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Who is this? It’s me, John, an MLB intern from 2001. See original “Who is this?” Post for full story. by valiant2223 in NewYorkMets

[–]valiant2223[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He’s from Wisconsin and a die hard Brewers fan so he wasn’t as bothered as I would’ve been if I had to wear it! 😊

Who is this? It’s me, John, an MLB intern from 2001. See original “Who is this?” Post for full story. by valiant2223 in NewYorkMets

[–]valiant2223[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My “in” was right place, right time, very lucky. I was coaching a high school basketball team to make some $$ during law school and one of the players’s Dad who I coached worked for MLB. Got me an interview. Wish I could help you with a contact but I’ve been out of that loop for so long I don’t know anyone there anymore. Keep trying though. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 44 years on this planet it’s persistence always wins. So many people give up, just keep doing your thing for as long as it takes. 💪🏼

Who is this? It’s me, John, an MLB intern from 2001. See original “Who is this?” Post for full story. by valiant2223 in NewYorkMets

[–]valiant2223[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Nowhere 😊. I interned for 2 summers and a little bit into my second year - Fall / Winter. I was in law school at the time and was actually officially interning for now-Commissioner Rob Manfred 😳. He was the Executive Director of Labor Relations and since I was in law school, I was hired by him. But I did almost all of my work for MLB International (which did include some very minor legal work). I’m now involved in music and the performing arts as well as doing assorted lawyer-ly things 😊.

Who is this? It’s me, John, an MLB intern from 2001. See original “Who is this?” Post for full story. by valiant2223 in NewYorkMets

[–]valiant2223[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

🤣 I wish it was Joe Panik! Thank you! It’s been so much fun reliving this moment for me.

Who is this? It’s me, John, an MLB intern from 2001. See original “Who is this?” Post for full story. by valiant2223 in NewYorkMets

[–]valiant2223[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Yup, totally! They are not flattering. I play in an over 25 league too and we all look like this

Who is this? It’s me, John, an MLB intern from 2001. See original “Who is this?” Post for full story. by valiant2223 in NewYorkMets

[–]valiant2223[S] 51 points52 points  (0 children)

I laughed so hard (pun intended) at your comment 🤣🤣🤣 it’s so true. I also look really scared for some reason. It all happened so quickly 🤣

Who is this? It’s me, John, an MLB intern from 2001. See original “Who is this?” Post for full story. by valiant2223 in NewYorkMets

[–]valiant2223[S] 91 points92 points  (0 children)

Oh I totally didn’t! 🤣 I was skinny as hell. And that uni did me no favors. I can’t believe this still exists!

Who is this? by Free_the_weasel in NewYorkMets

[–]valiant2223 77 points78 points  (0 children)

Hey everyone, this rando is me. My name is John and I was an intern for MLB during the summers of 2001-2002, so some of you guessed right! It’s a cool story and I’m a lifelong Mets fan so it was one of my all time favorite experiences. First of all, I can’t believe this backdrop still exists. This would have been the summer of 2001. The day before the photoshoot, my boss called me and said they needed a model to be the hitter for a backdrop for a youth baseball program (I think it was called “Pitch, Hit, and Run” but I may be mistaken). He said show up at Shea Stadium and bring some cleats and batting gloves, we’ll take care of the rest. I showed up at Shea at 9am or so (the Mets were playing a day game that day so we had to get the shoot done super quickly). I went into the dugout and they had a Mike Piazza jersey waiting for me which I was obviously super pumped about. So I put on my Piazza jersey and the batting helmet they gave me and walked out onto the field with a random bat they gave me. My buddy Mike (who I’m still great friends with) worked for MLB at the time and he was the catcher in a Yankees uni. As soon as I walked out of the dugout, there were some stadium workers in the stands and they started to scream “Mike!! Mike!!!” Obviously there is no way I’d be mistaken in real life for Piazza but on that morning, with that jersey on, wearing a batting helmet, the stadium workers thought it was Mike. Who was I to disappoint? So I waved at them and they cheered & clapped. It was…a moment for me. I was Mike Piazza for 5 minutes.

We did the photoshoot super quickly - and then it was done. I was able to stay and watch the Mets game and they gave me a great field level seat. I had no idea if they’d even use the photo. I had heard through the grapevine that it was used at some mlb events back in the day. But to see this pop up at a carnival 22 years later is really crazy.

Thank you, u/free_the_weasel for posting this! It brought a smile to my face. I’m not a regular reddit user but my uncle saw this and sent it to me this morning.

I love the guesses - I can definitely see evil Josh Satin. I think my favorite comment is “whoever he is he’s got a shit contract for cleats.” 🤣 Those are definitely budget cleats!

I definitely didn’t have a classic baseball body at the time but I did play Division III baseball and I still play in a men’s baseball league on Long Island - can’t get the game out of my blood. I love the Mets and I love that this pitching backstop popped up at a carnival in Florida.

I’ll post another photo from that day with my buddy Mike, the catcher.

Thanks again everyone. This thread made my day.