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Happy Father’s Day!
On this Father’s Day, June 15, 2024, I’d like to wish all the fathers out there a very Happy Fathers Day!
“It was at St. Mary’s that I met and learned to love the greatest man I’ve ever known…He was the father I needed. He taught me to read and write, and the difference between right and wrong.” -Babe Ruth, speaking of his father figure and mentor, Brother Mathias
What American institution has ever been better at bonding together grandfathers, fathers, and sons/daughters generation after generation, than the great game of baseball? And, as the above quote attests, that includes the great Bambino himself, Babe Ruth, and his father/male role model, Brother Mathias.
Brother Mathias was quite a man…and I’m happy to recognize him once a year on Fathers Day for all he did for a young troublemaker at St. Mary’s who severely lacked discipline named George Herman Ruth; and also for all the hundreds of other boys he influenced over the years at St. Mary’s. For many, he was the only father figure they ever had.
The odds are that the reason you’re a baseball fan today is because of your dad or your grandfather or a big brother or some other male role model who had a major influence in your life. So if your dad/role model is no longer with us, I hope you’ll take a minute or two to remember him and all that he did for you…not the least of which is nurturing your interest in baseball.
What better way to celebrate Fathers Day on Baseball History Comes Alive than with a few father/son posters that I found, including a couple, like the featured photo above, with some historic appeal?
And with that, let me again wish a very Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there! Hope you enjoy your day with your families. And if you have time, be sure to play a little catch today with your sons or daughters or grandkids!
By the way, if you’d like to share some reminiscences about your dad or your grandfather and baseball, please do so in the comments section below.
Gary Livacari
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My dad knew every Andy Frain usher who worked at “Cubs Park” and “Sox Park” (as he always called Wrigley and Comiskey), including the head usher, so we never paid directly to go to a game. I think I may have been 12 before I realized that you needed a ticket to get in. Crowds were small so you had your choice of seats. Dad would seat me in a grandstand seat with a Coke and a scorecard and slip off to the bleachers to lay down a $5 bet on the game, returning with peanuts or popcorn. I still have those programs with his handwriting since he always took down the lineups. I saw all the stars of the ’50s and ’60s but my most lasting memory is Dad pulling up a seat and grabbing my pencil and scorecard to write down the names I couldn’t spell yet.
Thanks Andy…great to have connections!
Nice story, Andy. My dad took me to Wrigley Field for my first big league game when I was seven. We sat in the upper deck on the third base side. Every time there was a pop up, I got excited that it would be a home run. After that, Dad took me to a lot of games, but we never sat in the upper deck again. I also remember my first night game at Comiskey Park – Dad took me with the guys from work. I was stunned to walk up the ramp and see a field lit up like daylight. I think I was nine. Dad always brought me whenever his work group had tickets. I got good at passing beers down the row. Happy Father’s Day to all the baseball fans.
Thanks Jay…nice remembrances!
If you sat in the upper deck it must have been a weekend game against the Braves, Giants or Dodgers because the upper deck was never open during the week. You don’t need an upper deck for crowds of ten or fifteen thousand against woeful squads like the Pirates, Phillies, Reds, and even the Cardinals back in the ’50s. I can still hear Jack Brickhouse on a WGN telecast of a double-header, saying around the seventh inning of the first game, “Come on out, fans, there’s still plenty of time to catch the second game.”
Yep, it was a Saturday against the Dodgers. I also remember going to games on my own for $1.00 which covered the bus, L train, and grandstand seats! Hey! Hey! Nice to see the Jack Brickhouse name.
Thanks Andy…I remember Jack Brickhouse saying that, too!