Jeter,Williams,Clemmens,Rivira,Wells,

O’Neil,Posada,Martinez,Pettite the champion New York Yankees of the late 90’s!  The Yankee tradition in my family has been handed down from my father right on to my young 11  year old aspiring major league second baseman nephew Mike!   We love the New York Yankees. So where do you think is great place to meet two of the teams biggest stars?  Famous west 48th New York City music row of course!

YANKEE DOODLE DANDIES!

Exchanging Gifts with David Wells-

First up: David Wells, the notorious bad boy left-handed starting pitcher, stopped in the store in 1998 –the year he pitched his extraordinary perfect game.

(David is one of only 15 pitchers in the over 100 years of major league baseball history to accomplish that amazing feat.)

On may 18th David Wells electrified the baseball world and the city of New York with is heroic effort! The mayor even presented David the ‘key to the city” and proclaimed (DAT –DATE)  David Wells day!

Just, a couple of weeks later, the city’s newest hero snuck in and out of the store as fast and shifty as some of his best pitches. He’s the kind of social rebel who that seams to find trouble at every turn. Who could forget the famous run in he had with a so called Yankee fan late one night at a diner in Manahattan? That episode resulted in a  stop at the station house a court appearance , and a trip to the emergency room for Dave!  So its no small wonder that David has no interest in signing autographs or interacting with his fans , is it ?. Best of all, it is a  well-documented fact that he is a heavy-metal rocker whose  pre-game routine includes a few  choice Metallic tunes turned up very loud on the clubhouse CD stereo system. What better way for a hard rocker hurdler to psych himself up on game day then with some Metallica riffs?  More importantly, was there any way I could get an autograph without alienating the lefty Yankee starting pitcher?

For a life-long Yankees fan like myself it was a real thrill to see him up close right at my front counter.  As I watched him browse, I reached down to the phone we have under the counter and without taking my eyes off of him ,I just had to call my father: “Hey dad, guess who is here right in front of me?” Then I screamed: “David Wells!”  “Try to get his autograph you know your nephew will never believe you met him!” he shrieked.  “Ok dad I’ll do my best” I replied as I slammed down the phone. I casually approached him and said

“Hi Dave. Congratulations on a great game the other day.”  When he looked at me to respond, I didn’t want to ruin our rapport and his shopping day by asking for his prized signature. I asked him how I could help him.

“Do you have a student-type electric guitar for a young kid?,” he asked.  “It can be arranged,” I said dryly. “After all, I am a true blue Yankee fan.” He smiled and we picked out a nice Fender strat guitar. As we made our way to the cashier I thought that — since he’s such a metal fan — perhaps he would enjoy my band’s over-the-top heavy metal CD.  So I went around to other side of the counter and handed him a copy. “Hey Dave,” I said. “The band I play in might be right up your alley!” He asked what we sounded  like while he glanced over the CD.    “Fate of the Violent World,” I said, referring to the name of the CD,  “Is metal to the max with big drums and loud guitars!”  He cracked up and accepted the gift. “Very cool. I am into this kind a stuff,” he said. And right at that moment, he reached over and picked up a blank order pad on the counter and scribbled: “To  Steve, from David Wells.”    “Thanks so much,” I said, as we shook hands. He paid the invoice and then looked around the store surreptitiously. Within a second, he headed out the door as swiftly as he came in. I felt like I had hit a homerun. I had the autograph to show the family!

The day we all got lucky!

Old number “51,” — yes, Yankee’s center-fielder, Bernie Williams — stopped by.  He has studied music since his early childhood, and, in fact, he even released a solo Latin Jazz CD with a dash of rhythm and blues.

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, and the Yankees were playing the Blue Jays at Yankee stadium up in the Bronx. As usual, we had the game on the radio in the stock room. If I remember correctly,The Yankees were down by a run in the bottom of the last inning when Bernie smacked  a two run homerun to win it for the home team!

The news of the exciting win soon made its way around the music store.   A few hours later when I was about to close the store, Bernie came in. The last customers of the day gave Bernie the ‘thumbs up’ sign: “That a way to go Bernie,” yelled an over-aged hippie. “Yeah, nice going today,” added another customer. “Thanks. Just got a little lucky today,” Bernie shot back over and over again to the over grown, potbellied wana be rockstar shoppers!

Bernie motioned me over and said, with a total straight face, that he wanted to  purchase A new Gibson Les Paul classic guitar, the highest end guitar one could buy. “Cool guitar,” I said, mirroring his understated announcement.  “Ultra thin 60’s style neck  high out put pickups you will love it.”  As I ran up excitedly to the stock area to get the guitar for Bernie, I passed another salesman on the way down to the sales floor. He asked me what was up.

“I JUST GOT A LITTLE LUCKY!”I yelled back to him………

EXTRA INNINGS:

A couple of years later Bernie was again a visitor to music row. I asked him what ever happened to that Gibson Les Paul  guitar I sold him. He replied “I gave it to (teammate) Tim Raines when he retired.  “Very cool thing to do” I said back to Bernie.

“By the way  Bernie ,I just got in a killer Paul Reed Smith Custom made guitar with Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, Want to check it out?” To make a long story short,Bernie added a killer Paul Reed Smith Custom made guitar to his growing collection!

Lesson Learned- the experts say its 5 times easier to sclose a sale to a repeat customer.