Me, Alec Baldwin and autographs

INDIANAPOLIS _ I’m having breakfast at a hotel restaurant yesterday when it’s pointed out that Alec Baldwin is sitting next to me. I look over about 15 times (what is wrong with me?) but I don’t strike up the nerve to say anything. My wife is always on me for never getting her autographs and I think about it this time, but I don’t have the courage. Mine is a life of irony. As a kid I was a huge autograph hound. Back then, we got autographs by writing letters to our favorite players. Every now and then, my dad would take us to some function where we got autographs from Dick Selma, Keith Magnuson and Cliff Koroll. There were a couple reasons why I wanted to grow up and replace Jack Brickhouse as the Cubs’ announcer but the No. 1 reason by far was so I could get all the autographs I wanted. Then you get in the sports business, which requires credentials and all the credentials say “Not allowed to get autographs or you’re finished.” Someth...