Carlos Ruiz Meets Carlos Ruiz…

To see the video of the meeting of the two Ruiz's, click here.

When it was suggested over Twitter, people didn’t know what to make of it, but apparently Carlos Ruiz meeting Carlos Ruiz in person didn’t destroy the world.

Carlos Ruiz, the Philadelphia Phillies catcher, is Panamanian, while Carlos Ruiz, the Philadelphia Union striker, is Guatemalan. In classic Phillies Chooch fashion, he was all show, keeping it classy with his sunglasses and typical Phillies gear and jersey. Union Ruiz (who has been coined as UChooch by some of the Phillies faithful on Twitter), came to Citizens Bank Park in his street clothes, which appear to be out of Kanye West’s closet.

In a way this meet-and-greet shows that the Union are beginning to find a way into the mainstream of Philly sports. The Phillies are paying attention, albeit for something gimmicky like this meeting, and that speaks highly of how the Union have gone about marketing themselves in their second season of existence.

[EDIT: Mike Schmidt’s number was 20, which is the reason why the Union’s Ruiz did not receive a jersey with 20 on it. The Phillies retired 20.]

It doesn't happen every day that two teams in the same city are able to claim players of the same name. While the two Ruiz's couldn't be more opposites in how their careers came about and progressed – the Union's Ruiz is incredibly talented by has been dogged by criticism of his sportsmanship and effort, but the Phillies' Ruiz has worked as hard as possible to make his way to the bigs – it's still highly entertaining to see the two meet face-to-face.

Next step: get Ruiz (perhaps all of the Phillies?) out to a game.