Baseball- A Father and Son Game

“Whatever the reason, baseball is mostly, though not entirely, a sport of fathers and sons.” ~ Tom Stanton – The Final Season

Yesterday was the finale of the World Baseball Classic at Chase Field (USA beat Canada 9-4).

It was also the first time that I had been to a ballpark with my dad in many years. In 2003, my family moved north, while I stayed in Arizona and built my own life for myself.

One of the many things that my father and I share is a love of baseball. This has grown into a stronger bond over the last few years that I have taken a closer interest into the game.

Almost from the time we got in the car, we were talking about past players, specifically who did I know about and who was I looking to read about next. I think that I received a good 30-40 players that my dad thinks I should read about next for my blog dfculver.mlblogs.com where I discuss baseball books. Among the options he gave me were Shoeless Joe, Lou Gherig, Ted Williams, and Mickey Mantle.

One of the things that amazed me the most during the game was how good my dad’s eyesight is. From the ninth grade till present, I have needed glasses to see anything more than 5 feet away from me. My dad has only needed glasses in the last few years to see anything less than 3 feet away from him.

Sitting behind left-center field, I heard, “Watch his hands. You can tell what kind of ball he throws if you see how he moves his hand when he releases.”

Even with my glasses on, I couldn’t catch the wrist movement that my dad saw. I could judge the speed of the pitch and tell whether it was a strike/ball, but I could not keep up with my dad. “Fastball. Curve or a Slider. Changeup.” What could I do but nod in agreement to the man who has significantly better eyesight and knowledge of the game?

My dad coached me through little league and taught me almost everything I know about baseball (which is far less than it should be, through my forgetting and no fault of his own). He’s encouraged me all my life, and with my new pursuits in baseball writing, he’s my biggest fan.

The World Baseball Classic’s slogan is “United at the Seams, Divided by Country”. Yesterday during the USA/Canada game, not only were two countries united by baseball, but so were a father and son.

David Culver is an avid baseball fan along with his wife. He will receive a degree in English with a minor in Social Justice from ASU this May. Find his blog at dfculver.mlblogs.com and on Twitter @dfculver.