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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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