By: Austin Alexander – June 20, 2010

To a Baseball Father-

A baseball father can be a very special person in the life of a young boy.

He can also be the perfect teacher and example to follow as the years pile up.

He taught us how to grip a ball and play ‘catch’… the correct way.

He taught us how to swing the bat and field a groundball.

He taught us how to run the bases hard and read a box score.

He taught us how to sort and organize our baseball cards.

He taught us how to play ‘pepper’ and ‘500’.

He taught us how to act on a baseball field and wear the uniform properly.

He taught us how to use two hands and introduced us to eye-black.

He taught us how to win and lose with dignity.

He has been our catcher, batting practice pitcher, athletic psychologist, umpire and fungo hitter. He has waved us home and held us up at second base too.

He gave us his time. He gave us the equipment we needed to play. He gave us encouragement. He also gave us the swift kick in the fanny at the right time. He kept us grounded. He gave us a sense of baseball history. Then he gave us even more time.

We’ll never forget all of those mornings, afternoons, evenings and Sundays after church!

Thank you for getting cable TV and a VCR to tape games we missed. Thank you for squatting, throwing, teaching and being a pillar of support. So sorry for the three knee surgeries but you are still the best catcher ever! Thank you for your willingness to dodge balls through the L screen, ricocheting off poles and taking bullets off your love handles! Thank you for seldom missing a game, at least the ones in our time zone!

We call him dad and we’ve called him coach too.

He taught us how to be a man, a dad and a coach… in that order. On this Father’s Day, we salute all of the baseball dad’s across the land!

Coach, thank you for your sacrifices, knowledge, influence, patience and passion.

Dad, thank you for being my father.

                                                                 -From a Baseball Son