With a week to go in the 2014 baseball season, Buck Showalter wanted no part of me or my questions about his evolution as a manager. "Are we done yet?" he murmured with the slightest grin, as he sat down to chat in his office.
There's a bit of good-natured combat involved in interviewing the Orioles manager. Like an astute politician, he always steers the conversation to his desired ground, regardless of the actual questions.
But he's also inherently good company — funny, curious, philosophical and too polite to squelch an interview, even if he'd probably like to.
Showalter was riding high professionally, on the verge of leading the Orioles into the postseason and winning another Manager of the Year award. But he told me he hadn't changed much from the guy who'd worn out his welcome in other cities.
Showalter knows his 24-hour-a-day intensity can overwhelm the people around him. He'd have been the same as a teacher, a farmer or any of the other profession he might have chosen over baseball. He's just built that way.
Fortunately, Showalter also grasps that his life is full of "pretty cool" moments, as he might put it. You saw that appreciation in his serene gaze as he watched his team celebrate the franchise's first division title in 17 years.
This was, in many ways, a gloomy year for Baltimore sports. But as I sat in that office, trying to figure out one of the best minds in a game I've loved since I was a boy, my job was also "pretty cool."