CJ Wilson – At Halo 3 Tournament a year ago, didn’t talk to him much. Seemed nice.

Kam Loe – entertained my suggestion of a grassroots effort to call Jason Botts “RoBotts” because everyone likes Robots. Not in agreement, but listened nonetheless.

Jim Sundberg – in Hicks’ booth a couple of years ago, very willing to chat. But that could have been because we were in the owner’s booth.

Tom Grieve – at Spring Training a couple of years ago – outside the concourse stand for a barbecue sandwich; he actually talked to me so long I had to cut him off to go retreive my sandwich when it was ready. The sandwich guy was yelling and yelling for me to get my sandwich, I felt bad, but TAG was great.

My grandfather managed a hunting and fishing store off of Cooper and 20 in Arlington a while back and a lot of the former Rangers were frequents. Gino Petralli routinely reserved tickets for us at the old ballpark in the Rangers family and wives section. Gino actually told an usher to “kiss my…” before a game while trying to get us a signed baseball from the clubhouse before a game when the usher tried to forcefully move us to our seats.

Unfortunate events led to several past Rangers to attend my father’s funeral in 1993 and subsequent memorial at my grandparents house. Jeff Russell is absolute greatness as is John. Bobby Witt was always full of jokes just like Inky. Brad Arnsburg was cool… not much in way of conversation with a (then) 10 year old.

Kenny Rogers was okay, quite short personality wise. HUGE hands, especially to a young person. He was in town with the Yankees a while back with Bobby Wickman. Wickman was very cool, funny guy. And yes, he curveball/slider was definitely a product of his missing his right index fingertip. Sorta freaked me out back then when I shook his hand, but I fought through it.

I’ve been hunting with the great Bobby Brower. Told me how horrified he was when he was at Duke playing RB and got laid out, breaking his ribs, in the Big House in Ann Arbor and heard 90k plus fans cheering at it.

Kevin Reimer was also a very funny guy and was very genuine.

To this day, I have got to say my all time favorite was Jeff Russell though. He was the ultimate at the funeral/memorial telling me that if I ever needed anything to let my grandparents know to get in touch with him. He was with the Red Sox at the time I believe, possibly Cleveland.

in spring training. I ran into Steve Buechele buying appliance at the Best Buy at Cooper and 20 in Arlington.

I met Kenny Rogers when he was the grand marshal of the Pantego 4th of July parade in about 1987 or something like that.

Just off the top of my head- I know there are a few more:

Mitch Williams- fan apprecation day, got an autograph

Bobby Witt- ditto

Nelson Norman- autograph signing at JC Penney’s in 1978

Nick Masset- Newberg event

Mark Teixeira- Newberg event

Hank Blalock- Newberg event

Ian Kinsler- Newberg event

Chris Davis- Newberg book release, last December

Joaquin Benoit- Winter Carnival, autograph signing

I can’t say that I said more than a few words to any of them. I have talked a couple times to Thomas Diamond, and thought he was a really good guy. I’ve also talked to Showalter (about what you’d expect), Daniels (very nice), and met Josh Lewin and Eric Nadel.

One of my aunt’s stepsons (I guess that makes him my step-cousin) played ball at Mississippi State on the same team as Palmeiro and Will Clark.

Met and had beers with Mench, Ricardo Rodriguez, Juando, and Jerry Narron at various times at a bar in Arlington.

Well I’ve “met” dozens of them getting signatures, but the only one that would qualify as really meeting him is David Dellucci who talked to me for a few minutes. As some may know, he sent me a bat + various signatures in exchange for the art I did of him.

But I’ve met a lot of Astro’s, Mets, Cubs, and Yankees

Piazza is the one guy that stands out as a cool guy to hang out with.

I got to spend some time in the 2002 season I think it was talking with Scott Sheldon when I went on a trip to Oakland. He was a really nice guy and I enjoyed just chatting baseball with him. It turns out that that day Scott had like a career day, he went I think 3-4 with a home run and 3 rbis.

Very cool guy. The Girl and I were walking out of Coors field after a Rangers/Rockies game and we were walking next to him as he was wheeling his luggage with him. Talked to him quote a bit – Girl went on about how she picked up DeRosa on her fantasy team. I was curious as to where he was staying so I asked and that pretty much ended the conversation since I suppose I came off as a homicidal stalker.

Worked some camps in NY with Howard Johnson and Bobby Ojeda. Two awesome guys. Bobby definitely seems like he would have been intimidating on the mound. He was before my time so maybe some old folk would know better then me ;)

Or met as in they know you by name and actually remember you when they see you? I think all but Milton Bradley and Jason Jennings fit in the 1st category and about half the team in the second.

Coolest, in my opinion and in no particular order:

- Joaquin Benoit (how can you not love a guy who digs a styrofoam cup out of the garbage and gives it to you because it had Kelly’s name on it and he thought you’d think it was a cool collectible. I refused to take it at first until I realized how proud he was of himself and then I had to take it.)

—Hank Blalock: Very quiet and shy until you get to know him, but he’s actually hilarious when he warms up to you.

—Chris Davis: I can’t say enough about him.

—David Murphy: I’d like him even if he weren’t a Red Sox! :-)

—Taylor, Josh Rupe, Kam, Joaquin Arias, Nelson, Scott Feldman and Mike Young all get the cool nod as well.

—I know I am in the minority, but I also really liked Mark Teix. He always made a point of asking me how the RedHawks were doing every time I saw him. Oh, and speaking of that trade, Ron Mahay was extremely nice and friendly as well.

—I join in with everyone who loves TAG, he is friendly. Dom Chiti was nice also. Rusty Greer is also always nice at all the Rangers events.

To be truthful, I think just about all Rangers (minors and majors) are nice. The only ones who weren’t friendly were the Rodriguez’ (though I’ve been assured I caught Pudge on a bad day). I also didn’t think Nix was very nice on his way up, but he seemed to mellow a little on his way down.

Hey, see that…I actually said something nice about the Rangers! :-) LOL

Bobby Witt, Nolan Ryan, Inky, Larry Parrish, and the early 90s first round pick from Waco, can’t remember his name right off hand, i had a card collectors store in Waco from 1988 to 1992 and we did several shows here and in Dallas and met them all at that time, except Nolan, that was at a Lions Club Event a few years ago.

matt whiteside
darren oliver
benji gil

trainer ray ramirez

lance nix
coco

how many nights did i hang with these guys at arlington watering holes after games???

i dated a couple of cowboy cheerleaders, and somehow we ended up hanging out with players a lot too

others i forget

jose canseco – loser

kevin kennedy

our season tickets are adjacent to the dugout, so that helps too.

i know a few guys from other teams

but no rangers. Ive met many Twins prospects as well as O’s prospects because of The Rochester Red Wings AAA Affliate.

met cj at ticketstock when i got an autograph , and i saw john burkett after a game when he played for the giants.

ive met more nfl and nhl players than mlb players for some reason

Jim Sundberg when I was about 10 years old and Rusty Greer about 10 years ago. I met them both at autograph appearances. I have seen other pro athletes around town doing normal stuff like eating dinner or shopping and I didn’t feel the need bother them in their personal lives. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why people do that. And worse yet, why they then feel the need to tell everyone what a jackass a guy was because he didn’t want to sign an autograph while eating dinner with his family.

Rusty Greer was the first I met. He spoke at a Rotary Club thing I was covering a few years ago. He was really personable and he answered some tough questions during the Q and A. I liked him a lot. I never got to see him play (I became a Rangers fan too late), but I have a lot of respect for him.

Jason Botts was second — at Fan Appreciation Day in 2005. My friend was trying to take our picture and she couldn’t get the camera to work. He didn’t fuss at all, he was just like, “that’s cool…there’s no hurry,” as he stood there with his arm around me, ready for the picture. He also had some fun with my homemade fan shirt that paid homage to Kameron Loe.

At a Christmas Toys for Tots thing, I briefly met Tom Grieve, Steve Buchele, Kevin Mench and David Dellucci. It was too quick for them to have really left lasting impressions, but I’ve always said Dellucci is one of the nicest guys.

At the Sluggers of the West Awards Dinner in 2006, my friend and I sat with Josh Lewin. He was super friendly and a lot of fun to talk to. He was also helpful in urging us to seek out various players. That night I got to meet Kam Loe (my fave!!!!) for the first time, and he was very gracious and friendly. We also met Thomas Diamond (and I echo the sentiments about him above) and Gary Matthews Jr., who was actually very nice and insisted on a picture with each of us and then one with both of us.

I went to the airport to welcome the team home from spring training. They were all in sour moods, having lost a tough game that afternoon, so NONE of them came over to greet the fans. Jon Daniels and Buck Showalter did though. They were both pretty nice.

During the 2006 season, I met Kevin Mench (yes again…he had more time to talk this time and I thought he was nice), Ian Kinsler (super nice and eager to sign autographs and take pics), Laynce Nix (he and I actually e-mailed back and forth for awhile) and Michael Young (he stood and signed autographs for a long time).

During the 2007 season, I met Willie Eyre (super sweet), Brad Wilkerson (friendly enough) and C.J. Wilson (it took me THREE different cities and eight games to get him to stop and sign, so I was not super impressed) along with minor leaguers Tug Hulett (adore him so much…I watched several games with his grandpa and had a BLAST), Nate Gold (one of the nicest guys I’ve met yet), Chris Baker (very quiet, but nice), Freddy Guzman (wasn’t too eager to sign), A.J. Murray (quiet, but friendly enough) and Wes Littleton (he cracked me up!).

This year, I got autographs from Josh Hamilton and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Both were cordial, but not really overly friendly. I also met several more AAA boys — Ryan Roberts, Casey Benjamin and John Mayberry Jr. Mayberry seems kind of shy, but they were all nice and appreciative of the photos I gave them. Benjamin was actually stunned that I was just giving the pictures to him. I exchanged greetings with Taylor Teagarden and Nelson Cruz, and both were friendly enough. I also got to have a lengthy (albeit one-sided) discussion with Sidney Ponson when he was in AAA. He did most of the talking, I just said “no thanks” a lot.

All in all, I think I’ve done pretty well in my four seasons as a Rangers fan. I still want to meet David Murphy, Scott Feldman, Chris Davis and Max Ramirez among several other minor leaguers.

Back in ’93, two high school buddies and myself made the trip to Port Charlotte. One of the guys had an inside connection through Tom Scheiffer (spelling?). Some we got a tour of the clubhouse. We walked in and right there on the phone of Nolan (before the days of cell phones).

We then got to go into the family area near the field. Palmeiro, Canseco, and Gonzalez were all out there family members. We weasled our way in for a few pictures. We also got our picture made with Joe Macko…I think that was the guy.

So we really didn’t meet any of them, just breathed their air.

And no, I didn’t see anyone getting injected in the buttocks….

Met Geno Petralli and Jeff Russel at the Christmas Parade in Breckenridge (my hometown) back in the late 80’s.

Talked to George Bush, when he owned the Rangers, numerous times as a kid. Our season tickets were about 2 rows behind the “Owners Box” at the old stadium.

Met Ian Kinsler at the Galleria in Dallas about 6 months ago. He was buying a huge ass TV.

Talked to Neftali Feliz and Dutch for about 10 minutes at a Riders game about 2 weeks ago.

And the best moment, got to talk to Josh Hamilton for about 10 minutes before one of the Yankee games in May? It was right after the Sports Illustrated issue came out and I was getting him to sign it. My seats were right by the aisle that they close off for autographs during batting practice and he stood and talked to me while he signed for the other people. Really cool guy and I couldn’t believe how down to earth he was and how he genuinely appreciated me standing and just talking baseball with him. Nothing about his past, just baseball.

If you mean autographs and a few words I’ve probably met a hundred over the years from Nolan Ryan to Pudge. Even had a few conversations.

My wife and I went to the grand opening of a bow range in Burleson where Ruben Sierra was the invited guest. I guess they forgot to advertise it much because virtually nobody showed up but Ruben. We got some autographs and kind of felt sorry for him sitting there by himself. So we engaged him in conversation for something like a half hour and then just had to leave. He spoke just enough English that we could talk – kind of. A real gentleman.

Gave a “carpe diem” type testimony to my jr. high sunday school class.
Said his pet peeve was guys who took called strike 3’s in big situations.
Gotta take your swings when the opportunity demands it, said Jim.
His ERA fatally ballooned soon thereafter. I blame my youth minister.