Maroon87
05-26-2006, 03:18 PM
This is more 20 questions than an interview but you get the picture....
How do you follow a Houston legend? With Jeff Bagwell out of the Astros lineup, Lance Berkman finally gets a permanent home at first base. Now in his seventh season with his hometown team, the switch-hitter from New Braunfels, Texas will get to contribute from his natural position instead of shuttling between first and the outfield. The easy-going Berkman has been the model of consistency for the Astros, averaging 30 home runs and 100 RBI's per season for his career. Born in Waco, Texas, Berkman is as Lonestar as you can get.
Texas is ...
The motherland. I would have to say it's the best state in the union; only it's not a state. It's a country in and of itself. Obviously, people who are from Texas have an awful lot pride in their state. I can never see myself leaving the state of Texas. I'd be satisfied never leaving the state, even for a vacation. Of course my wife will never go for that, but for me personally, I can be happy just staying inside the state.
Having a former NFL Linebacker (Johnny Baker) as your father-in-law is ...
Intimidating. Sometimes. He's 65-years-old now, but he if could get a hold of you he could still pummel you. He's a great guy and I have tremendous set of in-laws, my mother-in-law and father-in-law both, I love them like my own parents. It's cool to listen to a lot of his stories from the NFL. Especially back then, because it was a lot more rough and tumble than it is now.
When I asked Johnny if I could marry his daughter he ...
Slapped the top of the counter and yelled "marriage?" My first thought was to just give me a thirty second head start and you'll never see me again. I was about ready to run out of there, but after everything calmed down we actually had a great conversation. The man is 6-foot-5 and 260-pounds and this is his only daughter, so this was a little nerve-wracking. I think he thinks it's cool now that he has a son-in-law that plays in the Major Leagues.
Because I have young kids I know all about ...
"Barney." In fact, I was brushing my teeth this morning and there's a song about how you're not supposed to let the water run while you're brushing your teeth. That song came into my head and the only reason is because my kids watch it all the time.
The worst prank ever pulled on me was ...
When I was dating my wife in college and her brother was my roommate. He was really cool about us dating, but she had dated this other guy previously. Now she was up at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and I was at Rice in Houston. I talked to her on the phone and she was in a bad mood and I casually mentioned it to her brother. He really didn't say anything and I said, 'What, do you know something?' He said, 'Yeah, I think she wants to get back with her old boyfriend.' Now we'd been dating a while and I really liked his sister and I'm like, 'Are you serious?' He had me going for about 30 minutes. Finally he came clean that he had no idea, but he had me dangling on a hook for 30 minutes and I wanted to fistfight him when it was over with.
When I was a rookie, the veterans made me ...
Dress up day on a travel day. We were going from Philadelphia to New York, they stole our clothes and put in a bunch of clothes from a thrift store in our lockers. We had to wear those plus our shower shoes through the lobby of the hotel in New York and it was pretty embarrassing. Now the Astros outfits for the last three or four years have been Hooters Girls. At least I got out of that.
When I have time to watch TV, I watch ...
"24" with my wife. We usually don't watch it on TV, but we have all the DVD's of the earlier episodes and we're really hooked on it. I also like those documentaries on the Discovery Channel and A&E, like "FBI Files" and "Crime Scene Investigator."
A typical day for me when I'm not playing is ...
In the winter I'll probably take the kids to school. We have a ranch about an hour and fifteen minutes outside of Houston, so I may go out there and hang out for a while or just run errands in town or just work out. If I don't go to the ranch, I'll pick up my kids from school. If I do go, someone else gets them, they come home, eat dinner and go to bed. It's pretty simple.
A typical day for me when I am playing ...
At home, I'll get up, eat breakfast and read the newspaper. Then, I'll run errands with my wife, unless there's something going on that day. My kids get home at about 2 p.m., so I hang out with them for about an hour and a half and then head out to the ballpark. On the road, I usually wake up at about 10 a.m., eat breakfast and then read until noon. Then I go eat with Andy Pettitte, Jason Lane or Chris Burke. After that go back to the room, maybe take a nap and then go to the ballpark on the bus at 4 p.m.
Our ranch has ...
About six horses. My in-laws have a ranch 15 minutes from ours and they have the horses on theirs. On my place, we have a bunch of deer, it's more of a hunting ranch and theirs is more of a cattle ranch.
My iPod has ...
About 500 songs on it. It's almost all country and mainly older country music like Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Hank Williams and guys like that.
If I hadn't become a baseball player ...
I probably would have been an attorney. My dad's an attorney. I would have followed in his footsteps. I pretty much wanted to be a baseball player from the word go and I never had to make another career choice.
In high school I was ...
Very distracting during class. I was always talking during class. I was the class clown who didn't take school too seriously.
The thing that makes me the happiest ...
Is just being with my family and knowing that they're around. I really enjoy playing baseball, but I also enjoy when you don't have the pressure of performance hanging over your head. The offseason is fun for me because it's a lot more relaxing; a lot less stressful. It's a time when you can enjoy your family.
The one item I own that can't ever be thrown out is ...
I have a Gruene Hall t-shirt, which is a little place in New Braunfels, Texas, where I went to high school. It's a ratty old t-shirt, that I'm sure my wife would like to get rid of, but it's my favorite shirt and I'm not going to let her. She's never tried to because she knows it's my favorite, but if she ever decided she wanted to, then that would be something I wouldn't want her to mess with.
When I'm done with baseball ...
I plan on being a dad and maybe a high school coach somewhere.
Ben Platt is a national correspondent for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
How do you follow a Houston legend? With Jeff Bagwell out of the Astros lineup, Lance Berkman finally gets a permanent home at first base. Now in his seventh season with his hometown team, the switch-hitter from New Braunfels, Texas will get to contribute from his natural position instead of shuttling between first and the outfield. The easy-going Berkman has been the model of consistency for the Astros, averaging 30 home runs and 100 RBI's per season for his career. Born in Waco, Texas, Berkman is as Lonestar as you can get.
Texas is ...
The motherland. I would have to say it's the best state in the union; only it's not a state. It's a country in and of itself. Obviously, people who are from Texas have an awful lot pride in their state. I can never see myself leaving the state of Texas. I'd be satisfied never leaving the state, even for a vacation. Of course my wife will never go for that, but for me personally, I can be happy just staying inside the state.
Having a former NFL Linebacker (Johnny Baker) as your father-in-law is ...
Intimidating. Sometimes. He's 65-years-old now, but he if could get a hold of you he could still pummel you. He's a great guy and I have tremendous set of in-laws, my mother-in-law and father-in-law both, I love them like my own parents. It's cool to listen to a lot of his stories from the NFL. Especially back then, because it was a lot more rough and tumble than it is now.
When I asked Johnny if I could marry his daughter he ...
Slapped the top of the counter and yelled "marriage?" My first thought was to just give me a thirty second head start and you'll never see me again. I was about ready to run out of there, but after everything calmed down we actually had a great conversation. The man is 6-foot-5 and 260-pounds and this is his only daughter, so this was a little nerve-wracking. I think he thinks it's cool now that he has a son-in-law that plays in the Major Leagues.
Because I have young kids I know all about ...
"Barney." In fact, I was brushing my teeth this morning and there's a song about how you're not supposed to let the water run while you're brushing your teeth. That song came into my head and the only reason is because my kids watch it all the time.
The worst prank ever pulled on me was ...
When I was dating my wife in college and her brother was my roommate. He was really cool about us dating, but she had dated this other guy previously. Now she was up at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and I was at Rice in Houston. I talked to her on the phone and she was in a bad mood and I casually mentioned it to her brother. He really didn't say anything and I said, 'What, do you know something?' He said, 'Yeah, I think she wants to get back with her old boyfriend.' Now we'd been dating a while and I really liked his sister and I'm like, 'Are you serious?' He had me going for about 30 minutes. Finally he came clean that he had no idea, but he had me dangling on a hook for 30 minutes and I wanted to fistfight him when it was over with.
When I was a rookie, the veterans made me ...
Dress up day on a travel day. We were going from Philadelphia to New York, they stole our clothes and put in a bunch of clothes from a thrift store in our lockers. We had to wear those plus our shower shoes through the lobby of the hotel in New York and it was pretty embarrassing. Now the Astros outfits for the last three or four years have been Hooters Girls. At least I got out of that.
When I have time to watch TV, I watch ...
"24" with my wife. We usually don't watch it on TV, but we have all the DVD's of the earlier episodes and we're really hooked on it. I also like those documentaries on the Discovery Channel and A&E, like "FBI Files" and "Crime Scene Investigator."
A typical day for me when I'm not playing is ...
In the winter I'll probably take the kids to school. We have a ranch about an hour and fifteen minutes outside of Houston, so I may go out there and hang out for a while or just run errands in town or just work out. If I don't go to the ranch, I'll pick up my kids from school. If I do go, someone else gets them, they come home, eat dinner and go to bed. It's pretty simple.
A typical day for me when I am playing ...
At home, I'll get up, eat breakfast and read the newspaper. Then, I'll run errands with my wife, unless there's something going on that day. My kids get home at about 2 p.m., so I hang out with them for about an hour and a half and then head out to the ballpark. On the road, I usually wake up at about 10 a.m., eat breakfast and then read until noon. Then I go eat with Andy Pettitte, Jason Lane or Chris Burke. After that go back to the room, maybe take a nap and then go to the ballpark on the bus at 4 p.m.
Our ranch has ...
About six horses. My in-laws have a ranch 15 minutes from ours and they have the horses on theirs. On my place, we have a bunch of deer, it's more of a hunting ranch and theirs is more of a cattle ranch.
My iPod has ...
About 500 songs on it. It's almost all country and mainly older country music like Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Hank Williams and guys like that.
If I hadn't become a baseball player ...
I probably would have been an attorney. My dad's an attorney. I would have followed in his footsteps. I pretty much wanted to be a baseball player from the word go and I never had to make another career choice.
In high school I was ...
Very distracting during class. I was always talking during class. I was the class clown who didn't take school too seriously.
The thing that makes me the happiest ...
Is just being with my family and knowing that they're around. I really enjoy playing baseball, but I also enjoy when you don't have the pressure of performance hanging over your head. The offseason is fun for me because it's a lot more relaxing; a lot less stressful. It's a time when you can enjoy your family.
The one item I own that can't ever be thrown out is ...
I have a Gruene Hall t-shirt, which is a little place in New Braunfels, Texas, where I went to high school. It's a ratty old t-shirt, that I'm sure my wife would like to get rid of, but it's my favorite shirt and I'm not going to let her. She's never tried to because she knows it's my favorite, but if she ever decided she wanted to, then that would be something I wouldn't want her to mess with.
When I'm done with baseball ...
I plan on being a dad and maybe a high school coach somewhere.
Ben Platt is a national correspondent for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.