Baseball With My Best Friend

When I was a young child my dad sat me down and told me “we have a tradition in this family. Fathers and sons are more than just fathers and sons. We’re also best friends.” Although I couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4 years old, I can quote him word for word because he told me this countless times over the years.

And he was right. My dad and his dad, my PawPaw, were the best of friends. They drove trucks together, enjoyed weekends together, and for years grew a garden together. On a summer evening you could see them watering the tomatoes. Maybe an ounce of water came out of the hose every minute. Couldn’t go too fast, that would cut down on the time for a cold beer and some old stories. And those summer nights by the garden were almost always accompanied by a game on the radio.

Baseball has always been a part of this tradition in some way or the other. As a kid I was the batboy for every one of my dad’s softball teams. I knew all the guys, they knew me, and they’d feed me quarters at the pizza parlor after the games.

My dad taught me how to play ball and how beautiful baseball on the radio is. While I was never a good ballplayer, I spent countless hours listening to games with Dad while driving through the country and later while driving tractors up and down fields. I spent the summer of 2002 listening to the Angels on 710 and the Giants flagship station 680 out of San Francisco. Add in a Bakersfield station carrying Dodgers games and it was like having XM satellite radio in parts of the Central Valley.

So now I’m an adult and true to tradition, my dad is my best friend. He’s the first one to know everything important. From when I knew I’d become a father to the interviews I do for this site, Dad gets the first call or text. We have a continual text conversation about baseball stats and often text during games and fights in addition to a call or two a week.

He’s also my Spring Training partner. My first trip to Spring Training in 2007 was me and Pops. I finally had a career in the works, finally had a little money in my pocket, and the person I wanted to enjoy an adventure with was Dad. After that trip he took a few years off but for the last 8 years he’s joined me.

We’ve been to every Cactus League park together. That picture above is from a Cubs game in 2022 that completed the circuit. Over the years we’ve had great times chatting with George Foster and other players, seeing my son and nephew collect autographs, and plenty of baseball action. Last year we caught Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. Really, there’s too much to count.

For all the poetic waxing I do about day games, player interaction, and the general fun of Spring Training, what really makes it my favorite time of year is that I’m spending time with my best friend. My dad.

Life gets busy, time flies by, but for a few hours each day for a few days each March I’m sitting next to my dad at a ballgame. And that is priceless.

I’ve heard stories of his playing days, of games he watched before I was born. I’ve heard stories about PawPaw and other family and friends. We talk about my journey through life and fatherhood. And, of course, sometimes we just sit in silence watching a game we both love and enjoying being together.

There are very few experiences in life that will always make you feel like a kid. Walking into a ballpark with your dad is one of them.

And as a father, I realize there are few experiences that compare to going to a ballgame with your child. So now I realize how much Dad loves this trip as well.

My ultimate goal in life is to continue this father/son best friend tradition with my little guy. Yes, my son has already heard about the tradition plenty. For now I realize how blessed I am to be able to have the ballpark experience as both a father and a son.

As long as Dad keeps making it out there, Spring Training will continue to be my favorite baseball experience. You just can’t beat baseball with your best friend.