Autograph Try Was His First--and His Last

The man who accused California Angels star Reggie Jackson of choking him in a downtown tavern says it was the first time he ever had asked for an autograph--”and the last.”

“The signature was not worth it,” said Donald Weimer. “I’ve always been a bigger basketball fan.”

Weimer commented to the Milwaukee Journal after Milwaukee County Dist. Atty. Michael McCann held an informal fact-finding session to discuss the Saturday incident. Jackson, who was with his team in Boston, did not attend, but was represented by an attorney.

The 39-year-old baseball player was sitting with some teammates watching a baseball game telecast at Major Goolsby’s bar when Weimer asked for an autograph, the unemployed 26-year-old office worker said.

Jackson grabbed him by the throat, said Weimer, who said his bruised eyelid and four stitches on his chin were the result of the incident.

Weimer, who says he drank about nine beers before confronting Jackson, said the incident began when he told a cook at the tavern, “get me one,” as the cook approached Jackson for an autograph.

Jackson signed a paper plate for the cook, who gave it to Weimer, Eisenberg said.

Weimer’s companion, Scott Hetland, suggested that they ask Jackson to autograph their tickets from Saturday’s Angels-Brewers game, which they had attended, said Weimer’s attorney Alan Eisenberg.

“I said, ‘Mr. Jackson, sir, could you please?’--and that’s all I got out,” Weimer said, referring to Jackson’s response.