My father and I toured the Reds HOF yesterday before the game. If you haven't been to it, it's worth the $5 extra (with game day ticket). They have tons of memrobelia and interactive displays that are pretty cool. It's well laid out, tastefully displayed and a great historical record of the team.
The absoulte highlight was that a bevy of HOF's were there for a meet and greet. No autographs but photos were encouraged. Unfortunatley we didn't have a camera and felt stupid.
Anyway, I met a host of players: Lee May, Browning, Gary Nolen (a favorite), Billingham, Cardenes, Perez, Griffey Sr. Conception, Nuxie (another thrill), Malone, and 4 or 5 others I can't think of right now. Shook hands, had a breif exchange and pleasantries. It was awesome! The only bummer was that Seaver, Bench and Foster weren't able to be there.
What struck me was that all the players had huge hands. Also, they were all very polite and friendly (except one) but just oozed confidence and security. Each looked you dead in the eye. Each had a firm handshake. Each stood ramrod strait. They made an impression just standing there shaking hands!
The absolute best part was seeing my father, who is 64, act like a kid in a candy store. His eyes twinkled as he told me about the few players I didn't know about. He just rattled off facts and figures like I've never seem him do before. He thanked each player for the memories and mentioned some specific play or game as he addresed them. "I remember that you did such and such at Ebits field", or whatever. He shared later that he's never met a ball player personally (and he's seen a lot of the classics play as he's been going to games since the late 40's) much less so many great players.
The whole game and the drive home we kept talking about classic baseball. He told me story after story and we kept going back to what happened before the game.
We were on cloud nine the whole time and it was a memory of my Father I'll cherish. Oh yea, the thrilling 9th inning win was pretty nice too!