Me, My Dad and Our Love-Love of Baseball
Ken Griffey Sr. and son Ken Griffey Jr. (Bill Chan/Associated Press)
Baseball and dads go together like monster home runs and bat flips.
Growing up in upstate New York, baseball was always in my blood. However, my dad and his love of the game helped take things to a whole new level when it came to our baseball fandom. Many of my childhood memories revolve around the game of baseball. Dad bleeds blue and is a die-hard Dodgers fan from the Brooklyn days, while I grew up bleeding blue and orange with the Doc and Darryl NY Mets of the 1980’s.
From a very young age, Dad taught me everything he knew about the game including an appreciation for the history and nostalgia that makes the game so special to us all. To this day, it’s a special bond we share together. Although my dad is not the kind of man who likes to talk about deep meaningful topics over the phone, we can always talk baseball. While we may not have the perfect relationship that he and I both long for, we will always share a deep love for baseball. And ya know what? Sometimes, that’s all you need.
”Hey Dad, you wanna have a catch?”
While most of you will recognize the line above delivered by Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) in the classic baseball film Field of Dreams, I must admit that those are a set of words that you will never hear come from my mouth.
In upstate NY, we say it a bit differently. As Dad walked in the door from a long day at work at Sears Roebuck, you would instead hear me say “Hey Dad, wanna go outside and play catch?” repeated over and over until he relented and somehow conjured up enough energy to toss a baseball back and forth with me for half an hour. He would throw a mix of grounders and pop ups – sometimes he would even use a racquetball to make the hops nastier to help me cultivate better hand eye coordination and fielding skills.
If I was lucky and Dad had a little extra left in his energy tank after work, he would take me and a bucket of old used baseballs to the softball fields down the street to throw me live BP while I used a monstrous wooden bat that was way too big for a 10-year-old to swing. It taught me how to choke up and control a longer, heavier bat which paid off later in Little League. Sometimes if I was making consistent contact, he would throw a little harder just to test my true abilities. Other times he would throw his patented knuckleball that would bob and flutter up to the plate where all I would be able to generate was an ugly, off-balance swing and a wry smile knowing that I had been duped.
I cherish those memories with my dad and now I am trying to pass those same kind of memories on to my son, Sam, who is 15. Over the past eight years, I’ve thrown enough live BP to Sam to require Tommy John surgery. But me, my dad and my son Sam will have those memories forever. Here’s the thing, too — I’d still throw BP to Sam until my arm fell off just to hear the crack of the bat and see the smile on his face as a line drive whizzes by my head back up the middle.
Kevin Costner playing Ray Kinsella in the 1989 film “Field of Dreams” (Universal Pictures)
The Baseball Cathedral of The Polo Grounds
Dad grew up in a small town in upstate New York called Truxton, NY. Most, if not all of you will have never heard of that town, but believe it or not, it has great significance in the baseball world. John McGraw, the Hall of Fame manager of the NY Baseball Giants, was a Truxton native. His wife, Blanche, was obviously a big Giants fan as well and attended every Giants World Series game even after the death of her husband. For Dad’s senior high school trip, Blanche was able to get tickets from her husband for the entire senior class so they could attend a Giants game at the Polo Grounds. Lucky for Dad, the Giants were playing his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, so he was able to see some of his favorite players like Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella. Those experiences seemed otherworldly to me at the time and still seem that way a bit today. Jackie and Roy were some of the most historic figures to ever play the game. Knowing that Dad was able to set foot inside the mystical monastery of the Polo Grounds and partake in our national pastime leaves me beyond amazed. Can you imagine actually watching Jackie Robinson play a game at the Polo Grounds? I can, thanks to Dad, who has provided me with a living link from the ghosts of the past to the generations of the present and future.
1963 Latin American All-Star Game, final game held at the Polo Grounds (National Baseball Hall of Fame)
John McGraw monument located in Truxton, NY
The Utica Blue Sox
The New York Penn League was a Short Season Class A baseball league made up of teams predominantly in New York, Pennsylvania, and other regions of the northeast. One team, the Utica Blue Sox, played in the city where I grew up. They were affiliated with several major league teams including the Phillies, Blue Jays, White Sox, Red Sox and Marlins. Among the notable MLB players who once graced a Blue Sox uniform were Larry Walker, Miguel Cabrera, Adrián González, Andy Ashby, Jason Grimsley, and even Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn. For me, as a young, awkward 11-year-old boy, there was one player much more important than them all. His name was Dave Willes.
Suffice it to say that we did not have a lot of money growing up, but I never needed anything beyond what my parents were able to provide. Dad would take me to Blue Sox games whenever the family budget allowed, and when he did, it was a special treat in my eyes. We would sit in the bleachers behind home plate for a couple bucks and he would quiz me on pitch sequences and the other nuances of the game. Above the roaring drunk to our left, Dad would say, “Ok. Count is 2-1 and he just threw a fastball. What pitch do you think he’s throwing here?” Sometimes I would guess correctly and other times Dad would. I started to learn that Dad would get them right more often than I did and that there was a reason why. There’s an art to pitching — fastballs up and in, followed by breaking balls away, also go together just like Dads, sons and the game of baseball.
Our family was pretty religious, growing up as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (say that 10 times fast), and we attended church regularly on Sunday mornings. One Sunday, Dad introduced me to a man named Dave Willes. He said, “Hey Dan, this is Dave Willes and he plays second base for the Blue Sox.” I was immediately star struck! Dave may as well have been Ryne Sandberg in my book. This guy played professional baseball and went to the same church as me? I couldn’t believe it! Dave got to know me and quickly learned that I loved baseball just like he did. He was the nicest guy ever and even gave me a game-used bat, a signed pennant, a team hat and a baseball signed by the entire Blue Sox team (to this day, I still have all those items except the bat). I quickly became his biggest fan. That year in 1987 Dave hit .304 and had an OPS of .885. I thought he was destined for the Hall of Fame for sure. I remember when Dad and I went to a game and Dave went 2 for 4 with a single and a double. Boy, did we cheer him on that night. Soon thereafter Dave was promoted to the Bend Phillies of the Northwest League and I never saw him again. One day out of the blue, I received a letter in the mail from Dave. It was his wedding invitation with a picture of him and his beautiful bride to be. He hadn’t forgotten a nerdy 11-year-old boy from Utica who idolized him and his baseball abilities. That picture meant the world to me and I kept it in a small frame on the bookshelf in my bedroom for several years. I tried to look him up a few years ago, but had trouble finding any contact information for him. I just wanted to let him know that he made the summer of 1987 one of the most magical, memorable times of my young life. Just a boy, his Dad, and a minor league baseball player. Man, I love baseball and I love my Dad, too, and that will never be taken away from the two of us.
If you have any memories with your dads and the game of baseball, please comment below as we would love to hear from you, too! Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!