Let’s Play Ball

2005

Recap by Stefanie…

“I went to the ball game with my friend Cristina. The ball game was all I could afford, but I’m glad I went anyway just to see Stephen. I have to say, I didn’t really get a chance to talk to Stephen but I did get pictures of him. Here are the things I remember from the game.

Stephen was about 15 minutes later than everyone. I saw all the stars come out and Stephen wasn’t in the group, so I was really wondering until the announcer said his flight was delayed and that he would call and be there soon. I have to say that I didn’t realize how much of a small town feel the city of Greenville has until I went there. You have to drive through some run down areas to get to the field. The college the event was being held at was not right off the highway.

So all the other stars come out, Bryan Dattilo, Matt Ashford, Austin Peck, Arleen Sorkin (with her two sons) and the others, and everyone cheers for them. But, the way they cheered for everyone else was nothing compared to how they cheered for Stephen when he came in late. It was like he was the real star of the show, like everyone had been waiting for him. Everyone cheered really loud for him and ran all over the place trying to get a better view of him. One woman yelled out, we miss you. It really was very striking. You can tell how highly he is thought of. The fact that he has been off Days of our Lives for 15 years and gets more attention than those on the show now is really a testament to his talent.

Okay, so he comes in and he goes out on the field and jumps on the mascot and wraps his legs around the mascot. It was so funny! Everyone cheers and laughs when he does this. He immediately goes up and gives Matt Ashford a big hug. I could tell how much they like one another. Stephen comes in with his Days baseball team t-shirt that all the stars were wearing and black pants. All the other stars were in shorts but Stephen was in jeans. Maybe he didn’t have a chance to change since he was late.

Stephen goes out on the field. He was the pitcher. The announcer makes some joke about love in the afternoon and he runs out on the field in slow motion, LOL, towards Martha Madison, who plays Belle. She does the same thing, goes in slow motion towards him and then they hug when they get to one another.

I did see Stephen talk to Arleen and he hugged Martha Madison and Farah Faith. Out of the actors, he seemed most friendly with the women and Matt Ashford. Oh, another thing, when he was up on the mound pitching, he did one of his cute little dances. The man is sexy personified.

When Stephen was on the field, I think some of the Days guys were ribbing him a little bit when he was pitching. I heard them call him Sweetness, LOL. After the game, private parties and shirts were auctioned off. Stephen came up and made a joke into the microphone saying that for $200, Matt Ashford would give someone a lap dance, LOL. After the game, there was a group photo of all the players on the field, and Stephen was joking around during that, turning around and sticking his butt out.

Oh, one other thing I left out. When Stephen first came on the field (he walked out with the patch on, LOL), everyone was cheering for him. The announcer asked if he would like to say something to the crowd, and he got his harmonica out and played it into the microphone for the crowd.

I noticed a lot of young girls giving Stephen attention, I was thinking, do all of these young girls have tapes? They looked too young to have watched him in real time.

One other detail, there was this sweet little girl that called out Stephen’s name when he was on the field and he turned around and said in such a sweet tone of voice, like how you would talk to a child you love, ‘hey sweetie‘. It was so adorable. I can see now what all of you talk about, his way with children and his love for them. I could tell that in that little moment.

My overall impression was that he was great. No ego, no star trip. He seemed to concentrate on the fans a lot. I was overwhelmed when I saw him. He has a presence about him that the other actors just did not have.

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