By Robert Palazzo

Last October 1997 I set up at a weekend sportscard and memorabilia show that was being held to raise funds for a memorial fund in honor of a local young athlete who was the victim of cancer.

Clete Boyer, the former Yankee third baseman, was in the mall as part of the show to sign autographs. Having table #1, I was located in Center Court, with Boyer seated at a table directly behind both me and the dealer at table #2. This provided us with an excellent opportunity to 'converse "converse with Clete."'.

Clete shared with us that he is surprised that fans still remember him or some baseball event he was part of. I'll admit that it was neat to see the number of people that were asking about Clete and when he'd be signing. Many were young kids, too. There was a problem, though. You see, next to our two tables were 2 marquee style signs, one on each end, leading to stairways that took you to the table where Clete was signing. At times when he wasn't there, a fair number of autograph seekers, young as well as old, mistakenly thought the signs were for our tables and asked us "Which one of you is Clete Boyer?", and "Are you Clete Boyer?", and "Which of you is the Yankee signing autographs?"

During one of the breaks, I brought up to Clete some glossy photos of Mickey Mantle that I was selling. They were images of Mick during various stages of his career and life. I thought Clete would get a kick out of them. I walked up to the table and suggested to him that he might want to give his hand a rest, seeing as he had been signing so many autographs. Actually, I don't think he had signed all that many. It seemed that whenever I looked back at him he was looking pretty bored and was often talking with the person seated next to him whose job it was to ensure the signings went smoothly. It was a sarcastic, but friendly comment on my part and I believe Clete took it that way since he was more than willing to look at the pictures and share some anecdotes and comments with me.

* One photo was of Mantle when he was about 16 years old and he was playing for the Baxter Springs 'Whiz Kids'. Clete recognized the team, some players and the coach. He then added that he was on a team that had played against Baxter Springs when Mantle was on the team. "Bet you didn't know Mick and I were about the same age and we grew up close to each other, did you?" I had to admit that I hadn't given it much thought.

* He then continued to tell me that he was one of 15 children (I think that's what he said - I know of at least 2 of his siblings: Ken and Cloyd). Anyway, it appeared his family was the stereotypical poor Midwest family with few conveniences. They had an icebox, no indoor plumbing and he could remember when his father installed electricity in their home.

* The license fee for appearing on baseball cards that he and his brother (I assume he was referring to Ken) received from Topps over a 3 year period at $150/year each was used to buy a television, refrigerator and other 'luxuries' "luxuries" for their parents.

* As he continued looking at the pictures, he came across one of Mick and Joe Namath. "Look, it's Willie Joe.". I knew what he meant. In another, Mick was standing outside Universal Studios, posing in a batting stance. I don't know quite why but Clete blurted out "Ha, look at Mick. Like he isn't tanked in that picture". Now, all I'll say about that is: have you ever heard the expression about "'the pot calling the kettle black?" ' Let's just say that Clete's breath indicated he had been drinking more than iced tea! I asked if he would be back the next day. His response was "Hell, no! You two guys in the front there kept all the people away". In spite of that...........

The next day Clete was back at his table for awhile. During another break in the action several of us paid him a visit. He asked if we knew he played ball in Japan for awhile - actually he told us it was for 6 years. While he was there he was asked to bunt for the only time in his career. He said he executed a squeeze play - actually what he said was that he hit a bunt that drove in a run from third. What made this especially special for him was that it won the game and the great Sadaharu Oh was playing first base for the opposing team.

Since we were talking about Japan and Clete seemed to be in a friendly mood, I thought I'd get cute and asked him if he became a home run hitter while he was there; you know, with the fields being smaller than here in the States, especially those Major League fields that were being used during the 60's, prior to the new hitter friendly stadiums of today. My understanding was that the Japanese leagues kind of catered to U.S. ball players and home runs were a big attraction and encouraged. I wasn't quite prepared for Clete's response. Somewhat indignant, he responded "I'll have you know that I hit 26 home runs one year in the States. What do you consider a home run hitter?"

Oookay!! What do I say now? I've obviously offended him. If he wasn't upset by the small number of autograph seekers, I certainly took care of that. As I looked at my feet, and then at some of my fellow dealers, and then at my feet again, I remember mumbling something about 'what "what a year in Japan did for Cecil Fielder' Fielder" and "Gee, isn't there a wonderful collection of stores in this mall??" Anyway, I didn't think the comment about the stores in the mall was much of a distraction and I had to do something to get back in Clete's good graces.

I had some paperback sports books for sale and one happened to be the Book of World Series Records. I turned to 1960 and found some statistics I thought he would be interested in. Bringing the book with me, I returned to the group and asked "Did you know that a certain Yankee third baseman had 3 hits in the '60 series and all were for extra bases - 2 doubles and a triple ?" This seemed to do the trick as Clete then proudly stated that a majority of his World Series hits were for extra bases. I knew he was back in a good mood when he asked "Do you know what the two most difficult pieces of baseball memorabilia are?" Without waiting for us to answer he said, "Something NOT signed by Slaughter or Feller. Ha - Ha!!" He cracked himself up with that one!

There was supposed to be an auction that day but for some reason it never did occur. At one time I did hear the promoter ask Clete what items he wanted to auction and he said he didn't know. And I got the impression, didn't really care.

You know, I never did get an autograph or even a photo with him!