AOS Celebrity Encounter Tuesday: Todd Zeile is my Lex Luther

This is going to be a (hopefully) weekly feature where someone relates a "celebrity encounter." Future subjects should include: Jarret Wright; Carlyle Holiday; Juan Uribe; Mario Lopez (AC Slater was a hell of a wrestler); and more. But today's subject is catcher turned third basemen turned first baseman who played for 11 major league teams: Todd Zeile


There's something about meeting a professional baseball player, and not just a professional baseball player, but a professional baseball player on your favorite team. Being indoctrinated as a St. Louis Cardinals fan, you learn from an early age about the pride of the birds on the bat. Your grandmother tells you about Stan Musial and Red Schoendist. Your dad entertains you with tales of Bob Gibson and Lou Brock. You grow up idolizing Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee.


Eventually though you mature and the novelty of seeing a Cardinal in public wears off so that it is not really that disappointing, or disheartening, to show at Humphrey's on Wednesday and see Steve Kline and Eli Marrero hitting on college-aged girls. But when you are a kid walking down the streets of Chicago and you hear your dad say, "Wow, that looks like Todd Zeile." Well, that's a whole other story:

It was July 4th weekend, 1995. Todd Zeile had just been traded from the Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs. I was a whippersnapper, who looked eerily similar to this guy:

Although I might have had thicker glasses.

Anyway, we had just finished dinner and were walking by Planet Hollywood when my dad spotted Zeile waiting in line to get in. This tells you a little about Todd Zeile--he had to wait to get a table at Planet Hollywood, a mere five years after finishing 6th in Rookie of the Year voting. My dad told me to go up and say hello to him.

Oh boy. My legs were like noodles. My palms--sweating like they had just run three pick-up games in a row. What could I possible say? How would he perceive me? Do I go with the hand shake or the high five? After conquering self doubt and being admonished by my dad, I walked up to Zeile.

Me: I'm sorry to bother you, but you really look like Todd Zeile.
Zeile (looking around): I am
Me: Can I just shake your hand?
Zeile (begrudgingly): Sure, I guess.

Todd Zeile wins again!

It does bear noting, though, that from the moment Zeile shunned me, the rest of the season he hit .210 with 7 HR and 25 RBIs, plus he had a deplorable .260 OBP. In contrast, that same year Tom Urbani gave me a high five after I complimented him on hitting a home run at Shea Stadium. He finished that season 1-2 with a 3.55 ERA, striking out 25 and only walking 9 in 38 innings.

That, Mr. Zeile is what we call karma.