To put it gently, a lot of baseball players today have this sort of….demeanor to them. Kind of like this, “I’m better than you because I’m a professional athlete” type attitude. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all baseball players do. I know quite a bit that are the exact opposite, but most of them do. The reason I bring this up, is because I’ve heard a lot of people that don’t know anything about Justin Sellers say that he looks like a punk, and an overall mean guy. Granted, he is covered in tattoos, has a mohawk, and is nicknamed Sell Block on account of him looking like an ex-inmate – so I could somewhat see their point. However…you have to meet the guy.

I had the pleasure of meeting him this past year in Arizona during Spring Training. I have to say, he was one of the most genuinely nice guys I have ever met. He’s a kid that truly enjoys the game of baseball, and isn’t taking the fact that he’s playing for a big league team for granted. He loves interacting with fans and it showed at a game I went to later on in the Spring. It was a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields. In fact, it was the last game of Spring Training before they headed back to play the Angels in California. Our seats were the second row behind the Dodgers on-deck circle. The seats in the row ahead of us were occupied by a couple of girls that were….well…lets just say, in good spirits. They were having a good time talking to all the players before their at-bats and, as you can imagine, most of them ignored the girls and went about their own business. Later in the game, Sell Block was substituted in, and his turn in the on-deck circle was up. This was the first time these two girls had ever seen him, and were amazed by all of his tattoos. They could not stop commenting on anything that he did or wore. “I love your shoes!” “I love your tattoos!” “What do your tattoos say?” “Do they mean anything?” Just going on and on about anything that they noticed.

There was something different about Sellers though. He was so welcoming to them. Not in your typical “Big League Player to Fan” type way either. It was genuine. He was willing to engage in all their questions and comments. From anything to saying thank you in their compliments, to breaking down his tattoos for them.

One of my favorite moments from that day was when they asked, “What does that tattoo mean?” When Sellers jokingly responded, “Which one? I have like a thousand.” It made me laugh pretty hard. I also personally learned something new from all this ridiculousness happening in front of me. I learned that the tattoo on the back of his neck is a pair of wings that represent a guardian angel. I thought it was a very cool story. He went on to show them the engraving on his bat, that read “Sell Block.” He explained the significance and meaning behind the nickname, which I stated before.

Last year, Sellers had impressed me, but for some reason, I never looked into him. It was one of those things where I kept seeing this new kid in the box scores that was always scoring runs. For those of you that don’t know, Sellers is tied with Kemp for the Dodgers team record of most consecutive games with a run scored, with 7 (through Aug. 19 – 26). He also went on to score in 9 of 11 games during that stretch. Even through all that, sell block flew under my radar. This whole spring training experience last year definitely made me regret that. It gave me that new-found respect for this tattoo covered man.

A little background information on Sellers:

He’s not a new kid on the block. Sellers has been around a while, and its his hard work, effort, and determination that has got him to the major leagues. Drafted in 2005 by the Oakland Athletics, he played with the Vancouver Canadians in 2005 and the Kane County Cougars in 2006. He then split 2007 between the Stockton Ports and Midland Rockhounds. In the Hawaii Winter Baseball League, he was voted the 2007 Defensive Player of the Year. In 2008 at Midland, he hit .255 in 123 games. And finally, on February 2, 2009, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs, only to essentially be released by them and went to the Dodgers for cash.

Even with the Isotopes, Sellers had to settle and be a second baseman because Dee Gordon was the bright star at short. After a while, he started to begin to accept the fact that a major league career may never happen. “Of course,” he said. “You just have to have the confidence that you know you can play there. And I’ve always had that.” So he just kept on playing his heart out.

On August 12, 2011, he finally got the call he had always dreamed of. The Dodgers called him up due to an injury to Dee Gordon. He went 0-3 in his debut, but got his first hit the following night, and his first homerun the next day after that, just three days after being called up. The excitement that surrounded that first homerun was obvious. He had waited seven years for his shot, and it finally came. He said that back when he was a kid, a homerun was hitting it over the neighborhood fence. “Then actually hitting one in the major leagues and running around the bases was the most incredible feeling I’ve ever had,” Sellers said. “I’ve got the chills talking about it right now,” he said. “You can’t imagine. For it to happen with my family like that, in my hometown? I feel so blessed.” The fans felt blessed to see it happen in person, and showed it by giving him a long standing ovation.

“I’ve never had a curtain call or anything close to that,” Sellers said. “To have the crowd get loud like that and then have Kemp and

some of the boys telling me, ‘Get out there, get out there.’ And then pushing me out there, turning around and seeing the fans go nuts like that. It was a very special moment.” (See picture to the right)

On the topic of hitting his first homerun, I should probably mention that the reason I’m writing this post is because of what I saw a couple nights ago when he hit his second homerun of his career. The reaction of the bench was so special; Matt Kemp, in particular. We all know that Matty is always one of the first to cheer on his teammates when they do something special, but this was different. I had never seen him react to anything the way he reacted to Sellers hitting that homerun (Watch the reaction below). It made me realize that what I saw that spring day wasn’t just him having a good day and a little fun – it was just the way he is. He is a genuinely nice guy, which I think is an absolute rarity in Major League Baseball. My hat goes off to you, Sell Block, and I wish you nothing but the absolute best in the future.

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