A Collectibles store in Naperville, IL is accusing Mark Prior of making two little boys cry.
… and Prior had to go to court to testify. More accurately, he’s being accused of breach of contract surrounding an autograph signing gig at the store in 2004 (talk about speedy justice).
Prior’s side of the story:
Prior testified Monday that he was troubled before the event by an advertisement on Just Ducky Too’s Web site that said each buyer of a miniature Wrigley Field replica signed by Prior would get two “VIP tickets” to meet the pitcher at the event, which would last from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Prior testified he never agreed to meet with so many people, especially because the signing was the night before his first pitching start of the year following an injury, and his contract required him to stay only as long as it took to sign 300 items, the Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site.
The pitcher said he had his agent call about the advertisement, but it wasn’t changed.
I know nothing other than what I read in the article but my gut instinct tells me that the store is enjoying their day in court a little too much. They got a little of Prior and wanted to exploit him as much as possible. It seems that Prior did everything he could to ease the situation.
The store claims Prior caused the problems. Now, really. It’s no wonder baseball players and athletes in general are leery of dealing with the public sometimes.