Former-President Meets With Former Ranger

Certainly, many of the Astros were star-struck when the 41st president strolled into the clubhouse on Monday, enveloped in secret service agents.
 
Russ Ortiz said, "I just walked in, and all of a sudden, it was President Bush, and I was like, 'Whoa. I was just staring at him, just thinking I'd like to get a signed ball. It was a surprise."
 
It’s a predictable response upon a chance encounter with the former, undisputed, most powerful man in the world.
 
Not included in that star-struck majority, however, would have to be former Ranger, and current Astro, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez.
 
He knows presidents about as well as he knows how to cut down a baserunner with a furious vengeance, which is to say that he was probably pretty comfortable meeting with George H.W. Bush in Kissimmee, Florida on Monday afternoon.
 
It’s not that the catcher and the president have shared mint juleps on the south lawn; they may have, but that’s neither here nor there. 
 
The relationship between the Pudge and the Bush family goes far beyond any of that. Think back to mullets and acid wash; think back to Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative.”
 
It’s 1989, and the president’s son has bought the Texas Rangers, an upstart, 17 year-old team with a spotty record and an 18 year-old catcher playing for AA Tulsa named… Ivan Rodriguez.
 
Rodriguez came of age under the 43rd president; so it’s no wonder that his father, ‘41’ as he’s called by friend and Astros’ owner Drayton McLane, met Pudge with the familiarity of an old friend.
 
"Pudge, I've known," the elder Bush said. "He played for Texas when my son was the managing owner for that team. I like him very much.”
 
Ditto, Mr. President.
 
Ditto.