When the 2013 Major League Baseball schedule came out back in the middle of September 2012, I marked April 19th down as the next time I would get to see Gio Gonzalez because the Washington Nationals were visiting Citi Field for the weekend. The last time I saw Gio was a few days before the schedule was actually released. As the off season went on, I was counting down the days. Despite being accused of using PED's in late January I was confident that Gio would be cleared of any wrong doing like he wrote on his Twitter account which is @GioGonzalez47. A week or two later, the truth came out that Gio wasn't involved in the scandal. Gio is used to facing adversity in his baseball career. He's been knocked down a number of times as he continues to try & climb up the major league ladder to stardom. With his attitude and his positive outlook, it's only a matter of time before gets there.
After work I went straight to Citi Field so I could be in position to see Gio again after batting practice ended. I went down to the railing in left field. I spotted Gio and I yelled out to him. He heard me and he acknowledged my presence. I waved the box which had his bobblehead doll in it that I got the week before when the King and I went to Nationals Park. I moved over closer to the tarp so it would be easier to speak to him and get another picture together once batting practice was over. There was a bunch of people waiting to try and get autographs. I told them that when batting practice ends all the players are going to run off the field except for Gio. As I predicted, that's exactly what happened.
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| Me & Gio Gonzalez at Citi Field |
It was 6:24PM and Gio came over to me first and he shook my hand and we greeted each other. He wound up signing the box of his bobblehead on both sides which had pictures of him. I wanted him to sign the bobblehead but there wasn't a good place to do so. I was immediately harassed as people of all ages were jumping and climbing all over me trying to get Gio's autograph. The security guard who was there told them to back off once he signed for them. Gio knows how to draw a crowd even on the road. While I was trying my best to get my balance, some people who were by the left field foul pole had some choice words for Gio. I couldn't hear what they were saying to him. I assume it must have been related to the PED story. Gio being the down to earth human being he is was all bend out of shape over the heckling he was receiving. I tried to calm him down. The security guard told him I have your back. Gio has to learn how to tune out those kind of people. His reaction spoke volumes to me. I felt bad for him but it comes with the territory. We live in a cruel crazy world. We're all human beings with feelings regardless if we're gifted with athletic talent.
I couldn't talk to Gio as much as I wanted to because he attracted such a crowd. The last time I saw him in September it was rather empty which made it a pleasure to see him two nights in a row. Gio wound up signing autographs for 19 minutes on this night. He finally walked back to the dugout at 6:43PM. Before he left, I made sure I gave him a business card and an envelope from Jacob Landis who was also at the game as part of his bicycle tour in an attempt to see a baseball game at all 30 MLB ballparks.
Speaking of Jacob, when I got done visiting Gio, I went up to section 307 to see him before I went up to my seat in section 516.
Stay tuned for the special post I'm going to write about seeing Jacob again.
Thank you for reading and following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
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