OT: Workplace Athlete Sightings - Today's George Brett - share yours

[CampWest]

George Brett is sitting in my office's cafeteria...

Spotting an athlete/celebrity is not a first at my office, though being in KC we don't have a ton of guys stay in town in retirement. That said, I work for a large investment advisor, so we do see a lot of traffic.

Some regulars are Chiefs Legend Safety Deron Cherry and former Chiefs QB Trent Green. Couple times a year I see Gale Sayers - he's on some of our mutual fund boards. Lance Armstrong a couple times, we have a branding arrangement with LIVESTRONG... Saw Marcus Allen once years ago and just missed Joe Montana another time.

And then there is George... I've seen him here before, he's kind of a regular. But usually just an elevator ride at the most as he comes in for some meetings but usually keeps a fairly low profile...

Today, he's all lounged out eating lunch with one of our sales people, going over his investments. But what is shocking is he's sitting right in the middle of the cafeteria. There's no privacy where they're sitting and its difficult to leave the cafeteria without walking right past him. Usually, I'd expect them to find a table in the back corner.

Anyhow all this begs the question: Why do I never have a baseball when I need one? And is this a sign that I need to reconsider the Brett gu bat purchase I was mulling over this morning?

Oh well. I wouldn't have interrupted them anyhow, and would probably get bored waiting for them to get up to leave.

Anybody have any good workplace athlete sightings?

[eisenreich8]

Bobby Orr sat on my company's board of directors ca. 1988 and I chatted with him in our R&D center lobby.

That's it at work though!

[cjw]

Working for 10 years at Toronto's SkyDome Hotel, I had daily (in season) and weekly (off season) sightings and personal interactions with athletes such as Hank Aaron, Roger Clemens, Dave Winfield, Robbie Alomar, Kobe and Shaq, Vince Carter, Carlos Delgado, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle...etc. Many stories, a few autographs and some game used gear obtained. chris

[Vintagedeputy]

I worked in a hotel years ago in NJ and shared an elevator ride with Jennifer Capriotti. The hotel sponsored a tennis match.

[CampWest]

When I was 15, I worked at one of those fancy car washes, for about 9 days... Based on the location near the part of the suburbs where most of the players lived, it was pretty much an endless stream of Chiefs and Royals players. I got to drive Derrick Thomas's car, etc. Most of the guys were really nice, but surprisingly several were very poor tippers.

[whatupyos]

I worked in a hotel years ago in NJ and shared an elevator ride with Jennifer Capriotti. The hotel sponsored a tennis match.


Vintage:

My best friend was supposed to be Jennifer's personal trainer a few years ago but he had no room in his busy schedule. I always made fun of him for not fitting her in. You have to fit someone like that in.

Aaron

[whatupyos]

I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Molitor at my old job. It was a bio tech company and he does work for one of the drugs that we made. His father had a lung disease I believe and he came to speak. I got to meet him after his speach. He's a nice guy. I shook his hand and thanked him for the way he played the game....with class. He looked up surprised and was pleased that a young person like me appreciated his style of play.

Aaron

[Vintagedeputy]

Vintage:

My best friend was supposed to be Jennifer's personal trainer a few years ago but he had no room in his busy schedule. I always made fun of him for not fitting her in. You have to fit someone like that in.

Aaron

Yeah she's a cutie!

[ksuchad]

Warren Spahn Used to come into the Ace Hardware I worked at in Broken Arrow Oklahoma. John Smiley comes into my lumber yard when he's hunting here in kansas.

[sox83cubs84]

Before I dated my current and only wife, a girlfriend and I (we worked in different bureaus of the same Federal agency) used our lunch break to roam around and dine at Water Tower Place on Chicago's Michigan Ave. We stepped on an escalator, looked up, and two steps above us was Bob Gibson. I didn't have a baseball, so we just said hi (of course, she had no clue who Bob Gibson was).

Dave M.
Chicago area

[TAFKADixie]

Jim Youngblood (former Ram) works with me at my current job. I used to work at a local sporting goods store and a few guys most have never heard of came in fairly frequently i.e. Dexter Davis (Cards) and Jeff Davis (Bucs) and one you probably have, Jay Haas.

[Fraudfinder!!]

OK i am in my office and I look out my window and see someone that looks just like my boyhood idol, Luis Tiant. My jaw drops when he enters our lobby and I hear him ask for me. Sure enough it is Tiant and he heard that I was a hugh fan by two of my officers that had a chance encounter with him on the street. He then drove to my office and spent 45-60 minutes with me talking baseball with his lovely wife. What a class act. I keep a lot of my GU items and other items in my office and was proud to show him some Tiant items. He gave my a cigar prior to leaving and posed for some pixs.

26328

[70to66]

George Thomas (1967 red sox) is my plant managers father in law, he stops by work usually once a year.

[michael47]

Ralph Baker was a linebacker for the Jets in the late 60's & early 70's. He was a sales rep & used to come to my company about three times per year. On one of his first visits we were asking him a lot of questions about playing in the Jets-Colts Super Bowl in 1969 & he took off his 1969 Super Bowl ring & we passed it around the table so that we could all get a look at it. Ralph enjoyed answering our questions & it was great to get a close up look at his ring which represented such a significant moment in sports history.

[3arod13]

Harmon Killebrew visited my squadron in 2003. It was great talking to him about baseball, his career, and players he played with. He signed the card I'm holding.

Regards, Tony

[suicide_squeeze]

I was in prison last night (until I made bail) for beating the f%&k out of a GUU member who got on my nerves one too many times.

Got O.J. Simpson to sign my forehead with a female security guards lipstick.

[suicide_squeeze]

Harmon Killebrew visited my squadron in 2003. It was great talking to him about baseball, his career, and players he played with. He signed the card I'm holding.

Regards, Tony

Tony,

Is he not one of the nicest men in the world you've ever met?

That's the impression he left with me and my wife when we met him....at a signing in San Francisco in '97. Just a pleasure to chat with and one hell of a charming man.

[Vintagedeputy]

I was in prison last night (until I made bail) for beating the f%&k out of a GUU member who got on my nerves one too many times.

Got O.J. Simpson to sign my forehead with a female security guards lipstick.

I usually have a pretty good sense of humor, but I fail to find the humor in that post.

[CampWest]

Come to think of it... Hank Bauer and Darrell Porter used to hang out on occassion at the Baseball Card Store I worked at in high school and early college years. Bauer was a gem, great guy... Porter on the other hand had some big ego issues, he used to get mad that he didnt have a large section of display dedicated to him. And he used to berate the 8-12 year olds that didnt recognize him... "Don't you know who I am? How can you not know who I am? You call yourself a baseball fan? Geez, why don't you all educate your customers a little?" Lets see its was 91-95'ish and he retired in 1987 so these kids were like maybe 4 years old when he last played, and he expected the kids to recognize him even though he was kinda balding and out of shape and strung out on coke. He had some very good moments as well -- especially when he asked a kid what position they played and the kid answered "catcher" -- but his meltdowns always over-shadowed them.

[notxpensv4u]

The hospital I worked for in 1993 had a construction project being done and Bart Starr was somehow associated with them , came and gave a speech. The speech was outside and not very many people there. He asked me to wait until he was inside before he would sign any autographs. Alot of rude autograph hounds rushed him and he signed fast and proceeded to walk inside with a small group around him. He turned around when he got in and looked back for me and asked me to step up he signed my ball and asked if I wanted a picture. I thanked him for his time and autograph and he shook my hand and asked if I wanted a picture outside with better light. Bart Starr was a class act all the way.

[3arod13]

Tony,

Is he not one of the nicest men in the world you've ever met?

That's the impression he left with me and my wife when we met him....at a signing in San Francisco in '97. Just a pleasure to chat with and one hell of a charming man.

He was very nice! He not only took time to talk to me, but he was interested in what I had to say. He wasn't rushed to move on to someone else. We talked about many things, and he truly enjoyed chatting.

It was an experience I'll never forget.

Regards, Tony

[cards-bats]

Don Denkinger (AL Umpire) lives down the road from my work and is friends with my boss. He stops in 1-2 times per year. He is famous for blowing the call at first base in the Royal/Cardinals '85 World Series. I hated him as a 14 yr old growing up in St. Louis.

[CampWest]

Cardinals could have easily won that series in spite of the bad call. Denkinger is just a scape-goat. Had Porter and Clark been able to field a routine foul pop-up, none of it would have mattered... And Porter's passed ball... and Porter's short-arm tag attempt on Sundberg. Then there was that 11-0 game 7, clearly not Denkinger's fault. Anyhow, no team should win the world series with a .185 team batting average.


Don Denkinger (AL Umpire) lives down the road from my work and is friends with my boss. He stops in 1-2 times per year. He is famous for blowing the call at first base in the Royal/Cardinals '85 World Series. I hated him as a 14 yr old growing up in St. Louis.

[solarlottry]

Years ago, flying home to SF from NY, i was sitting in first class and one seat behind me was Joe Dimaggio. No one recognized him except me and the captain. I had him sign an American Airlines coaster which i still have. I borrowed a pen from the guy sitting next to me and all he said was "why do you want that old guys autograph?" Once we landed we disembarked and Joe D walked thru the airport alone without a single person recognizing him and got into a cab and left. He even waited for his own luggage! At least my buddy who picked me up knew who he was!

[pietraynor]

Joe Gibbs (Redskins) once flew into town to pick out tile roofing for his property..had a chance to meet him, couldn't have been nicer..left quite a positive impression. Jay.

[legaleagle92481]

Work: Sean Penn and Naomi Watts filmed part of an upcoming movie.

School: Bud Harrelson and Frank Tepedino had childern that were classmates of mine.

Speedy Claxton, Charlie Adams, Marques Colston and Willie Colon were college classmates of mine.

[rwoodsbats]

A few years ago I had bought a Brian Holman bat to go with my Mariners game used bat collection. Of course this bat was used in his days with the Expos. A friend of mine lived down the road from him and the next time that they spoke he mentioned that I had one of his game used bats.

A few weeks later he came into the Ace Hardware that I work at and it was my day off and I missed him. He came back a few days later, tracked me down and I just happen to live across the street from the store so I ran over and got the bat. He put a awesome signature on it for me. He seemed to enjoy seeing his bat.

Funny thing is I ran into him a few more times after that and we were able to chat for a short period of time. I passed him walking on the street once and he said "hi Ryan". He remembered my name and after we passed on the street my buddy looks at me in disbelief and says "DUDE THAT WAS BRIAN HOLMAN" I threw him a sheepish grin and said yes it is!

A very very nice man and a memory that I will never forget!

[WadeInBmore]

Thought you guys would enjoy this one...
The key grip on te movie that I'm working on is former MLB ss Ross Jones. Ross came up with the Dodgers, played with the mets and royals, and retired as an Oakland A. His biggest tribute to the game, as he sees it, is the lvs RJ 108...a barrell from one model and the handle of another, resulting in the custom model.

Anyone have any GU stuff of his?

Wade

[MSpecht]

Here is a brutally embarassing story---

About 15 years ago my wife and I were on a short flight from San Diego to Las Vegas. We were seated in those front seats that have two rows of three seats that face each other. There was no-one across from us until immediately before take-off when a big young guy comes on board and sits in one of those seats. My wife, being the outgoing, talkative type, immediately says "Hello" and asks if the guy is going to Las Vegas on vacation. He says "No, just a little business." She asks "What business are you in?" and he replies "Golf." She laughs and says "I guess we are going to Vegas on business too, then....my husband plays alot of golf." He says, "Oh, really?" My wife replied "Yes, and he is really, really good, too." By this time I am kicking my wife's ankle, elbowing her in the ribs, and willing her (Mr. Spock mind control) with all my might to shut the heck up. In the meantime she is going on and on about golf, (which she knows nothing about), my golf game (which is total hack) and who knows what else, but clearly subjects that ERNIE ELS probably didn't care too much about.... I finally introduced myself to him (I recognized him the minute he sat down), told him I really enjoyed watching him on TV, and explained to my wife that Mr. Els was one of the top three professional golfers in the world. Actually we all had a good laugh at that point, and he was a really modest and gracious guy the entire flight.

Mike jackitout7@aol.com