Faces of McKecknie: Andy Stoltz

FACES OF MCKECHNIE

Name: Andy Stoltz

Hometown: Miami

Reside: Tampa

Years working at McKechnie: 7

Job at the stadium: Memorabilia vendor

Q: How long have you been in the memorabilia business?

A: "I've been doing sports memorabilia for 39 years -- since I was a kid. We have a store in Sarsaota Square Mall.

"We do a little bit of everything out here, predominantly baseball, though.

Q: How did you get in to collecting?

A: "I did it as a kid. I started with sports memorabilia when I was about 12 years old. I started with baseball cards and then of course you dabble into different stuff, so I got into kind of everything back in the late '70s. When people pretty much didn't know what stuff was they would just bring stuff in to me. Over the years I've probably owned everything, every baseball card except for the Wagner."

Q: What's your favorite baseball memory?

A: "I got to go to dinner with Mickey Mantle. My friends were promoting a show in New York City in 1979. I didn't know what was going on. I was 16 years old. The promoter said, 'OK, after we set up tables we're going to go get dinner. You're welcome to come eat dinner with us.'

"I go downstairs, there's two limos, I knock on the door, there's Mickey and his girlfriend. We went to the old homestead in New York City -- I don't know if it's still around, but it was a big restaurant back then. There was nine of us. It was Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, the artist for the New York Yankees, the promoters of the show and some other Yankees."

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Faces of McKecknie: Andy Stoltz ."