I FINALLY MET HIM!!!!!

For those of you that have known me for a while, you know of the freakish infatuation I have for Ryan Klesko (formerly of the Atlanta Braves). I became an instant fan of his in 1995 when I saw him play baseball for the first time. I have been to see several of his baseball games and even named my cat Klesko. Tonight, I was finally able to meet him! My dad and I (Mike wanted to go, but had to work) went to Ashland Virginia where a Bass Pro Shop was having a grand opening and there were several race car drivers that were the main attraction for the majority of the 2,500 people who showed up for autographs. Early on in the evening I figured out that there were not many people there to see Ryan Klesko and we thought we could quickly walk up to his booth, get a signature and a picture, and be on our merry way. Nooooooooo!! Bass Pro Shops decides to put all the fishing celebrities (Ryan is now part of the fishing celebrity because he hosts a show called Grand Slam Adventures which is an outdoorsy show. Ryan retired from baseball after last season when he played with the San Francisco Giants) with the race car celebrities. You could not just go to get one person's autograph, you had to wait to get up to the table with ALL of them. I pleaded with one of the managers of the store to let me get up there just to meet Ryan Klesko. "He is the one I came to see, not the race car drivers!" Of course, my wishes were not met and I too stood in the long line (with my awesome dad who waited with me!) just to meet Ryan. (BTW, no I did not name my son after this man. Ryan was a name that Mike picked out). The autograph signing was to go on from 6:30 to 8:30. At 8:00 we were still about 170 people back in line. At 8:30 the race car drivers left the building, leaving so many fans waiting for their autographs. Ryan was scheduled to stay until 9:00. When the race car drivers left MANY of the fans left as well. We scaled over the strategically placed rat maze flags and became about number 20 in line. I had taken an old baseball card for him to sign.
I said hello, he said hello back. I asked if he would sign my card. "Sure!" was his response. After he signed my card I asked if I could shake his hand. "Sure!" again, with his winning smile!! I shook his hand and then realized I would like a picture shaking his hand. With all the people there and the set up of the table and line, and me throwing my camera at my dad at the last minute while asking if I could shake his hand one more time, you can only see my hand in the picture and my reflection in the glass window behind him (pic at top of blog). Ryan was telling me to look at the camera, but in my rush of nerves, I did not get turned around fast enough. Oh well, I know it is me shaking his hand in that picture:). I say he is STILL the best baseball player ever!!!