Nicest player you've ever met?

[Mike Ivie]

I met Bobby Richardson, the Yankee infielder from the 60's. He was very nice. He was doing motivational speaking and came to our town. he visited with lots of us afterwards and had some great stories to tell.

[slic1149]

Dan Quisenberry was not only one of the nicest ballplayers I ever met but was also one of the nicest men I ever met. Had the privelege of meeting Dan 3 or 4 times and he was always funny, gracious, and willing to take the time to chat.

[metball4]

I've got a good story.. i went to L.A. and found the hotel the Mets were staying out (connection w/ mets)

Anyway, i see Lenny Harris..i ask for auto and he says hold on 2 min and came back to sign it. Good guy

Edgardo Alfonzo, took ball and signed..cool

AL LEITER, with his wife and baby by his side. he was holding suitcase and baby. I ask for auto he puts everything down to have brief convo and gives me the atuo

JERKS!! Rey Ordonez! I ask for auto he says no! Then 2 spansih girls start talking to him and he signs for there little brother!

NOW!! Armando Benitez and Joe McEwing sitting doing nothing. I ask armando for auto..he says no and is doing nothing. I couldnt believe it. I saw McEwing have a funny expression.

I walked away and was wating for more players...thats when i saw Armando looking at me every few minutes. it looked like he felt bad but..whatever.

[LivnLegend]

I got a great "nice guy" story about a guy you may not have guessed had it in him...Reggie Jackson.
(Sporr will like this one)
My dad is airline pilot and was in NY City on an overnighter a couple years ago. He's walking down the street downtown and sees a guy who looks familiar walking next to him. After a little while, my dad (who was never a big sports fan) says, "Are you Reggie Jackson?" Reggie says "Yes, I am." My dad asks if he can have autographs for his two sons who are big sports nuts.
Despite the fact that Reggie's arms are loaded with bags or packages, he says "Sure, what would you like me to sign?" At that point my dad realizes that he's not carrying anything for Reggie to sign on or with!

After stammering for a sec, my dad motions to a nearby store and says "I'll go in there and get something, will you be around?" Reggie points down the sidewalk and says "Sure, I'm just going to walk down this way." My dad ran into the store, got two sheets of blank paper and a pen from an employee and found Reggie right where he said he'd be. Reggie asked my dad to hold his stuff and signed the two autographs (one "To Scott") and chatted with my dad for a while, mostly about flying and the airlines. My dad said he was a great guy and it was a great experience. he has lots of celebrities/athletes on his flights. Some very friendly (Tommy Lasorda, Pat Riley, Don Rickles), some jerks (Bob Griese, David Faustino). He says Jackson ranks up among the top few he's met.

[sporr]

Sadly, I've never met Reggie or even seen him in person. Have lots of signed memorabilia though Great story Scott!

[metball4]

Reggie Jackson is my grandma

[Rowleyball]

This story might seem a little unbelievable, but my family had dinner with Tommy Lasorda. It was the winter of 88-89, the Dodgers had just had their miracle season that involved the heroic Kirk Gibson homerun in Game 1 versus the mighty Athletics. He was going all around Southern California doing promotional events. My sisters and I were huge fans (well, I was only 5, but still huge). My oldest sister wrote a letter to Tommy thanking him for such a great season and all of that. Also, I was a big artist back then and I drew a picture of Tommy running out to the field once they had won the series. It wasn't a very flattering picture, I drew him to be pretty fat, but it was pretty good for a 5 year old. Apparently, Tommy was so impressed by my sister's letter and my drawing that he invited us to dinner before he had this banquet at a country club in our home town. We accepted of course, and it was great.

I don't remember much of it, but my mom always tells this one story. Tommy asked me if I'd rather be here eating spaghetti (of course we had Italian) or home watching television. I was a brutally honest kid, so I said I'd rather be home. Everyone had a good laugh about that.

Also my Dad always tells this other story. He wanted to look smart to the Dodgers' manager so he started a conversation about their latest offseason acquisition. Instead of saying Eddie Murray, my dad asked Lasorda what he thought of the Dodgers signing Eddie Murphy! He said that was the most embarrasing moment of his life.

I have a picture up in my room of me (in my own Dodgers uniform that I wore to dinner) and my family along with Tommy. One of the coolest pictures I have.

[DreamTeams]

My nice story is about Dr. J.

Had just purchased a new camera in a Sears store and had already loaded it with film and put it around my neck. As my sister and I was walking out the store we notice what looked like a Hollywood set with lights and cameras in the sports section. So we walked over to see what was happening and to our surprise there was Julius Erving. He was filming a commercial. Wasn't sure if I could take a picture so we just stood there for a while and watched. During the break he motioned over to me and asked if I wanted to take a picture. I held up the camera and took a snap shot. Then he motioned for apiece of paper signed it and sent it over to me.

Although this happened many years ago, my sister and I still talk about what happened that day. Can you imagine that without a fan saying a single word a sports superstar would treat a person that kindly. Dr. J. did.

[frozenrope9190]

I attended the Chicago Bears fan convention in 2000 with my wife and 3 month old daughter and got several autographs from current and former players. The one that easily stands out is Jim Miller. Told me that he thought my daughter was beautiful. I told him that the day we took her home from the hospital was the day he threw for 400 yards against the Vikings. "Honey, stop pushing!! Jim Miller's going back to pass!" He and his friend next to him got a big laugh out of that. Needless to say, he's been my favorite player since.

I've always wanted to meet Dale Murphy. He was my idol growing up. And I heard he is one of the nicest guys on the planet.

[Jabs]

My two easy selections for the nicest pro award have to go to Charlie O'Brien and Chuck Finley.

I was in KC for an afternoon game between KC and Anaheim about 2-3 years ago. I get there early for BP and it is raining, but I still go inside only to find out the game is currently delayed. Of course there is noone on the field or even in the dugouts. I'm hanging out by the Anaheim dugout just in case someone should pop their head out to check on the weather when O'Brien comes out with his kids. Apparently his kids don't know what a rain delay is since all they wanted to to do was throw the ball around with dad for a while, which of course O'Brien did. The whole time he was out there, he was carrying on conversations with anyone within earshot. He would talk about any topic that people would bring up. Being a pitcher, I of course had to ask him what it was like catching for Maddux and Glavine and Smoltz in Atlanta. He says it sure made his job easier when they were on the mound. He finally said he had to go. He was the only player I saw on the field the entire day. I was so impressed by the way he acted towards the fans -- he seemed just like another baseball fan playing catch with his kids and talking about the game, not like a professional player that shys away from the crowd.

Once the game was finally called (they never did even start), I made my way to the players entrance/exit. The Angels bus was waiting outside. Long before any other players come out, Finley walks out and goes straight to the bus. Of course everyone was upset that he never even paid any attention to them as he walked by. Well, it turns out he was just putting his stuff on the bus and he came straight back to the fans. He spent the next 30-40 minutes signing autos and talking with the fans until the rest of the team came out of the stadium. None of the rest of the team even stopped or even looked towards the fans. Just went straight onto the bus and left. That left quite an impression in my mind about the kind of guy Chuck Finley was.

[Cole]

I met Roberto Alomar once ..... This was back in his days with the Jays, and before his infamous spitting incident, so he was still a hero of mine..... It was at a Jays spring training game in Florida, and he was signing autograph after autograph in the blistering heat. My father and I waited in line and then when we got to the front, he signed a glove and a hat for us ... It was pretty cool ... My dad struck up a conversation with him about the weather.

[Long_Long_Name]

Nicest I've met is Tony Gwynn. Vladdy too, but he was kinda shy and my Spanish wasn't as good as it is today, but he knew a little French so we were able to communicate a little, that was great

Tommy LaSorda isn't a player, but he was still very cool.

[One51]

Best was Stephon Marbury. I met him when he was a Senior in High School at the Class A Championships in Glens Falls, NY, and he was really cool, and actually talk to each of the kids that were waiting for his auto(Sorry guys I'm only 19 so no old school stories)...

And biggest Dick award goes to Bobby Bonillia. He was walking through the player entrance to Shea Stadium when he was with the Mets, and a little kid about 5 or 6 asked for his autograph, and he sorta scolded him and said "Damn can't you see my hands are full"..meanwhile all he had in his hands was a gearbag in his right hand, and what looked like a little camera bag...

It's people like him that make people start to hate sports, and teams...

[OldGiants]

I went to a Richmond Braves game in 1988. Because it was Max Patkin Night, my friend and I wanted first row seats, so we sat in a box behind home plate to the left, where the screen ends. Todd Stottlemyre would pitch a one-hitter for Syracuse, and the woeful R-Brave pitchers got knocked around good. During another pitching change, I draped my copy of the Sporting News over the railing. To my amazement the on-deck hitter for the Chiefs came over and asked if he could look at it while they made the pitching change.

It was Pat Borders, who would go on to catch for the Blue Jays and become MVP of the 1992 WS.

Me: "What are you doing here in Richmond? I saw you pinch hit up in Baltimore a month ago. You flew out to center."

Borders [kicks the dirt and spits tobacco juice] "Yeah, and the bases were loaded, too." Long pause. "He threw me a hummer and I just missed it [meaning, "I didn't get it all]. That's when I knew my shoulder was really bad."

My friend: "So why are you back down in AAA?"

Borders: "The shoulder. I hurt my shoulder the day before [we were talking about]. I finished my rehab and I should have been called back up today." [spits on the dirt again] "But they said they had roster problems and I have to wait."

We talked a little about Stottlemyre and I mentioned I'd seen his father pitch.

Borders: "I never saw a big league game until I played in one. I"m a Mississippi boy."

The the umpire said, "You're up."

And Borders said, "Nice to meet you." and singled to center.

I'll never forget the look in his eyes when he recalled flying out with the bases loaded. It still hurt. He was a real ball-player, through and through.

I'm glad he got the WS MVP, no one ever worked harder for it, or deserved it more.

[toanstrom]

Originally posted by asamford
wow, some of you guys have met a bunch of baseball players! so does anyone have any ancedotes/experiences with Cecil Fielder? haven't ever heard many off-field stories about him...

Fielder always seemed like a class act to me. I was an autograph hound as a little kid (particularly the Tigers) and I was in Baltimore at the Tigers hotel, I really wanted Fielder' s autograph (this was when he was the best power hitter in the game) and saw Bill Gullickson. Gully stopped and signed for me and then, knowing that I would want Fielder's autograph, told me that if I wanted to get Fielder's attention that I should say "Good morning Mr. Fielder, "...in Japanese. Gullickson told me how to say it although I forget now. When Fielder came down stairs I repeated what Gullickson had told me and he stopped and was very friendly. Gullickson was really a class act as were a lot guys on that Tiger team, Fielder, Tettleton, Skeeter Barnes, Larry Herndon (the hitting coach) but i dont think anyone was a genuinely a good guy as Sparky. He was incredible with kids and seemed to legitimatly care about people.

Oh for the days when the Tigers were classy...

[kq76]

I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed reading this thread, especially the story about Pat Borders. I've been a bluejays fan since I was little, but never really took much notice of Pat Borders (my fav was Tony Fernandez). Your story has made me think about how much he did contribute to the jays and I appreciate him much more now, thanks.

It's cool to get a glimpse into these players as just ordinary people doing good things, instead of always just being the heroes on tv hitting home runs. If anyone else has any meeting nice player stories, I'd love to read about them.

[Joe Canadian]

One of the nicest athletes I've met was Homer Bush... got to chating with him at a Jays game a couple years back and he invited me to meet a number of other players in the media area of SkyDome after the game.

I met all the Leafs last year, and I must say that Pat Quinn, Sundin, Roberts, and Domi are all nice guys. They all took the time to actually get to know the fans who were speaking to them.

But the all time nicest player I've met is Ken Dryden. The Maple Leafs came to St. John's last fall for training camp(their farm team plays here) and a game versus the Habs. Anyway I met Dryden during a practice, in the stands, and we talked for the whole practise. He asked me questions about what I was doing in school, and other stuff like that... he really took the time to get to know me and my friends. He even gave me his e-mail address to ask him "career" questions... since I want to be a pro sports agent / lawyer.

[sixto]

Since I've only worked in the minor leagues, I've only had the chance to meet minor leaguers. Jared Fernandez was probably the nicest guy. A nobody named Dean Peterson was easily the guy I liked least, but I was interrupting him as he was trying to get an intern into bed, so I guess he should be forgiven.

I wrote a column last year on Brian Rose, Carl Pavano, Donnie Sadler and Michael Coleman...it's easy to forget that they were all minor-league teammates and all were supposed to be the future of the Red Sox, along with Jeff Suppan...remember that next time you complain that prospects don't pan out in OOTP. About as much blown promise in one set of teammates as you can possibly have.

Coleman had the world's biggest chip on his shoulder, and Sadler is still one of the best athletes in the major leagues, even though he doesn't belong there, but he just had the wrong attitude...always got down on the world very easily. Pavano was always kind of sarcastic and Brian Rose was, as they used to say, a "rube," but a nice guy.

[Tib]

The nicest player I ever met was Rascoe Barahona.

Actually, I have a Reggie story for you. I'm not the biggest Reggie fan in the world, having grown up with the Dodgers of the 70s, but I was working as the PGA Tour rep for a golf equipment manufacturer when I get a call from the switchboard saying there's a Mr. Jackson on the line.

I take the call and this voice says, "Hi, this is Reggie Jackson and I'd like to know if you'll help me with something." I swear to God I almost said, "Yeah, right, and I'm Mickey Mantle."

Instead I said, "THE Reggie Jackson? 563 home runs Reggie Jackson?"

And he says "Yeah, that's me."

"Three homers in the World Series Reggie Jackson?"

And he says," You know, I hit a home run on the first pitch in my first at bat the next season, so I actually hit four home runs on four pitches."

And I think: Am I really having this conversation?

So he wants a set of our clubs (which he has played for years, it turns out) sent to a buddy of his who has a golf phenom for a son. I say no problem and take his info, which included his personal phone number, by the way (awesome!).

He says, "What can I do to thank you?" Trying to be professional, I say, "I'm just doing my job, Mr. Jackson, so you don't owe me anything." He says, "O.K then."

Then panic set in as I sensed my opportunity slipping away. "But if a couple of signed baseballs appeared on my desk, I wouldn't say no," I say with a small chuckle. "O.K. then," he says.

A few days later I get a thank you note on his personal stationery, two signed balls ("Reggie Jackson HOF '93") and two tickets to the upcoming Angels/Yankee game in Anaheim where he was going to throw out the first pitch. I took my Dad, had a great time.

I spoke to him many times since then, until I left the company, and he was always cool. He's still arrogant, but his charisma can disarm you.

[Rasmuth]

In 1975 my family lived in Des Moines, Iowa and we took a trip to Kansas City to go see the Royals play the Red Sox. We happened to stay at the same hotel the Red Sox were staying at so invariably we ran into some of them.

I was hoping to run into Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice or Fred Lynn but I didn't.

I really don't remember much but I do remember Carlton Fisk basically ignoring everybody but then he was having his breakfast.

At one point my little brother and I walked out of the front door of the hotel and literally ran into Luis Tiant. I recognized him immediatley and held out a program for him to sign. What a sight he was...remember this was the 70's so fashion was ugly enough but he was larger than life. He looked like a pimp with some sort of garish hat and a huge feather sticking out of it. He spoke only spanish to us but he laughed constantly. I remember being in awe yet a little scared of him. He signed his name for us and went on his way.

Another player I remember meeting was Jim Willoughby, a relief pitcher who actually had a decent season with the Sox that year. I saw him looking around as other players were signing autographs so I went up to him and asked him if he played for the Sox and he replied yes. I had no idea who he was until I read his signature but he seemed uncomfortable with the whole concept. He was very nice though.

I met various White Sox minor league players when I lived in Des Moines because the Iowa Oaks played there but the only one I remember is Ken Kravec who pitched for the White Sox in the later 70's and actually won 15 games in 1979.