May I have one, too?

Today we took the kids to the local baseball stadium for a picnic put on by United Way. There is a minor league baseball team that plays in Binghamton and some of their players were there at the picnic to help out with the kids by doing some baseball-related activities. Two players were autographing baseballs for the kids. I decided that I needed one and so I went up to the table where they were sitting and got a ball from them. I have to say that those young men from the team who were at the picnic were an uncommonly good looking bunch, too. That's always an added bonus. I really like athletes and have since I was quite young, so I enjoyed being around them today. ;)

When I was in junior high school my dad took me to Montreal to see the Dodgers play a 3-game series against the Expos. We stayed at the same hotel that the Dodgers stayed at and saw some of them in the lobby. One of the players we saw there in the lobby I had seen once before in person. We were at the airport in Los Angeles one night to pick up my sister from a trip to the Dominican Republic when I looked up and saw someone I recognized. I said something to my family and my dad looked over and confirmed that I saw who I thought I saw and then he went over to talk to him. Turns out his mother was on the same flight as my sister. That was cool. (The player in question was Ramon Martinez, who was pitching for the Dodgers at the time; he is now probably best remembered as Pedro Martinez's older brother, although he was a good pitcher in his day.) It was even more cool to see more players in the lobby of the hotel, but even then I would never approach any to speak to them. Mike Piazza was playing for the Dodgers then and I think I would have wanted to disappear out of delight and fear if he ever came through the lobby when we were there, but he did not, much to my disappointment. I don't think I have the courage to do more than ask a minor league player for an autographed baseball now and I am much more bold than I was back then!