him about fan mail. Sandy Sr. once roomed with Henry Aaron and saw first-hand some of the ugly letters baseball's home run king received as he was chasing the great Babe Ruth.
"I couldn't imagine some of the things Aaron went through," Roberto said. "You wonder why people are the way they are. But I think it's getting better in society. At least, I hope it is."
All it takes is an innocent request from a boy in Japan or an old man from Poland or a friendly note of appreciation.
"When they stop coming altogether, you'll miss it," Mantei said. "I'm sure of that."
Mail call still highlight for players, fans
Bob McManaman
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 11, 2004 12:00 AM
DO IT RIGHT
Diamondbacks beat writer Bob McManaman collected suggestions on the etiquette of sending fan mail, as advised by Diamondbacks players:
DO IT
''Ask for one at a time. Try not to cram so many cards into one envelope."
- Roberto Alomar
''Make sure you include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Sometimes, people forget."
- Mike Koplove
''Make it a little more personal and you'll probably get it back a lot quicker."
- Richie Sexson
DON'T DO IT
''Stay away from sending envelopes you have to lick shut. Try to get the return envelopes that you can peel back. It's a lot easier, plus, yech! You don't get that awful taste in your mouth."
- Randy Choate
''Sometimes, people ask you for a jersey or a glove or a pair of spikes. I'm sorry, but we just can't do that. It's not like we've got tons of them stashed away someplace."
- Matt Mantei
''Don't get upset if it takes a while. We get a lot of mail every day and it builds up and it takes time to answer them all. We'll get to it, honest, but try to be as patient as you can."
- Luis Gonzalez
SEND IT TO . . .
Player's name
c/o Arizona Diamondbacks
Bank One Ballpark
401 E. Jefferson St.
Phoenix, Az., 85004
Robby Hammock's jaw just about dropped when he opened up that letter during spring training workouts in Tucson earlier this year. It was from a teenage boy somewhere in Asia, who kept gushing on and on in broken penmanship about how fascinated he was with the Diamondbacks' second-year catcher.
"How does he know so much about me?" Hammock wondered. "What have I done in this game to warrant such a touching letter from a kid a million miles away who probably has never even seen me play?"
Hammock, recovering from knee surgery at the time, couldn't help but pass the note around to some of his teammates inside the Diamondbacks' clubhouse at Tucson Electric Park. Some of them just glanced at the smallish piece of yellow notebook paper. Others intently read it over Hammock's shoulder, word for word.
"This is what it's all about," Hammock turned and said, holding up the letter. "This. This is why we don't mind going through all that fan mail and signing all those baseball cards they send. It's because of special, personalized letters like this."
For every tear-jerking request from an innocent, young face, the Diamondbacks receive a multitude of soulless, form-letter, fill-in-the-blank demands that come into the clubhouse at Bank One Ballpark in mail bags so big, Santa Claus would be jealous.
Unit's haul
Randy Johnson's yearly fan mail alone could likely fill a U-Haul truck. Luis Gonzalez gets so much every week, he has a clubhouse attendant sort through the piles and spread them out on a table in a back room, where the popular slugger then signs as many autographs as he can before his arm falls off.
"All I have to do is sign and seal 'em up," Gonzalez said. "There's just so much, you don't always have time to read every single one yourself, although I try. The neat letters, if it's something personal or has to do with charities, those are set aside so I can read them first.
"Those are always the best, like the ones when people say they met you and you were nice to them. That makes you feel good, people appreciating you treating them like normal people. We're no different than anybody else."
But who among us receives 10 letters a day from perfect strangers that not only send baseball cards and 8x10s, but sometimes, everything from explicit photographs of themselves to marriage proposals in a self-addressed, stamped envelope?
"If it's something ridiculous, those letters get tossed right into the trash," Gonzalez said, adding he, personally, hasn't run across anything inappropriate. "I've heard about some strange ones over the years, though."
Relief pitcher Mike Koplove said the strangest fan mail he ever opened was from a man in Poland who wrote "almost in gibberish."
"I have no idea how he found me or whatever, and the letter didn't make any sense, but I signed the card and sent it back. He didn't have the self-addressed stamped envelope, but if figured, 'Hey, if a guy takes the time to mail something to the United States all the way from Poland . . .
"I'd say most of what we get, though, are form-letter requests. Probably 85 percent of them."
Richie Sexson, the Diamondbacks' slugging first baseman who is out for the season following shoulder surgery, recently proved that point while opening up some mail in front of his locker back at the BOB.
"Look at this one, for example," Sexson said, showing a typed request. "It's from this guy who says you're his favorite player and would you please sign these baseball cards he sent. But the same guy sends the same note to Gonzo, telling him that he's their favorite player.
"We've compared them before and it's obvious. Everybody's sitting here, we're signing at the table, and you look over and the next guy will have the same letter as you. It's the same note, different name."
And yet they still sign them all. Over and over.
Some take the letters home, and sign them there. Some wait until they land on the disabled list, and take care of the signatures then.
"I try to pound them all out in one day so they don't pile up too much," relief pitcher Matt Mantei said, adding with a grin, "And so far, every piece of fan mail I get, everybody thinks I'm the best pitcher in baseball, so that's nice.
"You wonder, though, have they seen my ERA lately?"
Alomar allegiance
Second baseman Roberto Alomar has played in only 13 games this season, having been out since April 21 when he suffered a broken bone in his right hand. But Alomar remains as popular as ever, as witnessed by the fact he ranks fifth among National League second basemen in balloting for the All-Star Game next month in Houston.
The letters, just like the votes, keep pouring in for the 36-year-old who is 313 hits shy of 3,000.
Have a question for your favorite Suns, Cardinals, Coyotes, D-Backs player? Click here to submit the question for one of our reporters to take it to the source. Look for the answers on Page 2 of Saturday's Arizona Republic.
"I do the best I can answering them all," Alomar said. "I know a lot of the fans think, 'Why is it taking so long?' But sometimes, people send you three, four, five, six cards in the same envelope. I wish people would only send one card so we could take care of everybody, but there's so many, you can't take care of it all right away."
Sometimes, it isn't always friendly mail, either. It can be hateful and racist. Alomar still gets letters not asking him for an autograph, but telling him what a jerk he was for once spitting in the face of an umpire.
"Some real nasty ones over the years," Alomar said, shaking his head. "People cursing you, wishing you bad things. It even happens when you leave a team and go somewhere else. They get mad at you and blame you."
Alomar remembers stories his father, Sandy Alomar Sr., would tell him about fan mail. Sandy Sr. once roomed with Henry Aaron and saw first-hand some of the ugly letters baseball's home run king received as he was chasing the great Babe Ruth.
"I couldn't imagine some of the things Aaron went through," Roberto said. "You wonder why people are the way they are. But I think it's getting better in society. At least, I hope it is."
All it takes is an innocent request from a boy in Japan or an old man from Poland or a friendly note of appreciation.
"When they stop coming altogether, you'll miss it," Mantei said. "I'm sure of that."
