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June 18, 2023
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
Brother Mathias
On this Father’s Day, June 18, 2023, I’d like to wish all the fathers out there a very Happy Fathers Day!
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.
Br. Mathias at the wheel of a new Cadillac, bought for him by the babe. Also pictured is Fred Merkle and Babe’s wife, Helen.
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 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
As always, we enjoy reading your comments
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Happy Father’s Day to my brother Gary and to all the “Baseball History Comes Alive” readers who are fathers. Enjoy this special day!
That’s sweet. Thank you, Christine
Gary,
Does baseball have an *asterisk* record book? In a sport with so many “would be a record except for” situations, I would love to see a book with the almost, could have been, should have been stories.
Not sure keith…I’ve never heard of one.
The boys club in Peeth Amboy took the poor kids to their first game. At the polo grounds the Giants played the Cards. My Dad decided that the winner of the game would become his team, and the Cards won. Later his favorite player was Stan Musial who
was Polish like us.
My Godfather, his brother who lived with us took me to my first game at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. They plated the Cards. Chris Short pitched for the Phil’s. My Uncle took me to see the players up close and I Remer the huge biceps on Tony Gonzalez. My Uncle told me I have to eat my vegetables if I want to play in the Bigs. Rich Allen hit A triple to dead center, 440 feet and Lou Brock made a leaping catch at the left field wall. I found boxscores.net and it confirmed my memories. I’ve loved baseball ever since!!!
Great info, Joe…i love the personal stuff like this! HFD!
Yes, I’m only a baseball fan because of my Dad. He worked at Forbes Field while in school, so he was a real Pirates fan. No wonder I was, too,
I’ll never forget my first trip to a ball park with my Dad. I was very young, so he took me to the closest ballgame. It was a double header in Connie Mack Stadium. I was about 7 years old. I was disappointed when the Pirates didn’t come onto the field, but another visiting team did. I waited patiently between games, and then was shocked again when the Pirates didn’t take the field, but that other team did again. I asked my Dad about that, and he said that’s the way it is in a double header—the same 2 teams play both games, and that the Pirates don’t play in every game.
After that year, we made Summer trips from our home in Eastern Pennsylvania to Forbes Field so we could “root, root, root for the home team.” I remember going to a little news store with him and buying the (plastic) “green weenie,” so we could be in with the rest of the crowd holding that strange object that supposedly helped the Pirates win. One year, Dad upgraded our trip: I got my first airplane ride. It was a bouncy ride in a propellor plane on Allegheny Airlines. Thankfully, we got a jet plane for the ride back.
Years later, in 2010, when I attended my first Pittsburgh Pirate Fantasy Camp, I was privileged to take my 80 year old Dad with me as my guest. He was on “cloud 9,” with all of those old pros from the 1960 Series Team. He had many of the fellow campers in awe as he told of his interactions with Pirates and Homestead Grays greats from his days working at Forbes Field. What a privilege it was to be with my Dad and my other heroes, as Dad watched me wear the Pirates uniform and play 7 games in Bradenton, Florida.
Thanks Steve…some great remembrances…and i love the personal stuff like tis!