What are your experiences meeting the Marlins players?

 

Do you personally know a Marlins player (friends/went to school with one etc)

Which players do you find most friendly/unfriendly? Explain if ya want.

If you could spend a day with a player who would you pick?

 

Just kinda curious to see the responses.

Do you personally know a Marlins player (friends/went to school with one etc) Nope.

Which players do you find most friendly/unfriendly? Explain if ya want.??I gotta say that the nicest Marlins that I ever met were, in no particular order, Josh Willingham....Juan Pierre....Dontrelle Willis.

If you could spend a day with a player who would you pick???If we're talking current Marlins, I'd have to go with JJ.??I think he's a pretty down to earth dude that would be fun to hit some bars with.

JJ was a cool dude when I met him

 

I love Juan Pierre personally because he actually acknowleged me and a couple of my friends during the game, came over and waved towards us in the middle of the game.

 

Mike Lowell was always one of the nicest players I ever met, him and Dontrelle WIllis gave me krispey kreme donuts

 

Casey Blake is the nicest non marlin player I ever met tbh.

 

 

oh my greatest memory meeting a marlin, Fanfest when i was 7 years old (so 2000-2001 season or somewhat), A.J Burnett and Alfonseca were signing autographs, I didn't have a pass to get on line for him with the 150 people, so I start screaming out some of A.J's stats and how he was like the first marlin pitcher to hit a home run at dolphins stadium or something, he looked right over to the security guard, pointed at me and said to him "get that kid in line", he signed a baseball of mine, as did Alfonseca, got to see Alfonseca's extra pinky

Hands down, the nicest non-Marlin I have ever met would be Cal Ripken Jr. It's awesome when your hero is as cool in real life as you hoped he would be.

Aj Burnett was cool when I met him, talked to me a little about baseball at my dads work. Also niner was a nice guy when I met him at a baseball camp along with the sheff.

 

Also I got a hit off of voly when he was a senior and I was a junior in a fall ball game.

Went to high school with Andrew

Went to high school with Andrew

 

and...... can't leave us hanging.

Went to high school with Andrew

 

Did you play ball with him?

I met Hanley in Jupiter at Spring Trainging of 2006, his first year as a Marlin. He was hanging out near the dugout and I said hello and asked him to sign his name next to his write up in the 2006 Baseball America Prospect Handbook (yeah...that's gonna be worth a lot of money some day). It was funny because at the time he hardly knew any English, but he was reading his scouting report in the book. I got a kick out of that.

 

JJ I met a couple of years ago at the Palm Beach International Airport. I shook his hand and we talked a little bit about his injury and I wished him luck...he even showed me his scar

I didn't actually know him haha, didn't play ball with him. I lost interest in sports in high school, and I was very rarely at school anyway. Wasn't aware of his presence until the '06 draft and I heard he was from Buchholz, and was like ballah. Then again he might haven't become the propsect he was until after I got kicked out of BHS.

 

Still like exploiting the fact we went to the same school :cool :cool :cool

Luis Castillo is 2002 after the game.He pulled his Cadillac Escalade into an empty area, in the parking lot and began signing autographs from the drivers seat.He was quite nice, although he couldn't open my pen.

Nicest would have to be Derrek Lee & Alfredo Amezaga.

Idiot...Robert Andino.

 

I actually know more Angels than I do Marlins, however.

Met Jorge Cantu and Emilio Bonifacio, both of whom were great.

Hollyberry, I would advise you to not date a pro ball player.

 

(Where's my jump-to-conclusions mat?)

Hermida is a strange fellow.

 

Uggla is very serious about baseball but can also be goofy/silly.

 

Hanley is also goofy but often acts incredibly arrogant. A little bit like a spoiled child.

 

Cantu likes to wear cowboy hats.

 

Amezaga would probably be a cool guy to hang out with.

Hermida is a strange fellow.

 

Uggla is very serious about baseball but can also be goofy/silly.

 

Hanley is also goofy but often acts incredibly arrogant. A little bit like a spoiled child.

 

Cantu likes to wear cowboy hats.

 

Amezaga would probably be a cool guy to hang out with.

 

 

Maybe that's because he is a cowboy. In the off season he works his family's cattle ranch in Mexico. At least he's not one of those Urban Cowboys, like Beinfest.

Used to write a column for CBSportsline a couple times a week back in the late 90's. Met most of the players from that era. And I knew John Henry from before that. When we had a SPBA team here in WPB (The Tropics) he was one of the owners (as was the doctor my then-wife worked for) and would come sit with us a few times a season to just shoot the crap and talk baseball. Occasionally, Rollie Fingers would stop by our cars after a game and have a brew with us. Mickey Rivers was also a pretty cool guy to talk with.

Well, it seems this topic has gone more of the historical route, so I'll split my comments into Historical vs. Current. I developed these by factoring the amount of times I've seen the players sign (a proxy of attitude towards the fans), observed interactions w/ the fans and personal interactions.

 

Nicest Historical players

 

12) AJ Burnett (pre-2003; used to sign anything you put in front of him, turned quite beligerant out of nowhere)

11) Josh Beckett (pre-2004; I was there for his first spring workout and used to talke every spring about how cool someone my age was rising so quick through the minors; after the WS, he walked around ignoring "the little people")

10) Bob Natal

9) Niner (though he tended to be moody, so you just had to catch him on the right day)

8) Edgar Renteria (even though he changed his signature each and every year)

7) Luis Castillo

6) Gary Sheffield (I know he's got a reputation of being an a-hole and all, but I have 15 or 20 auto's from his time as a Marlin and I have never seen him be anything but awesome to the fans)

5) Chris Hammond

4) Pat Rapp (When he ended up in KC, my AL team, I went to see him in ST w/ a Marlins hat and KC jersey. He joked w/ me about how I couldn't make up my mind, then finished off with how much he loved the fans and organization, and was going to miss So. FL)

3) Juan Pierre (While I only got his auto once, this past Saturday after the game w/ the Dodgers, I've seen him enough and know enough about his character that he's one of the most genuine people ever to wear the "F")

2) Dontrelle (Simply the best, loves baseball, loves the fans, loves life)

1) Mark Kotsay (Was there for his first ST game, at Dodgertown. I was the only one there who knew who he was, asked him for his auto. He came over smiling saying this was his first ST signature. I happened to have his first baseball card, a draft pick card that had literally come out that week. He'd never seen it before, so he was studying it and talking to me the whole time. He oferred me a bat for another copy, but by the time I found another one the next week, the company had sent him one. Really cool guy, though. From that point on, he knew my name and would come over to chat and sign every time he saw me).

 

Current Players- Unfortunately, as a whole, I do not think the current bunch of players is nearly as nice and cool to the fans as the past teams. It's kind of surprising considering how young they are, but I think it comes down to ownership and mngt not placing a high emphasis on fan relations. That being said:

 

10) Hanley (though every year as his star rises, he gets tougher and tougher. The above post about him being a spoiled child is dead on)

9) Renyel Pinto

8) John Baker

7) Chris Volstad

6) Matt Lindstrom

5) JJ

4) Cody Ross

3) Brett Carroll (Including him even though he got sent down)

2) Jorge Cantu (most of my experiences have been from his D. Rays days)

1) Dan Uggla (I've lost track how many times I've seen him come over and sin auto's when no one else does. Talks to the fans, esp the kids)

 

Honorable mention- Kevin Millar, Dave Berg, Gregg Colbrun, John Cangelosi, Jim Eisenreich, Mike Lowell

 

Biggest Dicks- Bobby Bo, Joe Orsulack, Moises Alou (would sign alot, but would be pretty snippy about it), Andre Dawson (he's my fav all-time player, but not exactly warm and fuzzy), and #1: Miggy.

 

Probably would spend the day w/ Cody bc he seems like me: fun loving but dedicated to profession, family man.

I met Mike Lowell at Kendall Toyota in 99 or 00. He was signing pictures for customers, and most were personally addressed to the kids of customers. He asked me my kids name, so I told him (since I have no kids) my dog is my kid - so he signs the picture "Keep on barking!". I really hope Mike retires in Miami and becomes a Dawson/Perez type.

 

I also met Cal Ripkin Jr once at an event. At the time, he was involved in a farm club in Aberdeen, and he appreciated that I knew about that. He said that he wished the quality of the baseball was as good as the attendance. He posed for a pic with me & signed a ball - nice guy.

 

One more - I actually met Jay Randolph. Although he was a meh announcer, he really made me feel important as we chatted. Some guys just know how to treat people - an unforgettable experience.

 

Others I've bumped into - Len Kasper, Cro, Niner, THut, JP, Hawk, (Luis Aparicio!), TaniP, Bolsey, TonyTaylor, DTrain, Anibal, Mota, Pudge, Looie, Trader Jack, and on and on. All were very friendly.

Hollyberry, I would advise you to not date a pro ball player.

 

(Where's my jump-to-conclusions mat?)

 

I honestly have no interest in dating a baseball player. It might seem like a do but I do not.

I can honestly say most of the players I've encountered have been overwhelmingly great experiences, I have to say that is one of the reasons I'm a fan of this team they don't seem to get to big for the britches. I've got team yearbooks from 1999 until last season full of autographs. One of the best and worst experiences with Marlins involve one player D-Train. I got several items signed by Dontrelle before he made the show he was nice and took time to talk to my son and was great guy. Oddly when he made the Show I would see him at games and he still signed for fans but I was unable to get him in the majors. Last summer, post Marlins, when he was sent down to Lakeland to work on his mechanics. I stopped him to ask for an autograph, but before I could ask he literally said what do you want? I asked him to sign a 03 WS program and the autograph looked like a baby scribbled with sharpie. I've had a couple of players that it seemed like an inconvience to sign, but they usually did. Some of the best for signing for me have been Cliff Floyd, Ryan Dempster, Charles Johnson and Preston Wilson. I even got Kevin Brown and Bobby Bonilla hard to get from what I understand. Of the current players Dan Uggla and Matt Lindstrom are the best at autographs.

What are your experiences meeting the Marlins players?

 

Do you personally know a Marlins player (friends/went to school with one etc)

Which players do you find most friendly/unfriendly? Explain if ya want.

If you could spend a day with a player who would you pick?

 

Just kinda curious to see the responses.

 

 

 

the non marlin i've met was david ross after the braves game a couple weeks back, chipper jones actually came over too GASP yenl escobars dad as well but of course yunel has time for no one....not even when his dad was talking to us calling him over.

 

Marlins I have met after game are Dan Uggla, Pinto(who hasnt) Alfredo and Jorge( saw both leave in the same car....I just to have jorge cantu on facebook i found him somehow but hedelted it cuz of some woman problems lmao) also J.J....damn basically every1 cuz ive stayed after games and they have pulled over lol

kiko calero is going to my university, STU

Hollyberry, I would advise you to not date a pro ball player.

 

(Where's my jump-to-conclusions mat?)

 

I honestly have no interest in dating a baseball player. It might seem like a do but I do not.

 

Methinks the lady doth protest too much :wub:

The friendliest ones were Pierre, Willis, Cody Ross, Amezaga, Uggla, and Hermida. Hanley and Miggy were "meh." They weren't dicks or anything, but they seemed like they didn't wanna be there.