When I was a kid in the 1980’s the best spot for baseball card shows was the Trexlertown mall. Before Walmart or Target moved in, this was the place to be. The mall has long since converted into a shopping area that barely resembles what I knew but I have some great memories of that place being packed with card vendors from Hess’ all the way to Laneco Department store.
I remember one instance where Hall of Famer Ernie Banks was signing autographs at the mall. It was about 3 days before my birthday and I was at Ralphean (Christmas Story/Red Ryder BB Gun reference) levels of excitement. I tried everything to hint, declare, just about shout it out at every moment that “All I want for my birthday is to meet Ernie Banks!”
Our weekly Friday night trip to the T-town mall, complete with a stop at Roy Rogers (who else remembers that?), had my hopes set high. We walked up and down that mall and few times and it became very clear my Ernie Banks autograph chances were not going to happen. I had dealt with disappointment before so I understood but I can’t say there wasn’t any sulking. Mom had one last stop to make at the Thrift Drug store where I held the door open for an older man dressed in a nice looking suit. He thanked me and patted me on the shoulder. I was struck with this man as how tall he was. (See where this is going?)
So the next day I opened my gifts and my brother presented me with an autographed Ernie Banks baseball! I was elated but said I was a little sad I didn’t get to see him. My brother looked surprised and said, “Who did you think that tall man at Thrift Drug was?!”
Yeah, I totally blew it. But this story gets better.
Flash forward to 2009. We’re out with some friends at the old OINK Sign K corner and this nicely dressed man stops by to chat. We joke around, talk baseball, talk IronPigs and he moves on. A few games later this same man stops out to say hello and I introduce myself and he says, with a laugh, “I’d tell you my name but I don’t want to be swarmed for autographs,” and walks away. We all thought, yeah.. that’s a good one.
Moving forward to last week when a friend says.. I was shopping today and this old guy says to me, “You see that guy over there… that’s (insert Hall of famer’s name here)” My pal had the same reaction I did years earlier and shrugged it off as old age or a joke. Why on earth would (insert Hall of famer’s name here) be shopping in my small town? So to be sure, we Googled an image of (insert Hall of famer’s name here) and sure enough it was the same guy who chatted with us at the OINK sign and who my friend had seen out shopping.
I’ve since found that (insert Hall of famer’s name here) really values his privacy, so I left his name off of here. I’m sure there are those out there who know (insert Hall of famer’s name here) lives in the area but I’d rather not be “That Guy” who reveals it and causes it to be a pain for him. Please refrain from commenting/speculating on who this might be.
Just a story for a rainy day in Buffalo. Pigs likely to play two tomorrow.
OinK!
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
I remember going to the Trexler Mall one January day in 1983 to see the guy who had just recently won the 1982 A.L. Rookie of the Year Award. I joked with him that I was thinking about drafting him onto my Strat-O-Matic Baseball team in our upcoming draft but I wasn’t thrilled with his rather low on-base pct. even though he would have a defensive rating at both shortstop and third base which is a good thing. There was time to chat because there were only about 20 people waiting in line for an autograph and I got the feeling at least half of them had no idea who he was. I wonder how many people they could get at the mall now if 2007 Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. were to make a return appearance to Trexlertown?
And yes, I loved the “all you can eat” chicken wings at Roy Rogers just across the street from Air Products.
Roy had outlets here and there in Pennsylvania; some of them had once been Gino’s, a legendary chain associated with Philadelphia but founded by another former athlete, football great Gino Marchetti. I think there was one in Airport Road just downhill from the current Wawa. When the chain changed ownership and cut back in the 90s, this and other locations morphed briefly into Hardee’s before closing.
Roy Rogers, the chain, still exists, largely at service plazas on turnpikes, including supposedly one on the Northeast Extension between US 22 and 309.
I loved the Roy Rogers salad bar.. first my family had ever seen. All you can eat wasn’t a treat, it was a challenge. I did stop at one of the Turnpike Roy Rogers a few years back and was sadly disappointed. Sandwiches in self service slides under a heat lamp and workers who didn’t get my “Was this made from Trigger?” jokes.