Was I Recognized In Public During My MLB Career?

Hey, what's going on everyone? We're answering your questions today. And today's question is about being recognized for being on YouTube versus being in the major leagues. And so let's talk about this. Very interesting. I actually get this question a lot. I get it sometimes online, but for some reason, when I'm talking to people, especially people that I meet because of YouTube, they'll ask me this question in person. And so let's get into this. Let's start off with YouTube first. The power of YouTube. Anytime I go to a tournament now, pretty much every single time I go into a complex, and most of these tournaments are going to have complexes. So if you go down to say Perfect Game down in Georgia, or you go to really anywhere, you go to Diamond Nation in New Jersey, wherever you go, anyone that plays travel baseball knows what these complexes look like. You walk in and typically there's going to be at least probably four fields, sometimes eight, sometimes more. Some of these places are huge. So there's a lot of people around, there's a lot of teams playing. Every single time I walk into a stadium or walk into a complex, the last one I went to was this past summer in Georgia. And we also went to New Jersey, also to Diamond Nation. That's why those two have freshened my mind. When I walk in the stadium, without a doubt, within one minute of walking in, someone is going to come over and say either hello to me, ask me for an autograph, ask me for a picture, something. Every single time. And it's just from YouTube. Our teams are called Antonelli Baseball, obviously. That's what the channel is called. People are used to seeing me in my certain attire. I have my hats over there. And so immediately I walk in, I'm going to have the Antonelli Baseball on. It's really, really simple to see. And a huge amount of my followers are obviously baseball fans, a lot of players, parents, coaches. And so I'm always talking to people when I walk in. It's almost impossible. I would say I don't know if it's happened over the last couple of years where I can walk through a complex and have someone not say hello to me, ask me a question, again, ask for an autograph, something. Now, as a player, I never once, never once was I recognized in public, at least that I remember. I don't remember ever getting recognized in public, ever. I tell this story all the time. And you may have already heard this if you watch our channel. Petco Park, if you've never been to San Diego, is in downtown San Diego, okay? Once you leave the park, there's restaurants, there's a gas lamp district, there's lots of stuff to do right around the park. And so I live right across the street from the park. And so when the game's over, you go out to eat, right? There's a lot of restaurants still open. And so there was plenty of times as this happened that I would be in a restaurant or in a bar after a game, and they're replaying the game on the television, okay? So in the restaurant slash bar, they're replaying the game that I just played in, that I am on television on. And I can be in one of these places with teammates on my team who were just playing in the game that's on the television, and not a single person would ever say, hello, oh, that guy's on the television, or even look over and notice you, right? Now, did someone maybe, and they just said, well, I'm not going to say anything? Possibly. Did they look and say, oh, that guy's terrible? Even though I know that he just played, I don't want to go talk to that guy because he's hitting 192, and he's going to get sent down to AAA, and we'll probably never hear of him in like two weeks time. Maybe, okay? But I never realized it. For instance, when I go into complexes now, when we go, if we jump back to YouTube again, even if people don't say hello to me, I can tell when I'm walking by that somebody gave me this weird look like they're either thinking, oh, I know who that is, or I've seen that guy before. Where do I know him from? It's got to be somewhere, right? Never happened to me in the major leagues. Nobody ever looked, and they did a double look or said, hey, I think I know that guy, right? Or no one came over, at least, and said, hey, man, you suck. No one said anything. I never got recognized once. I don't remember ever signing an autograph outside of the stadium. Now, yeah, spring training and stuff, when you're in the complex, I've been asked for autographs like that, and when I'm walking to the stadium, a lot of times when I'd walk from where I was staying to the stadium, there's a little side door that you go in, and sometimes people are kind of hanging out there, and they must know the players kind of walk in that door, and they're sitting there, and they're waiting, and they're like, hey, can I get your autograph? I'm sure some of them had no idea who I was. They're probably like, he looks like a baseball player. I don't really know if this is Manny Antonelli or Brian Giles. I mean, they probably know who Brian Giles is. Please don't put me in the same category as Brian Giles. That guy was actually a really, really, really, really, really good player, okay? But I'm just saying. They probably had no idea who I was, even when they asked me for an autograph, okay? So that was my time in the major leagues, and that was whether it was at home, whether it was on the road, didn't matter. Never in my life was I ever recognized as a major league player, and I understand I didn't play very long, but never. Now, YouTube every day. It's amazing how powerful YouTube is. So hopefully, that answers your question. If you happen to see me at a complex, come over and say hello to me, and I don't know if you want my autograph. Actually, my autograph is probably worth more now than it was when I played. I noticed my cards are probably worth more now than when I played, which is interesting. A lot of people collect my cards now because of YouTube. When I was playing, people were probably setting my cards on fire. They did not want my cards. They're worth nothing. Now, some of them are actually kind of worth something, which is crazy, again, all because of YouTube. So that's all we got. Thanks for watching. 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