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Jason Giambi is an all-star. He is an amazing baseball player with MVP numbers. But his MVP figures show on and off the field. On the field, many players express these same MVP characteristics. Off the field is a different story.

When devoted fans remain for over an hour after the game to watch their favorite players come out, many players just walk on by without even the slightest notion of the hand or any form of acknowledgement towards them. Granted, they do have lives other than baseball that they need to get to, but does waving really acquire that much energy? Of course, there are those select players that sort of throw their hands in a way that they consider to be a type of public appreciation, but to a fan, it just makes them feel that they don't matter to the players whatsoever.

This is why the select players that do show some meaning in their reply to the cheering fans, mean so much to us. Players like Jason Giambi. Every time I had waited to see the players after the game, Giambi had always been so great. Even if he didn't come over to sign autographs, he was always one of the guys to smile and wave meaningfully.

On July 18th 2002, I waited outside Yankee Stadium with my family and many other eager fans. I watched as people opened up brand new baseballs and packs of markers, and I thought to myself, "They wasted their money on those. The players never come over here," which had been the truth every time that I had done this before. We were held back behind the gates so we couldn't get more than 15-20 feet away from the players when they came out.

We watched as many "more important" fans (probably the people that could afford the best seats in the stadium) got to go in front of the barricades and right up to the player exit, completely blocking our view. My sister and I questioned a nearby security guard as to why these people got to do this, and he replied with a weak answer of, "I don't know." We continued to complain and beg to be let over.

After about an hour and a half, almost all of the players had left, and so had most of the fans that had been waiting with us (and many of the ones blocking the view). We knew that Jason Giambi had not exited yet, and started once more asking if we could be let over just to see him come out (since there was barely anyone left). The cop seemed to understand how we felt, but was not allowed to let us pass. About seven other fans and myself began to chant "We want Jason! We want Jason!" and continued to do so for about 10 minutes. It appeared that the security guards blocking the player exit were laughing and discussing it.

When Giambi finally did come out, the few of us remaining went wild. To our great surprise, Giambi started coming our way followed by that cop that we had been bothering all afternoon. Jason signed numerous autographs, posed for pictures, and was just all around awesome. It was one of the classiest displays by a ballplayer that I have ever seen. It took him no longer than 10 minutes to satisfy all the fans and make everyone's day. We all appreciated what he did so greatly, and don't understand why more players can't spare that short span of time to make all the fans feel important.