....I hope Johnson’s great performances here lately will change the way he relates to the fans. He doesn’t get bood or anything, the fans are supportive of him, but he doesn’t seem to appreciate the people who are in the stands game after game. He’ll sign autographs and stuff (usually), but I’ve seen him come charging out of the clubhouse and ignore people who want him to sign. From a low-A baseball player, I don’t like that. Can’t do anything about it, but I don’t like it.

It’s been interesting this year, the personality of the Rome team as a whole. Full of stars, lots of potential, and they (as a group) seem to have that mentality already – superstar. There are a few guys who are really friendly and patient with the fans and take time to chit chat and stuff, but those are few and far between. Even Jason Heyward – he’s bad to put on his ipod and ignore everyone as he walks to his car. I’ve seen him do that several times, not just once, and the last time he had a group of kids following him for a short way before they gave up. Just not the way to treat fans, people you (I should think) hope will support your climb through the minors, which for so many doesn’t end in the big leagues. I guess I’m comparing them particularly to last year’s team who were GREAT with the fans – Flowers, Britton, Marcial, Owings, Cofield, Reynoso, Travis Jones – just one after another.

Sorry NWFla, I don’t mean to jump on Cody; he’s certainly not the only one. I saw a great article on ESPN.com once about Dodger Day in spring training and about how Nomar was horrible with fans. Here are some clips:

“Soon they will stop bothering you. That’s what I wanted to say to the 34-year-old ballplayer; to the rapidly fading has-been whose perspective seems about as sound as his power output. I wanted to tell him that fame is fleeting, and the ability to make someone’s day - to make a memory - is a gift few of us possess. I wanted to tell him to wake up, take off his damn sunglasses and look these people in the eye. I wanted to tell him to treat fans like human beings; to remember that, when one gets right down to it, a major league baseball uniform is - from a fashion standpoint - a half-step removed from my 4-year-old daughter’s Hello Kitty pajamas.
He never looked up. He never said a word. When fans offered a hearty “Good luck!” or said “You’ve always been my favorite!” he either grunted or pretended the sentiment was never expressed. ”
Same article, talking about Steve Garvey:
“No matter what opposing players (or, for that matter, teammates) thought of the too-good-to-be-true Garvey, he never took the paying customers for granted. They remember that more than the .294 lifetime average or the 272 career home runs.
“If you look back to when I was playing, we embraced the fans,” Garvey says. “I still remember when a 70-year-old nurse was having a birthday, and Tommy [Lasorda] got 24 of us to do arches with our bats and sing ‘Happy Birthday.’”
Garvey paused, before continuing.
“Do you think that type of thing happens anymore?”
The question was rhetorical.
Sadly rhetorical. “

Okay, so Maybe this should have been under another thread, but it isn’t. Here it is! Obviously I collect autographs. Those of you who have seen the pictures I post here at the site – I print those, get them signed, put them in albums for my kids (I have 3 daughters), and give the players copies. My oldest loves getting autographs as well, and I really love her take on who her favorite player is each year. You ask most people in the stadium, and they’d probably say Heyward or Johnson or Freeman – they hit the big homeruns or whatever. From our experiences meeting and talking with players (Low Class A, mind you), her answers have been based on the ones who will take time to appreciate your being there – Will Startup, Robert Marcial, Tyler Flowers, Phillip Britton, Jaime Trejo, Cole Miles, Jamie Romak, Chase Fontaine, Jon Mark Owings.
I realize none of this stuff is required of the players. But I drive an hour plus to the games, spend my money at the gate, support the team through good and bad (lots of bad this season in Rome), so I don’t think it’s too much to ask. And I know the short answer is “Quit going and spending your money.” But that’s not the point.
In the players’ defense, it is disheartening to see the dealers show up with bags of crap to get signed. But still, to me, why buy something like that when it’s so easy to get on your own – just ask! And I know guys like Heyward get mobbed after every game, but that comes with the territory. When John Smoltz was in Rome on Rehab, he stayed after the game for close to 2 hours signing for people. Julio Franco did the same, and he was there for several games in a row.
Okay, so that’s my latest rant. The kids are still asleep. If they were up, I probably would have just ignored the touched nerve.
I’m glad Cody is doing better, and I hope it continues.

The article I quoted, by the way, was:

Dodgers fans get no love from Nomar

By Jeff Pearlman
Special to Page 2
(Archive | Contact)
Updated: March 3, 2008, 1:47 PM ET

I don’t suppose the link works anymore or even showed up….

Yeah I haven’t been as up on everything as possible lately. I know he has been really good lately and i mentioned on my last hotlist that he has been killing the ball, though i wasn’t aware of the 13 game hitting streak. I want to see him ride a streak for a couple months before i decide he is going to put up any good numbers in the future. He still leads the minors in Ks and that is a major concern. The Braves did draft him knowing he would be a long term project so I’m willing to wait on him.

Amen. The Braves have the worst OF in baseball and I’m not really leaning on the return of Diaz to help at all.