I used to be a host at Cracker Barrel in the summer inbetween school years, and a lot of Reds players used to come in there. I met Jason LaRue on my first day on the job, and Kent Mercker was there getting food that same day. I talked to LaRue for about 5 minutes, and I was actually going down to the game that night to watch them play the Cubs, so we chatted about that for awhile. He was a really cool guy.
A few weeks later, I got to meet Sean Casey and his kids who were there getting some breakfast. I never approached them at the table of course, being as I was on the job, but talked to Sean as he was browsing the store. One of the nicest guys I've ever met.
My best story, however, was when I sat Paul Wilson. He came up to be seated, and quite surprised I said to him "Oh wow, you're Paul Wilson."
He started to laugh, and was really cool. I talked to him as I seated him and his wife, and he had had a bad game the day before, so he was frustrated, but I told him to keep pluggin away. After he ate, he came up and talked to me for like 5 minutes...almost like I had known him for years.
To make a long story longer, he came in like a week later, and remembered my name and everything we had talked about. I sat him at a certain table he wanted, and after they ate again, he came up and literally talked to me for like 10 minutes. He told me to come down to a game, and I told him that it was hard to go down all the time, because the prices of tickets and working and such. He then said he would leave me 10 of his personal tickets to go to any game that I wanted. He also gave me his personal cell phone number, and told me that if I ever needed tickets, all I had to do was call him. I was totally floored. Me and a bunch of my friends went down to a game later that week, and had a blast. By far one of the greatest guys I've ever met.