DECATUR - A friendship with St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Tito Landrum turned into Richard Shelby's brush with greatness.

Long before Shelby became Macon-Piatt regional superintendent of schools, he was a baseball fan. In the spring of 1982, his mother mentioned that a childhood friend in Minonk, Shelby's hometown, had married a St. Louis Cardinals player.

It was Tito Landrum, who was playing for the Cardinals' AAA farm club, the Springfield Redbirds.

Shelby contacted Tito's wife, Teresa, and wound up attending several games and became friends with Landrum.

Landrum played so well in 1982 that the Cardinals added him to the roster after the minor league season ended. The Cardinals won the National League pennant and faced the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series.

The Landrums gave Shelby two tickets for each World Series game. As a baseball junkie, Shelby had always watched baseball but never attended a playoff game - let alone a World Series game.

Shelby's wife had no interest, and his son, Shawn, was 3 at that time. Shelby asked Skip Romine, a teaching colleague at Atwood-Hammond High School, to go with him. They enjoyed it, even though the Cardinals lost 10-0, and visited with Tito after the game. He gave each a World Series baseball.

The other tickets were given to Shelby's relatives. On the night of the sixth game, Shelby received a phone call from Cardinals fan Randy Rothrock of Arcola. He asked if Shelby wanted to accompany a group to the seventh game. Shelby said he would call Landrum to see if there were any extra tickets. Shelby was told to get his friends and go in for standing room in the right-field area.

"It was a great view and I was able to meet Stan Musial and get his autograph. He was a class act and very polite," Shelby said.

The Cardinals won 6-3. In the parking lot hours afterwards, Lonnie Smith visited with Shelby's group and gave autographs. "Some of us from that night still talk about that experience," Shelby said.

Knowing a major league baseball player was the beginning of a chance of a lifetime for Shelby. For the next few seasons, Landrum gave Shelby tickets to any games he wanted. Landrum arranged at times for young Shawn and Shelby to come on the field and into the clubhouse. Shelby was given jackets, broken bats, autographed balls and other mementoes.

In the clubhouse, Shawn and Shelby sat in front of Landrum's locker, surrounded by Bruce Sutter, Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee and George Hendrick.

"It seemed so different that players who were difficult to get autographs from were friendly to my son and me," Shelby said. "Autographs were plentiful. Pictures of my son on the Cardinals bench with players were taken. I could not believe where I was. I felt like a child in a candy shop.

"The hardest autograph to get was Reggie Jackson. I was able to secure a pass for the clubhouse when the New York Yankees played the Chicago White Sox. After talking to Dennis Werth, a Mount Pulaski native playing for the Yankees, he encouraged me to go into the clubhouse to meet Reggie. I could not give up this opportunity. Unfortunately, Reggie was talking to someone, and I stayed a distance away.

"All of a sudden Reggie frowned at me and asked me in a few obscene words what I wanted. I told him I just wanted to meet him and shake his hand. He obliged, although I was so nervous I would not ask him to sign his picture I had with me. But he noticed it and signed it.

"Later, I thought that his tirade was all a show. If he did not want to meet me or sign my picture, he would have told me to get out in no uncertain words. Plus he took his time signing his name in beautiful handwriting and also indicated his uniform number."

MOREBRUSHESWITHGREATNESS

Richard Shelby's story is only the first in a series of remembrances by Central Illinoisans about the excitement of meeting a celebrity or a VIP. See the Life section for more stories.

Bob Fallstrom can be reached at bfallstrom@herald-reciew.com or 421-7981.