Since there is no baseball I wanted to share one of the best baseball stories of my life. In 1995, I was a sophomore in college and my summer job was on the @Braves ground crew - yes the year we won the WS. One Sat night game against the @Rockies (8-12-95) the Braves lost 16-4.

We were usually there for an hour or so after the end of the game repairing/preparing for an early Sunday arrival. At the old Fulton Cty Stadium, we would walk up the tunnel through the player parking lot to the employee lot and then exit on to Hank Aaron Drive (then Capital Ave)

That night, I happened to pull out into traffic behind David Justice in his brand new blacked out Acura NSX. It was bumper to bumper and we were at a complete stop. I should also add that I was wearing a @GTBaseball camp shirt with the sleeves cut out and my Braves hat backwards.

It was 95 so I was probably listening to music with all the windows down and sunroof open. DJ makes a left headed up to 75 (towards where the torch is now) and all the people that had been waiting by the tunnel for autographs see him pull out and are screaming at him to sign.

DJ doesn’t oblige the fans. Picture about 50-60 people all on the sidewalk leaning over those metal police barriers separating the people from the cars. After a few minutes of not moving an inch a kid prob 12/13 motions to me, holds up a ball and says “will you sign?” Ummmmmm..

I was a 19 yr old kid that never played any baseball after high school that was living a fantasy summer by working for the team I had loved since I was old enough to remember. I’ve never signed an autograph In my life unless you count the pages of signatures I doodled in school.

Sure little fella! He tosses his ball and a pen a few feet into my window and I roll out an “Allen Johnson #11” awkwardly onto the ball with my left hand. 11 was my HS baseball # Btw. The mass of people at DJ’s car see this exchange and are now focused all on me. I got nervous.

It was game on! For the next 10-15 minutes I signed autographs while sitting in traffic. I signed hats, ticket stubs, programs, balls and even a bat. I thought for sure someone on the crew was gonna see me and blow my cover. Kids and Adults were yelling sir, PLEASE sign!

I actually said “calm down guys, I’ll get to everyone.” Then the questions started. Uh-Oh. “You’re not in the program - who are you? “What position do you play?” After a bit I remembered Charlie O’Brien was currently wearing 11 - so then I started signing “Allen Johnson #2”

#2 was Rafael Belliard btw. I said “I’m a SS and had just gotten called up from Richmond”. It was my first game with the team. The Braves had made a trade at the deadline for a “player to be named later”- I claimed that was me - which clearly was not. Traffic started to roll.

I signed a few last items, thanked everyone for this experience and made my way home. That moment was truly one of the coolest moments of my life. Slightly misleading? Yes. A baseball fans dream? 100%. For years I would check eBay for something I had signed and never found -

Anything I signed. My question to the Braves universe is there any chance someone is still in possession of an autograph from August of 1995 where they met a “player to be named later” in traffic?? That would be amazing and hilarious. Be safe everyone. Baseball will be back!!

I’m gonna need some help from @23davidjustice @FOXSportsBraves @Braves @mlb @BravesRadioNet @JohnKincade @buckbelue8 and @680TheFan @barstoolsports on this one.

Here is a pic of me and Tony Gwynn from that summer on the ground crew. He was mad cause they weren’t allowed to take BP on the field because of rain. Hey @BaseballBros any chance you could spread the story from this thread and see if we can find some of my autographed stuff?

@bdevore7 you remember this??