Not often do people encounter someone in life who is a true look alike, but junior baseball equipment manager Ryan Babin and Reveille writer Jason Doré have encountered this strange occurrence early in life.
Since both are frequent sights in LSU athletic circles, the two often are mistaken for one another. Doré and Babin spoke Tuesday night about a few of the situations their resemblances have caused and about life as an equipment manager for the LSU baseball team.
JD: I began hearing about you nearly two years before we ever met. Most times when I heard your name people were oddly referring to me.
It actually took some time for me to figure out what was happening and why people repeatedly thought I was Ryan Babin. Did it take you a while to figure out what was going on?
RB: Well before I met you, I talked to one of the guys that works at the football equipment room where we pick up all our incoming shipments.
I went over there and he told me, “Dude there is a guy on campus that looks exactly like you.
I saw him walking by and chased after him to let him know there was a box of baseballs here.
I grabbed him and said ‘hey you need to come pick up the baseballs.’ He looked at me like I was stupid.
I walked away and said I don’t know if that was Babin.” Every time I go over there, they laugh. They’re like “I saw your brother today walking by.”
Then a couple of guys on the baseball team, especially Zeringue, would come in and say “I read your brother’s column today.” I was like what are you talking about. They told me there is a guy that looks just like me who writes for the paper.
I’ll go somewhere and they’ll be like “Hey, aren’t you the guy that writes the article for the paper?” I was like no, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
JD: I just heard that an expensive, rather bizarre traffic ticket I received at the Virginia Tech game is due to someone mistaking me for you.
RB: Yes, there was this guy who works on the field during the season. He came back from Virginia Tech last year asking me if I was at Virginia Tech. I told him, ‘No I didn’t go. I just stayed here.’
He then told me that there was a guy that looked just like me driving around in an Xterra.
Then he jumped on the truck and the cops pulled them over and gave the two of them tickets. He realized it wasn’t me when he looked in the mirror. I thought that was pretty funny.
JD: I can laugh at it now too, but when I was writing the check out to the Blacksburg Police Department I wasn’t very amused.
Anyways, now that we are friends, we are able to have some fun with our likeness. Can you talk a little bit about the confusion we caused at a Halloween party this year?
RB: I know don’t even know how many people came up to me. I was dressed as the ultimate warrior and you were a little pimp. People kept saying “How many costumes do you have?”
I was like what are you talking about. They said yes you were dressed like a pimp earlier. This time we knew each other so I had fun with it. I said oh yes that’s my brother.
They asked where does your brother live. I told them ‘oh he lives back home with mom and dad, but he just comes up here sometimes.’ I just had fun messing with people.
JD: Let’s talk a little about your position on the baseball team. Did you want to be a manager before coming to LSU? How did it all work out?
RB: It actually kind of started in high school. I tried out for the baseball team and didn’t make it.
My coach told me that since I like baseball I could come out and it would possibly lead to a scholarship.
Coach Laval came to one of our summer games after I graduated and I just went up to introduce myself.
I told him I was interested in being a manager and he told me to call him the next week. Then three weeks later I signed a scholarship to come so everything worked out.
JD: I don’t think people realize how much work goes on behind the scenes in LSU athletics. What is a typical day for you?
RB: Basically when I get out of class, I go get something to eat, set up the cages for coach Thomas and make sure the field is set up if they have to practice or intersquad depending on what we do for those days. Once practice gets started, we either hang around on the field to see what’s going on, set up for shipments that are coming in, make sure we have all our supplies and equipment in or just maintaining all the equipment that we use for practice.
JD: Do you usually work late into the night?
RB: During the season on a Friday night, you can be there pretty close to 1:30 or 2 in the morning doing laundry and stuff like that. Then on Saturdays you get out of there at like 10 at night. You’re pretty much working together with the other guys to get out of there.
JD: What has been your favorite thing about being a part of the LSU baseball team?
RB: Some of the older players told us that when we got to Omaha we would be able to hit on the field. Usually when we go on the road we go on the outfield and shag balls. But when we got to Omaha we got kicked off because they said only the 25-man roster could be out there. We came back in until there was like three minutes left to go when Aaron Hill and some of the older guys said we had to hit, so we got to hit in Omaha.
JD: There are definitely high expectations for the upcoming baseball season. What are you looking forward to?
RB: I’m obviously looking forward to getting back to Omaha and staying there longer than a couple of days. I was fortunate enough when I was younger to go three times. I was there in 1997 for the championship game when we won it. That’s something I want to be back there for and see it from a different view in the dugout.
JD: Thank you.
RB: You’re welcome.