The Candy Man Can

Back when I was in college my friends and I would often attend card shows and autograph signings.  Being that we lived reasonably close to Pittsburgh most of these signings consisted of retired greats from the teams in the Burgh.  One of my favorite interactions was John Candelaria.  He was very down to earth and asked lots of questions about my hometown.  We spoke about some of the local restaurants and how he would play in golf tournaments in the area.  He posed for some pictures with us and would sign anything we gave him. 

I loved the Team Heroes Auto set from Donruss.  How cool is it he signed it "Candy Man."

Talk about lasting careers.  The Candy Man's best years were with the Pirates in the mid 70's through the early 80's.  He was a workhorse for a lot of great Pirates teams and helped them win a World Series in 1979.  He then balanced around a lot, but stayed in the majors all the way until 1993! 

Cool side note...I remember my buddy asking him what team he liked playing for best.  He said he loved his time with the Bucs as he had his best seasons and won a championship, but the Dodgers did everything first class.  He said it was nice traveling in style.