John, that's very cool about the Fred Rogers' book. He would be quite pleased to know it had that impact on you.

I waa an intern once upon a time at WQED here in Pittsburgh, where Mr. Rogers did his show. I came flying in the door one morning, frightened that I would be late. I looked up and there was Fred Rogers, waiting for the elevator. He actually paused his conversation, looked at me, and said, "Hello."

I loved him when I was a kid and there he was, being the same way in person that he was on the show. All of a sudden, I felt much more calm.

As an adult, I so appreciate that he was the real deal. I got to a point as a kid where I was too cool for his show. But once I grew up, I was just stunned that he was genuinely a nice, caring guy. People here in Pittsburgh who knew him say the same thing - he was just the real deal.

Ernie could only take Bert's attitude for so long before he pushed back.

The real players take dives; makes sense the robots would as well.

I can identify with this.

I'm sure there will be an Oreo/Hydrox controversy when it comes to makeup.

I'd hate to see what the practice jumps might have looked like.

"Your appearance is not pleasing and, therefore, you must pay for your meal."

Ouch.

That's brilliant. I found myself very moved.

Not at all. I realize I can avoid the posts pertaining to politics -- they're just new, at least to me, and I'm wondering what to expect.

Is this sort of political discussion going to become part of Neatorama on a regular basis? Part of the reason I come here is to avoid it on other sites.

That is amazing. The stuff appears to be in excellent condition as well.

As an aside regarding baseball players' salaries: I have a baseball program from a game when I was a kid (1968?). What's startling is that playing pro baseball then was still a part-time job for most of the players, at least in Pittsburgh. The profiles of the players list their off-season professions. I recall that one of them sold cars.