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This was originally published in The Athletic.

Nearly six years ago, I was sitting in Great American Ballpark, watching the Reds with the person in charge of organizing some of their social media initiatives. Her assignment was to organize a “tweetup,” where people who were active on Twitter would attend a game, hang out together, and engage in actual eye-to-eye, in-person conversation.

The tweetup was mere days away, and she was telling me that she needed some “Twitter celebrities” to join in and help sell some tickets. I informed her that since I’d already bought tickets, no other celebrity was needed, but for some reason she was hoping that someone with a slightly higher degree of fame would promise to show up.

So, I Tweeted Chris Mack, who’s always been an active and fun Twitter follow that seemed like the rare public figure who actually crafted his own tweets. I figured he’d either ignore me, or – as he often did when I had him as a guest on my radio show – respond with some crack aimed to cut me down.

Instead, he showed interest.

To read my entire piece, go to The Athletic.