As Major League Baseball players warm up their arms and bats in spring training for the 162-game regular season marathon ahead, fans migrate to Arizona or Florida hoping to meet their teams’ stars and maybe snag a few autographs.
On the flip side, Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis looks forward to getting autographs from his heroes: the kid fans.
Lewis has had a new approach to meeting the younger generation of fans during spring training play at the Twins’ complex in Fort Myers, Florida, this year: In exchange for an autograph on a hat, jersey or baseball, he asks the fan to sign his red Twins spring training hat.
“Eight out of 10 of them are always like, ‘Me? You want me to sign it?'” Lewis tells TODAY.com about the fan interactions. “It’s just so funny to see their reaction. I think they’re just shocked. It’s almost as if no one’s done that before.”
Making a young fan’s experience more memorable represents a full-circle moment for Lewis. Growing up in Southern California, Lewis met two of the area’s top stars of the 2010s: Angels outfielder Torii Hunter and Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp.
Waiting patiently outside of Angel Stadium in Anaheim with his dad after a game, a 10-year-old Lewis watched Hunter roll down a car window and sign an autograph for every fan, including Lewis.
At Dodger Stadium, Lewis met Kemp with his friend while Kemp was in the dugout, an interaction he will never forget.
“The Dodgers could have gotten crushed that day, but we were just happy that we got to meet Matt Kemp,” Lewis recalls. “That’s just how I want to make other kids feel, because I got that experience and it made me love the game of baseball.”
Lewis has double-digit signatures inscribed all over the crown of his spring training hat, which he sports during practice and warmups. He leaves the cap on the shelf for games to protect it from wear and tear, and to wear something more “professional,” without signatures. (When the regular season begins, he plans on retiring the hat to his future man cave.)
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli saw the signatures on Lewis’ hat and asked who they were from.
“‘I got a bunch of kids signing it,'” Lewis recalls replying to his manager, which made Baldelli chuckle. Baldelli then complimented Lewis’ actions — and so have Lewis’ teammates, for giving back to the visiting young fans.
“I think they know me. Like, I’ve been doing stuff like this all the time,” Lewis explains. “Whether it’s staying after and hanging out … just giving my time.”
Lewis’ interactions with kids is also part of his effort to grow the game of baseball. He says he pulls inspiration from other athletes such as Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson doing the “griddy” dance, which caught on with younger fans.
“I was just having fun and creating memories for myself, and now it’s created some memories, hopefully, for the kids,” he says.
Along with signing hats and asking for fan signatures, he tries to pass out as many baseball bats as he can.
“I got to use some at some point to hit with, so I only have so many to give out,” Lewis laughs.
Lewis embraces and encourages the fun questions he gets asked by kid fans during interactions. He explains there are no “stupid” questions he gets asked, happily answering what his favorite movie is, for example. He especially enjoys the questions he gets about ice cream; Lewis is a die-hard ice cream lover.
“There was a young kid that asked, ‘Do you still have ice cream in your veins, what’s your favorite flavor, and what flavors are in your veins right now?’” he shares.
