Rusty Meeks grew up with the Arkansas Travelers, and some of his fondest memories are shagging foul balls in the parking lot outside Ray Winder Field in Little Rock.
Meeks, 36, is still with the Travelers, now serving as president of the team, which makes its home across the Arkansas River at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. (An article in last week’s issue discussed the sale of the team to Diamond Baseball Holdings.)
Meeks said his favorite memory of his childhood with the Travelers was when he was a batboy in the early 1990s.
The Travelers, then a farm club of the St. Louis Cardinals, had future major league All-Star Dmitri Young on the team. Young was Meeks’ favorite player and promised the youngster he would hit a home run for him.
He then did just that.
“He came up to me and said, ‘All right, Rusty, tonight I’m going to hit a home run for you,” Meeks recalled. “He hits one over the clock tower in left field at Ray Winder. He comes back and says, ‘Told you.’”
A less pleasant memory was one involving John Rocker, the controversial former relief pitcher for the Atlanta Braves and others. Rocker made some appearances against the Travelers while rehabbing from an injury and apparently taught Meeks some new words.
“He did not have the best appearance, and I was in the clubhouse when he came in [cursing] and I quickly left the clubhouse,” Meeks said, laughing.
“He was not happy.”
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