Interview conducted by Coral Marshall, AngelsWin.com columnist
AW: “Hey Torii, I’m Coral here with Angelswin.com how are you today?”
TH: “Pretty good, how you [are you doing]?”
AW: “I’m doing well thanks, are you excited for today’s game?”
TH: “I’m always excited for every game. Man it’s a sunny day today, I’m working on my tan, so why shouldn’t I be happy?”
AW: “I know you warned me it was going to be a warm one today…”
TH: “I told you it was gonna be hot today, I told you earlier”
AW: “I tried to wear sleeveless so I’m not too hot today.”
TH: “But you got on black”
AW: “I know.”
TH: “I know but that’s alright, you look nice”
AW: “Thank you very much, I actually have a question because you are nominated for the Roberto Clemente award, what does that mean to you?”
TH: “It means a lot, man, whenever you get recognized for something like that. Its not my main goal to get recognized, I just do things out of the kindness of my heart. I always told myself when I was a kid “if I ever have the opportunity to give back I was going to do it,” and I’ve been blessed to do that. And I will always give back, it makes me feel good at the end of the day, but along the way if people recognize that I’m honored and at the same time its kind of contagious when you give back and when people see that they want to do the same”
AW: “Definitely, you know with all the new guys up here, some of them its their first time, what’s your most memorable moment from your first major league game?”
TH: “Well my first major league game was in 1997, which was probably a long time ago, for you [ha]. But in 1997 […] I was going to pinch run for a catcher named Terry Steinbach in Baltimore, Camden Yards, when I ran out there, I was pinch running, I ran out there and he wouldn’t get off the base. There were 55,000 fans around and he would not get off the base and leave, and I’m like “I’m pinch running for you” and he’s like “no you’re not, you’re not” and I’m like “the manager told me to pinch run” and he says “no” and he looks the other way and everybody’s yelling: “you’re a rookie, rookie get off the field,” and I felt so bad, and then he cracked a joke and said “I’m just joking,” and he gave me a high five, and let me go to first base. And that was my first time in the Major Leagues, and I’ll never forget it”
AW: “That’s a fantastic story, thank you so much for your time today!”
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