Please welcome new Phillies contributor Leslie Gudel, who needs no introduction. She sat down with Phillies outfielder Howie Kendrick and got to know him through his wide-ranging Instagram photos.

At the end of last season, Pete Mackanin said he wanted a veteran bat in his lineup. On November 11, the Phillies Skipper got just what he asked for in the form of 33-year-old Howie Kendrick.

Kendrick is a short-term player who could also net long-term benefits, as he adds not only a professional bat to the Phillies line-up, but will also serve as a mentor to the younger players. It’s no mistake that new Phillies hitting coach Matt Stairs put Kendrick in the same batting group with Maikel Franco and Freddy Galvis this spring.

Being in Florida, Kendrick is back in his home state, although he’s quick to point out that Clearwater is the big city compared to rural Callahan, where he grew up. A 1.3 square mile town in Northeast Florida, Callahan has a population of around 1,000 people.

Small-town-boy-makes-it-big is only part of Kendrick’s story. He is also an avid amateur photographer who loves watches and guns and befriends homeless people in his spare time. His work, and life, is on display in nearly 1,200 Instagram photos (@hkendrick47). Together we went through a few to learn more about the Phillies’ new left fielder.

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Kendrick with his wife, Jody, and two boys, Owen and Tyson

“Growing up my mom and dad weren’t together since I was a baby, so I never really got a chance to really know my dad or anything, but for me with my boys and my wife, it’s really important for us to keep our family the most important thing. Having two boys, it means a lot to me to be able to see them grow up and give them some of the things that I didn’t have as a kid, but I think the most important thing is having both parents.”

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Kendrick with legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully

“Probably one of the best human beings I’ve ever met. To be able to have my name called by Vin Scully, I mean it was truly an honor. The way he went about the game and the way he told stories about the game. I can remember one of the first times I ever met Vin, we were walking downstairs and he comes out of the elevator and we started talking and I was like, ‘Man, his voice is exactly like it is on TV.’ It was truly amazing to have been around a guy like Vin and I have the utmost respect for him.”

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Kendrick is an avid photographer

“I have quite a few cameras, but I definitely enjoy taking photos. That’s kind of my hobby on the road. I’ve been doing it probably for about eight years now. I kind of got into it on a whim. I had some photos taken of my family when I was younger and I didn’t really like them too much and I was like, “You know, I can probably do that.” So, I went out and got a camera and I’ve been learning ever since.”

Kendrick’s Instragram is filled with black and white photos of people on the street. There’s a definite theme behind them.

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“You know what, most of the people are homeless people. The situations these people are in, you know, the tough times… they might have had one bad break and something went wrong and now they’re out on the street. But, I actually sit down and ask them, ‘Hey, do you mind if I take a photo?’ I’ll ask them if they want a drink or if I can get them anything. Most people don’t even ask for that. A lot of homeless people don’t even ask for money, they’ll sometimes ask me for food or something to drink. Most of them are really nice people. So, I like to go around cities and talk to different people and get to know who they are as people. Not only does it brighten my day, it brightens theirs, too. To see the smile on some of the people’s faces when you’re talking to them, I think it makes a difference.”

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This is obviously indicative of a lot of change going on in our world right now. You have several pictures representing the conflicts. Can you talk a little bit about your passion for this subject?

“You know what, growing up a minority, you obviously experience different things, especially growing up in the South. We’re going through times in our country where racism and things like that are in the forefront… and you know, some people don’t realize what true racism is. You hear people quick to throw that word out there and I look at it from a different standpoint, because I’ve experienced that in my life. I grew up around that and it’s not something that should be taken lightly. It’s not a word that you really just throw out there and I’ve seen people falsely accused of being that and I’m like, ‘You know, you probably shouldn’t say that word or accuse people of being that unless you really know.’ I think just, our country is so sensitive now to certain things and you’ve got to be careful of what you say here and there and the way people take things and I think change can sometimes be good, but change can also be bad, depending on what you’re changing for and I just try to look at the world as, hopefully we can all improve ourselves, as well as the people around us and I just try to look at it from that standpoint.”

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“That’s my wife, Jody. I’m an avid shooter. I think everybody knows I post guns on my Instagram. People are like, “Oh man, why you always doing this gun thing.” I’m a very firm believer in my second amendment rights. My family was all military. If I wasn’t playing baseball I would have ended up in the military and I hold true to that. Your right to bear arms, that’s something that you should take seriously, but it also is a responsibility, too. You have to be responsible when you’re carrying a weapon. You have to be knowledgeable about that. I try to do my best to teach my boys the same thing… and my wife is a firm believer and supporter in that, too, so every time we go shooting, she loves to get out and go to the range. We always keep it safe.”

Kendrick loves watches…

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“That stems back to when I was a kid, to the first calculator watch. I had a Timex watch, a Casio watch, I mean, I just was always into watches. Watches are something you can definitely pass along to your boys and I’m pretty sure my collection one day will be theirs.”

And cars…

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“That’s probably one of the best cars I ever bought.  I’ve always been a car guy since I was a kid. It’s a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. I’ve had that for a little while. I think that stems back to when I was a kid. One of my little league coaches, when I was about 11/12 years old had this Chevy Monte Carlo built to the nines, I mean chromed out motor, T-Tops and that was the first car I really, truly fell in love with as a kid. Ever since then I’ve kind of had that bug of loving cars and being into cars.”

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Kendrick’s English Bulldog, Truck

“He’s quite a character. English Bulldogs usually only live about eight years and he’s about 10 years old now and he might be one of the laziest bulldogs I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t’ move much anymore, but he gets up with me and starts to play around. He’ll wrestle with me a lot, but anyone else he’s like “eehhh.”  He’s a great dog. We’ve had him for a long time and I’m pretty sure when he’s gone, we’ll get another one.”

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“That trip to Green Bay and Lambeau, that was on the bucket list. Me and my brother-in-law took that trip. We picked the December 4th game only because we thought it might snow then and that was actually the first snow they’d gotten all year and it was a blizzard. It snowed the whole game and I figured the only way you could experience Lambeau is if it’s snowing.”

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“Jimmy’s an awesome player.  I used to mess with him when he had his hair braided and he’s always had that swagger about him. He’s a great guy, family man and we hung out quite a bit (with the Dodgers) and that was my guy on the road, too. He gave me a heads up about Philly saying, ‘The city’s great! If you have any questions, let me know or if you have any questions about Tampa,’ because we kinda flip-flopped… he went to Arizona and I came to Tampa/Clearwater. He’s just always been a friend throughout the years.”

Jimmy Rollins has mutual respect for Kendrick. I reached out to Jimmy via text and here’s what he had to say: “Howie is a great guy. One of the most professional players I’ve ever shared the field with.  He knows who he is and what he can do and rarely ever deviates from his plan. You want him on your team! From the time he walks onto the field till the last out of the game is made, he’s doing everything he has to help his team win! I’ve always admired him from afar so getting the opportunity to be his teammate was an honor.”