Felix Hernandez the Human Being

by I'mSureI'veSeenWorse on Sep 3, 2011 10:08 PM PDT

So I've never done this before but I wanted to share my experience at the game today. I hope this post is in the right place. If it's not, I apologize. Now please don't give up on my story because I'm dragging out an introduction. My bad.

As I've gotten older I've lost the desire to get autographs before baseball games. This weekend, however, I visited the Oakland Coliseum with my nephews and niece. My nephews are huge fans. One is six years old and one is almost three. We came to the game early and even though the team wasn't out taking batting practice, the pitchers still came out to play catch. I went down to the field level with my nephews as they waited patiently for Felix, politely accepting autographs from Tom Wilhelmsen and Anthony Vasquez. Finally Felix made it over to us first as my six year old nephew was by far the loudest one yelling for him.

As he signed the the first ball he started interacting with my nephews. The first thing my nephew said was, "Felix, I'm going to be Larry Bernandez for Halloween!" Felix responded with a smile, "Really? Me too!" Then he signed my two year old nephew's Felix t-shirt (and ball per his innocent request). The way he interacted was completely different from any other player I've ever seen. He made eye contact, he initiated conversation. My niece, very shy and probably slightly blinded by his huge earrings, looked up at him and simply said, "Hi..." I expected him to leave her alone but instead he smiled and said, "Hey, why so serious?!" After this short period of time, my niece came away very excited that he talked to her and my nephews got to high five their idol as he walked away.

I know this isn't the most amazing story and I know I'm the worst story teller. I realize this. But I just wanted to do my part to illustrate why Felix is so great. Yeah, he's a dominant, Cy Young caliber pitcher, but he's also a guy who takes the time to interact with a couple of his biggest fans. It's really amazing considering the thousands of people he signs autographs for every day of the season. It would be hard to be that friendly with so many people. I'm sure he can't give that kind of attention to everyone but it's that attitude that will never get old. Felix Hernandez is a lot of things: a machine, a beast, an All-star. But today, for my nephews and niece he was a human being.

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Comments

Amazingly classy individual.

I’m glad he’s on our side.

2011 Safeco Field Record: 1-0 ; Overall Safeco Field Record: 13-5

by Fin on Sep 3, 2011 10:23 PM PDT reply actions

Thanks for sharing.

I always enjoy reading about these kind of interactions.

by Aussie Mariner on Sep 4, 2011 2:20 AM PDT reply actions

Great experience.

I’m sure 99% of athletes want to make their fans feel special, but only a few have the charisma to do it every day.

Felix is a treasure.

by Wilder. on Sep 4, 2011 7:54 AM PDT reply actions

I remember when I was a kid asking for a player to sign my ball. I gave him the ball and the pen, he looked at it and said "I already signed this"

by Janic on Sep 4, 2011 9:09 AM PDT reply actions

The sad part about that is that player wasn't necessarily a bad guy.

It’s all about the attitude. For that player it was a quota. For Felix it’s part of the game.

by I'mSureI'veSeenWorse on Sep 4, 2011 1:38 PM PDT up reply actions

I have had the great pleasure to meet Felix a few times. He has never been anything but wonderful on each occasion.

by mark sobba on Sep 4, 2011 4:39 PM PDT reply actions

Players not being gigantic, self-righteous dicks is always a good thing

Reminds me of when David Wright played catch during BP with a bunch of kids sitting by the field.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 458 posts (08/24/11)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Sep 4, 2011 9:20 PM PDT via mobile reply actions

He seems dedicated to becoming the face of the Mariners as Ichiro ages and takes a step back.

He really stepped up in the off season, glad to see he’s doing it in a classy way.

by Shmelix Shmernandez on Sep 4, 2011 10:54 PM PDT reply actions

Felix has always been a class act, and I couldn't be happier that he's a Mariner

A couple years back I was working at Best Buy, and Felix came in with his family. He ended up buying around 30 movies (who knows if he actually watched them or just saw something interesting and grabbed it for the possibility). I didn’t want to bother him while he was out for the night with his family (his kids adore him by the way, he was flashing that trademark smile the whole time), so I just remarked a “good luck this year” towards him as he was leaving the store. I pretty much figured that was it, and I had my cool “hey, I saw a local celebrity moment.” A couple minutes later, Felix came back in with his cart, walked it over to the cart storage area, and re-stacked it. Now I know this seems totally inconsequential, but it told me a lot about the type of person he is. I’d say 99% of customers just randomly leave their carts out in the parking lot (best buy doesn’t have cart areas out there so they’re literally everywhere), and it was my job to go out at night and spend 20 minutes gathering each random cart. Felix cared enough to take time out of his day to make my job easier and bring the cart inside instead of leaving it by his car. This little act gave me a lot of insight to his character, and I will always remember that. For however many millions he’ll make during his career, he’s still humble enough to do the little things. I’m sorry, I know this rambled on a bit, but I just wanted to share my little story about why Felix will always be my favorite Mariner.

by UW2010 on Sep 5, 2011 3:07 AM PDT reply actions 24 recs

The measure of a man

Is how he treats service employees. The guy that cops an attitude at the woman at the counter? He’s a dickhead all the time. The one who stops and smiles and is polite? He’s a good guy at home, too.

Felix is one of the latter.

by robbbbbb on Sep 9, 2011 12:06 PM PDT up reply actions

Aw shucks, I'mSure, I just posted a FanPost called "Ichiro Suzuki, Human Being"

I absolutely did not mean to steal your idea. I like this post…and hope I don’t look like a giant theme-stealing jackass for my own post!

by nucleard on Sep 5, 2011 5:00 AM PDT reply actions

No worries.

That title plays with Ichiro for a whole different reason. So you’ve got that going for you, which is nice.

by I'mSureI'veSeenWorse on Sep 5, 2011 8:21 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Caddyshack reference!

=rec.

by RunningFool on Sep 7, 2011 7:55 PM PDT up reply actions

Felix

I hang out by the bullpen before games and several times I have seen Felix there warming up. When he is done, he always talks to the fans behind the pen, signing things, and just chatting. This always blows me away. And you can tell it’s real, not just something he feels he needs to do. He is genuinely interested in everyone. He is really something special and I hope we never ever lose him (and that he never ever loses that quality). We love you Felix (and Larry too).

Bewitched, bothered, and beleaguered

by alb8ros on Sep 5, 2011 10:43 AM PDT reply actions

No matter what

He always gives his bullpen session ball to a kid. I’ve been to four Felix starts, and every time -every damn time – he finds a kid and gives him a ball. Definition of class act (unless The League is right).

by adamhwong on Sep 9, 2011 7:11 PM PDT up reply actions

It's funny.

My dad just has this unwarranted, extreme dislike of Felix. He always calls him a “punk” and never has a good word to say about him. He thinks Felix is lazy, and he hates the way he wears his hat and his uniform. It’s funny, because this is actually the first thing I’ve read about Felix in public and he sounds like a great guy. I wish I could get my dad to use a computer so I could show him stories like this.

I'm kind of a big deal...

by Benny Boy on Sep 6, 2011 12:36 AM PDT reply actions

.

Here you go.

...and now I'm here

by CapSea on Sep 6, 2011 12:51 AM PDT up reply actions

I'm pretty awesome.

www.twitter.com/@vhustle

by noeffortatall on Sep 6, 2011 1:40 PM PDT up reply actions

Cool.

Thanks. Maybe I can fax it to him or something. Actually, that’s probably way out of his comfort zone haha.

I'm kind of a big deal...

by Benny Boy on Sep 8, 2011 3:30 AM PDT up reply actions

I hate the way he wears his uniform but that's such a tiny nick off such otherwise awesome awesomeness that I fully forgive it and then some

Determined, Jonesing Commentor

by Corco on Sep 7, 2011 9:53 AM PDT up reply actions

Yeah.

I didn’t say his thinking was rational.

I'm kind of a big deal...

by Benny Boy on Sep 8, 2011 3:31 AM PDT up reply actions

I literally have no desire to meet any athletes in any sport.

Felix is the exception to this rule.

by EnglishMariner on Sep 6, 2011 3:12 AM PDT reply actions

Even if you do get to meet him

Fett’s going to have your story topped.

by Eyeball Kid on Sep 6, 2011 11:29 AM PDT up reply actions

That lucky bastard (from an Australian, this is not an insult).

ENVY.

by Aussie Mariner on Sep 7, 2011 4:37 AM PDT up reply actions

Oh. That's an insult in America? That explains a lot.

Proving my stupidity, one comment at a time.

by I'mSureI'veSeenWorse on Sep 7, 2011 10:27 AM PDT up reply actions

To some I'm sure it could be, I'm not sure.

Hence the disclaimer.

by Aussie Mariner on Sep 7, 2011 2:42 PM PDT up reply actions

Lucky bastard is not an insult here, very much the opposite. Although you know there's people out there that are ridiculous and would be upset with the 'curse' word.

by Patrick Stites on Sep 7, 2011 4:53 PM PDT up reply actions

Clase Act All the Way

I remember growing up having incredible sports experiences with players I got to meet like John Olerud and Harmon Killebrew.

But recently my cousin of 13 was able to play catch with Justin Smoak, talk and get an autograph from King Felix, receive a warmup ball from Miguel Olivo, and get a thumbs up from Ken Griffey Jr. for wearing his shoes.

It’s great to see a love of the game get passed down to young fans from the players.

by KthomasD on Sep 6, 2011 4:29 PM PDT reply actions

it's great when players are nice guys

when i was 10, joel pinero refused to sign an autograph for me because “then i’d have to give everyone autographs” but charles gipson did it without hesitation. another time i told the entire padres bullpen that they were a bunch of “smelly retards” and they laughed. i think they appreciated the creativity.

by #11 forever on Sep 6, 2011 11:10 PM PDT reply actions

Hmmm.

by Mariner John on Sep 7, 2011 3:13 AM PDT up reply actions

Second the Original Post

I wanted to chime in, as I am actually the brother-in-law of the original poster. Everything he said is accurate – it was an amazing 3-4 minutes, for not only my three children but myself as well. My 2-year old son (amazingly) knows Felix by face and was screaming at the top of his lungs when he came on the field. It was so cool to see the idol of my children (not to mention one of the top 5 pitchers on the planet) take the time to be so friendly and kind to strangers. He actually signed my 2-year old’s Felix t-shirt jersey right on his back, and my son is still talking about that.

Here’s a great picture that my brother-in-law got of Felix high-fiving my 6-year old son.