Burt Hooton
On Saturday November 3, 2012, Hall of Fame Sports presented their DodgerFest at Frank & Son. There were 14 former Dodgers, current Dodger announcer Jaime Jarrin, and current Dodger minority owner & NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson at Frank & Son to sign autographs. The 14 former Dodgers were Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes, Dave Hansen, Rick Honeycutt, Burt Hooton, Steve Yeager, Reggie Smith, Wally Moon, Wes Parker, Don Newcombe, Maury Wills and Charlie Hough. I had several of these autographs already so I used this opportunity to work on my 1981 World Series project. I added the signatures of Burt Hooton, Reggie Smith, and Steve Yeager to my 16x20 photo of the World Series Trophy. I already had Bob Welch, Dave Stewart, Pedro Guerrero, Fernando Valenzuela, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, and Bill Russell.
I had purchased my tickets in advance and arrived at Frank & Son at 9:00 a.m. to make sure I received my free gift bag. The will call ticket line moved pretty slow but I eventually got my tickets by 9:30 a.m. I had some time to kill as Burt Hooton wasn't scheduled to sign until 11:30 a.m. I passed the time checking out some of the booths and the silent auction. I even had a chance to talk to the BobbleGraph legend himself Gabriel Y. Once 11:30 a.m. rolled around I was in the first group that got their numbers called and got my photo signed by Burt Hooton within 20 minutes. Burt Hooton, was really mellow and talked to fans when they came up. He wasn't overly talkative but wasn't rude or short with fans either. It was a pleasurable experience.
After getting the photo signed by Burt Hooton, I had more time to kill until 1:00 p.m. when Steve Yeager was scheduled to sign. I had ticket #2 for Steve Yeager therefore, it took less than 5 minutes to get his autograph on the photo. Steve Yeager was really cool and was chatting it up with the fans as they came up to his table. The Reggie Smith signing was scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. and I was also in the first group who got their numbers called. Reggie Smith was pretty quiet and to be honest by 2:15 p.m. I was pretty tired from being there for over 5 hours. I pretty much said, hello and thank you to Reggie and was out of there. Overall it was a great experience and I was glad to add 3 signatures to my project. Check back tomorrow for part 2 of my signing experience at Frank & Son on Saturday.
Check out the photos below.
Burt Hooton
Burt Hooton and Jaime Jarrin sharing a moment
Reggie Smith
Reggie Smith (I kept missing him when he was looking up!)
Steve Yeager
Sorry about the flash! On the left side is Bob Welch, Dave Stewart, Pedro Guerrero, Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Yeager. On the right is Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, Burt Hooton and Reggie Smith.
True to the Blue!
