It was a chance meeting that Konerko remembers vividly. It was just a brief meeting, but Robin made an impression on the team, and specifically on that one player who would eventually fulfill his dream of baseball, later becoming one of the game's biggest stars.
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Ventura was a perfect example of this type of ballplayer a model citizen who probably drank milk and called his mother every day - or at least that was the image of Ventura at the time. He didnt just want to make it to the major leagues, he wanted to excel at the sport and play the game right. This young ballplayer hoped to follow in Ventura's footsteps. "He gave us a little pep talk and said hello." "We all had our USA garb on, and lo and behold Robin comes out because he was an ex-USA baseball player," remembers a certain player on that team. Afterwards, they were led into the tunnel near the visiting clubhouse where they were introduced to the one and only Robin Ventura. They arrived early to watch batting practice. The day of the game, the team made the two-hour bus ride to Arlington to watch the Rangers play the White Sox.
![nolan ryan autograph nolan ryan autograph](https://i.psacard.com/autographfacts/nolan-ryan-signed-highlight-baseball-992.jpg)
It was a squad comprised of players either going into their senior years in high school or recent draftees who had just graduated. Junior Olympic baseball team spent two weeks training in Tyler, Texas. "I think there might have been 500,000 people in the stadium when that happened, because everyone says they were at that game," Ventura said about the play that has been replayed so many times, it probably belongs in the Hall of Fame along with Nolan Ryan himself. Even if Ventura had gone on to hit the game-winning home run in a World Series, he might not have been able to top the visuals of this chaotic and surreal melee, easily one of the greatest in baseball history. It was on this fateful evening that a 26-year-old Ventura charged the mound in Arlington, Texas against 46-year-old Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan, who proceeded to hammer Ventura with an embarrassing array of noogie shots to his head.
![nolan ryan autograph nolan ryan autograph](https://www.steelcitycollectibles.com/storage/img/uploads/products/full/ryanDontMessWithTexas21888.jpg)
4, 1993, might have been just one day on the calendar, but for Robin Ventura, it's a date he wont be able to escape for the rest of his life. Today marks the 22-year anniversary of the Robin Ventura-Nolan Ryan fight. This story was originally published on on March 2, 2012.