Happy Father's Day

Father’s Day is Sunday and while not to minimize it’s standing it’s a far cry from Mother’s Day to me. That’s because as I’ve gotten older it’s become more and more apparent that mothers are the ones in most cases who make the family work. It’s also a day that for many is a reminder of what they don’t have in their lives any longer. I’m lucky in that my father is still with me although my father-in-law left us all way too soon so no matter what Sunday will be bittersweet.

I really have only two lasting memories of Father’s Day and ironically they both involve baseball. For some reason I remember quite well being an 8-year old in 1964 and watching the Phillies Jim Bunning pitch a perfect game against the Mets. However the one I most remember was in 1998 when on Father’s Day my son’s team was playing in their Little League Championship game. We had run out of pitchers that week and Brandon was called on to pitch in the final game of the season even though I don’t think he started a game all season long as he usually played the infield. Anyway as he took the mound for the Cardinals his coach just told him to throw strikes because we knew he wasn’t going to blow anyone away with his speed. I honestly think it was the most nervous I had even been as a parent and Brandon pitched his heart out and got a couple of hits. His team lost a close game and all the kids were really disappointed as some of them had played together for three years. The coaches tried to pick up their spirits afterwards and since it was the final day of the season they also had to make the announcement of the players who had made the league’s 12-year old All Star team.

Well as bad as it was losing that game is was even more heartbreaking when Brandon learned he was not named to the All-Star team. His coach was very upset, told him he should have been selected, and genuinely felt terrible.
Meanwhile we have everyone coming back to our house for a Father’s Day BBQ and my son does not want to leave his room. He eventually did and of course overcame the disappointment of the snub…although to be honest I’m still ticked to this day and I was not heartbroken when the team got knocked out of the tournament early.

So that’s Father’s Day. Hope you enjoy yours!