Having worked in the service sector most of my life, for years I was a stock clerk/cashier for Rainbow Foods (RIP) now I work at MSP for a much maligned government agency, I have had many encounters with famous and semi famous people.
At the risk of name dropping, during his rookie season Kevin Garnett would come into one of the Rainbow's I worked at (Uptown) I would see Dave Pirner and Fancy Ray there as well, I talked to Fancy Ray a lot. When I worked at the Plymouth Rainbow I would see Pat Meares and a couple other mid 90's Twins there.
Working at MSP I have had minor encounters with most of the broadcast crew and some players. To make a long story longer, I saw Joe Mauer when he was coming back from his rehab stint after surgery during the 2009 season. I had a mildly prickish encounter with Gladden, and a surprisingly decent encounter with Jack Morris, heard from people he could be a dick at times.
My favorite encounter was with Jim Thome. In 2012. A co worker and I were waiting for passengers to drop off checked bags, and a lady dropped her bag off with the last name Thome so I looked at the ticket counter and saw a huge gentleman standing there, he came over and dropped his bag off, and totally out of the blue (I rarely approach or intrude on famous people) I stuck my hand out and said "Thank you Mr. Thome for playing with the Twins and giving me and others great thrills. I always admired you no matter what team you played for" or something to that effect. He responded by thanking me for doing the work I do and for being a fan. We talked for a minute or or two. He was in town for Mauers wedding. He asked a little about the X-ray equipment. I said I saw at least 3 of his home runs at Target Field in 2010. Don't remember what else we talked about but I think there were a few other things.
He was huge. I am by no means a small man, but he was HUGE like a block of granite. Sooooooper nice as well. He seemed genuinely pleased to talk with me. After he left, my co-worker gave me crap about having a man crush on him and some other unrepeatable stuff. She said my face turned red when he was talking with me and my voice was quavering a little. Gawd I hope she was messing with me!!
That is my favorite encounter with baseball greatness.
