Meeting the Gold Glove Hall of Famer, Omar Vizquel

The day was September 18, 2006, in the beautiful city of Denver. My colleague Chris Wing and I were among more than 400 participants for a national accountability conference. Making it through this Monday full of plenary meetings, concurrent sessions, and information overload gave way to a much anticipated evening of baseball. The Colorado Rockies play at Coors Field, just a few blocks walk from the hotel where we are staying. Their opponent was Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants. The Giants were favored over the Rockies, but remember being from North Dakota neither of us were huge fans of either of these teams. Chris is a Twins fan and I tend to follow the Indians.

The evening air was cool, sky clear, and the streets swarmed with fans on the way to the stadium. Now, I have to give proper thanks to Chris for scoring the bests seats I have ever sat in. Front row, third base line, and about eight seats from the visitor's dugout. Chris and I get to our seats just in time for the Giants to take the field (yes, we missed the first pitch, but that's ok). On the way out on the field was the big man himself. Chris took a few pictures of Barry Bonds and was happy, when I about knocked him out of his seat when my all-time favorite baseball player took the field - "Little O" himself, Omar Vizquel. When did he go the Giants? Where was I? After the shock wore off, I remember thinking to myself how neat it was to get to see him play again. Scanning the crowd, Vizquel looked our way so I waved. You could imagine my surprise when he waved back. I immediately called my husband as he is a big fan as well. At this point, I decided to see if I could get an autograph.

The innings came and went and the Rockies were beating the Giants pretty badly, but we still cheered on. Vizquel made an incredible leap to catch are hard line drive that seemed like it was WAY out of reach. Bonds and Vizquel left the game in the 5^th inning; the Rockies were up by 10 runs at that point. I decided since Vizquel was in the dugout, perhaps I would ask for his autograph. Determined, I borrowed a pen from Eddie the stadium attendant, to whom I promised the pen's return. Motioning to see if Vizquel could sign my ticket stub I asked, he said he couldn't, I said 'please', he shook his head and shrugged a 'sorry'. No one informed me that they couldn't do anything during the game - who knew - probably everyone but me. So that was the end of that. Happy to have been able to see him, we sat back and watched the rest of the game hoping that perhaps we'd get autographs afterward.

In time for the 7^th inning S-T-R-E-T-C-H, "take me out to the ballgame", and the like, the field attendants find their posts along the baseline to keep the crazies from running onto the field. Chris and I discussed the game, took a stretch, and laughed about trying to get autographs during the game. During this time, one of the field attendants walks over to us with his hand behind his back, slowly brings it forward while he says, "This is for you" and hands me a game ball autographed by none other than Omar Vizquel. I was shocked! I said, "Are you kidding?" The man said, "He called me back to the dugout and said deliver this to the young lady in the tan coat by the man in the red hat." Then he asked me how I did that. I replied that "I just asked." I figured the worst case scenario was that he would say no.

Eyes wide and smile bigger, I looked over to the visitor's dugout and Omar motioned to me if I got my ball. "Yes," I motioned, holding up the ball. I said a big thank you, he smiled and motioned 'no problem' and then left the dugout shortly after. I got my autograph and returned Eddie's pen. Chris and I discussed waiting to see if any other players would be available for other autographs, so we waited a little bit after the game ended. No one came out within a couple minutes so we made our way up the stairs. We had an early day on Tuesday and had so much fun already. Who do you think was coming down the stairs at the same time? You got it - Omar. Man, can this day get any better? The answer was an overwhelming YES!

Making his way down the stairs, Vizquel meets Chris and I about half way, hand out, smile beaming, and a big "Thanks for coming out. Where are you guys from?" Speaking through his Venezuelan accent, he seemed genuinely interested in what we did, why we were in Denver, and all about North Dakota. How often do you get to see your favorite ball player AND get to tell him he is your favorite? Pictures? Oh yes, Chris had a camera, but Omar had to ask if we wanted to use it to get pictures with him. Star struck? Perhaps. Eddie, the stadium attendant, happily appeared and offered to take pictures with all of us. After talking with Vizquel for about 15 or 20 minutes, we found that the Giants were staying at the same hotel as us.

Chris and I walked back to the hotel and discussed the evening's events as we examined the baseball. What a laugh we had. Chris was kind enough to let me know that I didn't have to pay him back for the ticket. What a guy! Could this get better? Who knew? We'd have to wait until Tuesday to find out.

Chris and I decided not to get tickets to the second of a three game series. Instead we decided to meet later to discuss the day's events. Not too long after dinner, members of the Giants started filtering into the hotel. Over walks Omar with a friend from Miami (Raphael) and sits down with Chris and me. We probably chatted for a half hour or so. Vizquel asked if we watched the game. We did, but asked him how he did any way. The man is honest. He said he didn't do so well. He made only his fourth error of the season, faced and got a hit off of Jose` Mesa, and played the whole game. That wasn't bad, but the Giants lost again.

To Vizquel's credit, he is interested in much more than just baseball. He is an artist, a musician, active in the community, and is down to earth enough to spend a few minutes with complete strangers that he met just the day before. I guess you could say that "it got better!" Thanks Omar! Thanks Chris!