[JohnZ]

Yogi Berra - Aunt and uncle lived in Montclair, NJ. Uncle Ben designed the crossword puzzles for the NY Times (he died just last year). Yogi would show up for backyard burgers and beer occassionally. As a kid in love with baseball, how cool is that?

Jack Palance - He would show up to attend church Labor Day picnics, Holy Tranfiguration Catholic Church, Luzerne County, PA where I spent summers with my grand parents. He'd fill up on perogies and holopki, Ukraininian soul food and buy beers for the local gentry. He give us kids quarters to play the Big Six Wheel....if we'd double the quarter...he'd expect it back....if we'd win more...he'd expect a cut (if we were lucky...he'd accept not the quarter advanced nor any excess cut but he'd admire our honor). Cool guy, very scary in person....not surprising he got the bad guy roles.

Pete Grey - The only one armed big league baseball player. St Louis Browns. Can field a fly ball with one arm as fast as other players with two arms. Some say Pete made the big leagues during the war-time gap...shortage of players. But, he was awesome none-the-less. Gave us Little League players tips and big dreams. They made at TV movie about him in the 80's. Google him---amazing story. Got a great picture of him with my two oldest children when they were kids.

Chuck Connors - Bought me and my friends a beer at McSorley's Olde Ale House, NYC. I was 17....he didn't know....and probably didn't care....knowing 18 year olds were getting drafted to go to Vietnam at the time.

John Candelaria - Classmate at La Salle Academy HS, New York City. Pitcher, left hander, Pirates, Yanks and others.