Small Talk: Dustin Pedroia Grew Up Playing Ping Pong, Doesn’t Like Snow

The infield at Fenway Park would look very different without second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who fielded five probing questions from kids.

1. Will you come visit Vermont?

Dustin: Yeah, I’ll go. I didn’t get an invite, but now I did and I’ll be there. I just need directions, so you’ll have to shoot me a text.

2. Why do you like ping pong?

Dustin: I don’t know, it’s just one of those sports I’ve always liked. When I was growing up, I had a small table, not the original size, and I used to put the back part of the table up and just hit balls back and forth, ’cause you can play by yourself and just hit the ball … and you can’t break anything in the house, so my mom was pretty excited for me to play it.

3. Who is the funniest Red Sox teammate?

Dustin: Jonny Gomes right now is pretty hilarious. So, I can’t wait for everybody to get a chance to see him more. He’s really funny, and his locker is a couple ones down from me, so we’ve got a lot of laughter going on.

4. I like to mime. What do you guys play in the clubhouse?

Dustin: Mostly music, that’s about it. We don’t have any jungle gyms or toys or anything like that. When we’re around the clubhouse we kind of just talk to each other, laugh, have a good time and try to get ready to go play the game. So, yeah, we don’t have that many mimes running around there.

5. Do you like when it snows a lot?

Dustin: No, I don’t like the snow at all. I actually didn’t see the snow until I was like 20. I grew up in California, so it never really snowed where I was at. So, I’m not really a fan of it. I don’t like the cold. You’ve got to put on a lot of layers and try to stay warm as possible. So, I like being in shorts and flip flops and borderline tank tops.