BALTIMORE -- Riley Greene is an All-Star outfielder leading the Tigers to the best record in baseball.
Riley Green is an award-winning country music star.
They have been confused for each other on social media and various circles, but they had never met … until Thursday afternoon at Camden Yards.
The meeting happened by chance. Green is on tour and scheduled to play in Baltimore on Thursday night, so the Orioles invited him to the park for batting practice. Greene and the Tigers are in town for a three-game series against the O’s that wraps up Thursday evening.
Once Greene realized the stroke of fortune, he met Green on the field, ran back into the Tigers' clubhouse and autographed a bat for him. Then, they took a photo together.
“Pretty cool,” Greene said. “I was a little nervous, and I never get nervous. I’ve been wanting to meet him for a long time, and it finally happened.”
The two traded stories about how often they get mixed up.
“I get tagged in all his concert posts,” Greene said. “He just said he gets tagged in all of our baseball posts.”
Greene has talked about trying to see Green perform, but their schedules have never worked out. Green has performed at the Strawberry Festival, which goes on each March in Plant City, Fla., while the Tigers are in Spring Training nearby in Lakeland. But the logistics never worked. Green played in the Detroit area a couple of weeks ago, but the Tigers were on the road in Kansas City.
“He was like, ‘You should come check out the show when you’re done,’” Greene said. “And I’m like, ‘That would be sick!’ And then I’m like, ‘Wait, we leave tonight. Dangit!’
“It’s OK. Hopefully, I can check him out one of these days.”
Greene did get to see Green perform at the plate, and it turns out the musician has a good swing, albeit right-handed. He took multiple rounds of batting practice with the Orioles and sent a couple of drives off the wall in left field, where Greene has played the past couple of nights.
"For a country singer? Yeah, I thought he looked pretty good,” O’s slugger Ryan O’Hearn said. “Saw him hit a ball 104 [mph], which is really good. Obviously, athletic guy. Fun to have him around."
For comparison’s sake, Greene’s top exit velocity this season is 114.5 mph, putting him in the top seven percent among Major Leaguers. But don’t expect Greene to try performing any country songs anytime soon.