all-time bad/nice guys

[bounty37h]

I was curious after reading a story recently about a guy meeting his hero, and how dissapointed he was when the player was rude and mean to him. Got me thinking to my own expereinces of good and bad, and wanted to see others experiences or thoughts. What is, by position, your all-time nice guy, and all time not-so-nice guy Reds team? I have mine mostly made up, but not sure for a few spots because of lack of info. Sadly, my 2 Reds childhood heros headline my not-so nice guy list, at least from my own interactions with them, hope to see them on someone else good list....

[Eric_the_Red]

Any nice guy list without Sean Casey is suspect. Nicest guy ever.

Eddie Taubensee was a great guy as well. Very patient with fans and signing autographs.

[mroby85]

Brandon Phillips has been very nice any time i've ever met him.
Votto was pretty friendly, and also signed a picture I sent to the stadium and returned it. Bruce was a real nice guy as well. I haven't really met any Reds players that were jerks, Marty was probably the grouchiest, but that's just Marty.

[Ghosts of 1990]

Any nice guy list without Sean Casey is suspect. Nicest guy ever.

Eddie Taubensee was a great guy as well. Very patient with fans and signing autographs.

I met them both several times and they were great guys. Above the pretty good guys like Larkin, Griffey Jr. and Boone offhand.

[Ghosts of 1990]

Couple of other guys who were really great to the fans that I had firsthand experiences with:

Scott Sullivan
Jason LaRue
Jose Rijo

You can also add Tim Lincecum and Jay Bruce to that list. Both are class acts.

[Eric_the_Red]

We used to wait in the garage at Riverfront/Cinergy after games for autographs, and certain guys would sign all the time. Casey & Taubensee signed almost every night we were there. Other frequent signers were Dmitri, Sully, Aaron Boone, Tucker, Tomko, Belinda, Corky Miller and a few others.

Larkin and Reese never signed. They would often walk by and wave while they were "talking" on their cell phones. Not that players have to sign by any means, but every once in a awhile would be nice.

Once Sean Casey was handed a cell phone and told "say hi to my brother". So Casey being Casey naturally obliged and spoke to the guy for a few moments.

Another time Taubensee was standing with his little boy, and someone asked for his son to sign his card too. ET handed his son the card and Sharpie and had him scribble on it.

[bounty37h]

Any nice guy list without Sean Casey is suspect. Nicest guy ever.

Eddie Taubensee was a great guy as well. Very patient with fans and signing autographs.

Yeah, I figured to read his name a lot on here. Taubensee was great, he signed a catchers helmet and cards for me at spring trianing a few years back, adn was among the nicest IMO.

[bounty37h]

Brandon Phillips has been very nice any time i've ever met him.
Votto was pretty friendly, and also signed a picture I sent to the stadium and returned it. Bruce was a real nice guy as well. I haven't really met any Reds players that were jerks, Marty was probably the grouchiest, but that's just Marty.

I met Marty in Plant City at ST one year, and I have to say, he was the nicest person I have met out of any experience in my life!!!! He talked to my dad and I for a long time, adn then had NCAA scores relayed to us over the PA system every half inning during a UNC game that day.

[ChatterRed]

I met Barry Larkin early in his career. I was out on the town with a friend of mine who graduated from Moeller about the same time Barry went there. He introduced me to Barry, and Barry was nice and cool to me. Hopefully Barry was nice and cool all the way through his career.........but I suspect he was young at that point, just starting to get used to all the attention and didn't mind it, and finally, he knew my friend pretty well and didn't mind meeting me.

I went to the Olympic B-ball tryouts in Bloomington back in '84. Talk about the all-time b-ball greats all in one room. I stood next to Michael Jordan while he was playing pool. I remember Charles Barkley being there. I think Olajawon was there. They were all still collegians..........but they were all really cool, talkative and friendly. But I still remember about 10 years later looking back and realizing how many b-ball greats were in that room that day. Unreal.

[bounty37h]

Couple of other guys who were really great to the fans that I had firsthand experiences with:

Scott Sullivan
Jason LaRue
Jose Rijo

You can also add Tim Lincecum and Jay Bruce to that list. Both are class acts.

My story of LaRue is another ST story, just a couple years ago. A few hours after the game, my buddies and I stopped at some fast food joint for a quick bite, and Jason was in his car coming through the drivethrough. I stared for a moment, trying to figure out if that was him, and he caught me and probably figured I was going to ask for his auto, and actually pulled off to the side as if to allow me to ask him (I dont know for sure thats what he was doing, but it seemed likely in this case). I waved at him and said hi, but didn't bother him any further, and I didnt have anythign to sign anyway. Glad to hear of Rijo, he ignored fans the few times I have seen him.

[bounty37h]

I met Barry Larkin early in his career. I was out on the town with a friend of mine who graduated from Moeller about the same time Barry went there. He introduced me to Barry, and Barry was nice and cool to me. Hopefully Barry was nice and cool all the way through his career.........but I suspect he was young at that point, just starting to get used to all the attention and didn't mind it, and finally, he knew my friend pretty well and didn't mind meeting me.

I went to the Olympic B-ball tryouts in Bloomington back in '84. Talk about the all-time b-ball greats all in one room. I stood next to Michael Jordan while he was playing pool. I remember Charles Barkley being there. I think Olajawon was there. They were all still collegians..........but they were all really cool, talkative and friendly. But I still remember about 10 years later looking back and realizing how many b-ball greats were in that room that day. Unreal.

Thats an awesome story!!!! I am in CH, so sed to see Jordan all the time, but as you said, had no idea at that point who I was seeing. I had a basketball signed by the 82 NCAA champs, and played with it, leaving it in the rain-Jorda, Worthy, Perkins, etc, all ruined. My wife bought me a Jordan signed jersey for my wedding gift, but dag I wish I could ahve that ball back!

[ChatterRed]

Thats an awesome story!!!! I am in CH, so sed to see Jordan all the time, but as you said, had no idea at that point who I was seeing. I had a basketball signed by the 82 NCAA champs, and played with it, leaving it in the rain-Jorda, Worthy, Perkins, etc, all ruined. My wife bought me a Jordan signed jersey for my wedding gift, but dag I wish I could ahve that ball back!

I was wrong. It wasn't Olajuwon but Ewing. Wayman Tisdale was there too. So was Sam Perkins.

[freestyle55]

Anthony Munoz is on the good guy list. When I was probably like 10 or so, he came to the local IGA to do a meet and greet. We got there a few minutes late and they were packing up, but he took the time out to talk to us for a couple minutes and shake our hands...nice guy...

I'll echo the Eddie Taubensee comments too...

[bounty37h]

Haven't seen anyones not-so-nice Reds list yet, I will throw out a few of mine. My alltime and first ever hero, Johnny Bench, was the biggest jerk of all when I met him at a celebrity golf tourney a few years back. Eric Davis was pretty rude at the Reds-futures game in Zebulon a few weeks back. Joe Oliver flipped some fans off at a ST game once when they asked for autos. Paul ONeill walked by and muttered something under his breath once, and another player came over behind him and told us he knew how to get Paul back, and walked after him-a few moments later, Paul came back over, looked around, and shouted back "where is she", to which the players cracked up laughing, and told me later they told him a girl wanted to, uh, get friendly with him, so he came back for that, but still was rude to the kids. Neon Dion was pretty rude to the kids once as well, and I swear I smelled weed smoke in his car when he rolled his window down once to tell us he wasnt signing autos. I have seen many others play the "too busy/ on phone/ will be back later to sign", etc lines, but not basing a decision on them either way for those players....

[Fon Duc Tow]

Pete Rose.