Heidi Hamels is Cole Hamels’ wife.

In addition to being one of the most recognizable couples in the baseball world, Cole and Heidi run The Hamels Foundation, a charity organization whose scope ranges from assisting inner city kids of Philadelphia to building a school for girls in Malawi, Africa. The school is intended to help end the AIDS/HIV epidemic. This year the foundation is also setting up scholarships for kids in the US and Africa.

Heidi graciously agreed to do the first (of what I hope will be many) interviews on WAG Rankings. Our conversation is below.

Cole is one of the best pitchers in baseball. You were on Survivor and posed for Playboy. Who gets recognized more often when you go out to dinner together?

HH: Cole definitely gets recognized more now (thank goodness!).

When we first dated, around 25 million viewers watched Survivor weekly and 40 million watched the finale. Plus it was aired in 13 other countries….so even when we go out of the US they recognize me more and in my home state of Missouri…but now since about a year ago…Cole gets recognized the most!

Which group is more abrasive: Phillies fans or Playboy subscribers?

HH: “Abrasive”…hmmmm… Phillies fans. They are a hard to compare to each other…the fans are so different.

Phillies fans are the most passionate fans I have ever seen…so they take their sports very seriously…it’s great when you are winning and they will let you know how they feel when you are losing.

A lot of ballplayers like to sign a baseball on a specific spot. Does it work the same way with Playboy models? What I mean is, when someone asks you to sign a picture, what’s your sweet spot?

HH: I used to sign on my “booty,” but I had a couple fans who told me that ruined the picture…so now I just sign next to my image in the picture.

It has to be hard being a baseball wife when your husband is on the road all the time, but are there some road trips where Cole leaves and you think to yourself, “thank God he’s gone, I’ve got the house all to myself for a week?”

HH: Many people in baseball will admit that they have such great relationships because they don’t see each other all the time. This is true for us as well…but NEVER do I “thank-God he’s gone”. In fact when April comes I always cry the first road trip he leaves me because I know this is the start of never seeing him for 6 months! However you never take that person for granted…it is a really great feeling to never be at each other’s throats.

The World Series MVP trophy looks cool on TV, but in reality it has to be one massive chunk of metal. Where did you find space for that thing?

HH: I got to hold it for about 5 seconds the day he won it, but they took the trophy back right away so that fans and media wouldn’t break it, etc…and we haven’t seen it since! However we also haven’t been home in 4 months either so I’m sure we will get it once we get to Philly in April. (and for the record it is REALLY heavy!!…not sure where the heck that thing is going in our house, but it will need to be really sturdy).

Will Cole let you wear his World Series ring?

HH: Cole hates to wear jewelry…so probably he would let me…I would have to shrink it a lot though….he will just want to stare at it all the time, so it will probably just go into safe keeping.

Cole gave you the Camero he won for bringing home the World Series MVP trophy. Any speeding tickets yet?

HH: We haven’t seen that thing either!! Sooo funny…no trophy, no ring, no car…starting to wonder is he really did win!

We had to hunt down how to get the car…we thought we just got the one everyone saw on TV, but it was their “model car” and so we will have to wait until July to get the “real-deal”.

I will keep you posted on the speeding ticket situation. And I think I got the car by default…I’m the only one that knows how to drive a standard car, so that car would have just sat there if Cole didn’t give it to me.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck is another Survivor contestant who ended up marrying a professional athlete. Do you know each other?

HH: We actually don’t know each other, but have A LOT in common with her (other than marrying a professional athlete). In fact when they casted me for Survivor…they told me that I was “the Elizabeth of season 6″…so even the producers picked us as similar people. I don’t think it looked that way at all once our show was aired because Jenna and I were such good friends, and that it was then hard to portray me like Elizabeth…but again that is the magic of editing.

In your estimation, who is the hottest WAG in baseball?

HH: Ok just for the record I was looking on the MLB WAG Rankings…I seriously came up with at least 20 girls on there who were Hotties!! SO I would like to plead the 5th on this issue , but will close by saying “how do you even compete with any of Derek Jeter’s Girlfriends??”

What would it cost me for a Heidi & Cole signed baseball?

HH: A Cole signed baseball is around $200 a Heidi signed baseball is $0. I would only “de-value” the ball bringing it back down to $0.