By Tom Friend

10/3/2011: Gloucester, MA – The regular season has ended with Fishermen not making the postseason for the second straight year.  Some of the current players won’t be with the team next year, but one that definitely will be back is captain Gregory Arnold.   He has one remaining year on his contract, and speculation is that he’ll test the free agency market in 2012.  I had a chance to sit down with the right fielder in an effort to let the fans get to know him a little better, the first in the new series: “Getting to Know the Fishermen”.

• Birthday: 06-08-1982
• Height: 6’2”
• Weight: 230 lbs.
• Sign: Gemini

What’s your favorite color?  “Blue… no, red.”

What’s your least favorite color?  “Green.”

What’s your favorite movie?  “Either Cop Land, Goodfellas or Donnie Brasco, or anything Ray Liotta is in.  I met him at a charity softball game a few years back and we went out for a few frat pops after.  He’s a really good dude.  He actually doesn’t look that strange in person.”

What’s your favorite band: “I like old-school hair band stuff like Guns N’ Roses and Poison.  My pre-game mix tape has a little rap and country, but I’m all about the hair bands.”

What’s your favorite baseball memory?  “Probably hitting a homerun in this year’s All-Star Game.  A lot of people thought I was washed up after last season, and the same people thought I’d never go back to the All-Star Game.  In the offseason, I rededicated myself and worked on my swing, and this year I was fortunate enough to make it back.  The homerun was the culmination of all that hard work.  I tried to get the ball, but the guy wanted $50,000 and I didn’t have the guts to tell my wife that I bought a baseball instead of re-doing the kitchen, so I’ll just have to be happy with my memory.”

What’s your favorite book?  “I’m not a big reader during the season, but the last good book I read is Play Poker Like the Pros, by Phil Hellmuth.  There’s a lot more than poker in that book, and he’s a really good dude, from what I’ve heard.”

What’s your favorite food?  “Chinese, without a doubt.  I could eat it every meal.  There’s a Chinese food booth in the stadium, and one day I talked them into opening early so I could get some General Tso’s Chicken.  I went four-for-five that day.”

What’s your best Halloween Costume: “One year I went as the Noid.  That was pretty good.”

If you could eat dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?  “I would say either Ray Liotta or Jesus Christ.”

What are you most afraid of?  “Surprisingly, I’m afraid of flying.  It makes road trips pretty miserable.  I’m also afraid of spiders.”

Do you have any pets?  “I’ve got two dogs named Leaf and Shovel, and a fish named Snailface.  My kids name the pets.”

How do you like your eggs?  “Either poached or scrambled.  I love Eggs Benedict, especially with crab cakes instead of Canadian bacon, but usually I like them scrambled.”

What color are your bed sheets?  “We swap them out a lot depending on my mood.  I usually like the brown sheets, but my wife like white.”

Gregory or Greg?  “Gregory.”

What’s the last dream that you remember?  “I don’t know what this means, but I had this pet lion that I rode around town like a horse and we were on a quest to find and destroy the King of Tacos, who lived down the street.  There was a big battle, and suddenly Kevin Howell showed up with his pet zebra with a giant moustache and saved the day.  Like I said, I don’t know what it means.  Weird.”

Boxers or briefs?  “Boxers.”

Google or Yahoo?  “Yahoo.  I play spades online there.”

Favorite actor?  “Ray Liotta.”

What does your last text message say?  “Hmmm.  I don’t know.  Probably something from my wife or kids asking me to pick them something up.”

Would you rather have money or love?  “Oh man.  That’s a tough one.  I’d probably say money.”

What’s your favorite day of the week and why?  “I like Wednesdays for some reason; don’t ask me why.  My wife thinks it’s because I’m a workaholic, but I don’t know why that has anything to do with liking Wednesday.  Always liked Wednesdays.”

Worst bad habit?  “I pick my teeth a lot.  I do it with anything I can find: business cards, baseball cards, batting gloves.  I think I should probably see a dentist, but I’m sort of afraid of them.  Add that to the things I’m afraid of: flying and dentists.”

What are you going to do tomorrow?  “I’ll probably get up early and play with my kids for a little bit.  Then I’ll head over to the gym and workout.  As you get older, it is really a lot harder to stay in shape, so I have to work harder.  I’ll probably go get some Chinese food with my agent for lunch.  I’ll probably go back to the gym and work out a little bit longer and come home and try to catch some of the playoffs on TV.”

What’s your prediction for next year?  “I think we’ve got a lot of talent in the minor leagues and a lot of young talent coming back.  I think if everything comes together, it’s not out of the question that we make the playoffs.  I think if we catch a few breaks, we might be playing for the title.  We also might come in third.”

Will you be back with the Fishermen after next year?  “ I can’t see the future obviously, but I would really like to be back with the team.  I don’t like to negotiate contracts during the year, so I don’t know for certain if management even wants me back, but I hope to end my career here in Gloucester.”