By Dan MacNeal
Ever since I was young, my dad and I have shared a love of baseball. He took me to my first game in 1990 to see my favorite ballplayer, Lenny Dykstra and the Phils take on the Pirates. We always watched games together when I was young, even when we stunk in the late ’90s. I got my love of the Phils through my dad; him watching Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton growing up turned into Curt Schilling and John Kruk for me. He coached my Little League team for years; always giving me helpful instruction but teaching me to be a team player. If he wasn’t coaching, he made sure he made it to all my games.
So in the spirit of going to ballgames, I decided to take my dad to the Phillies game today to see them take on the Twins. He doesn’t get to go to many games these days, so he was as excited as I was when he took me 20 years ago. Unfortunately my dad’s first time seeing Roy Halladay wasn’t as good as my first time seeing the good Doctor, but that didn’t make the day any less fun. We talked back and forth about baseball strategies, moments from years past, and had some laughs. As Minnesota rarely comes to town, this was his first time seeing the Twins and he was also excited about seeing a team he had never seen before.
Growing up, Father’s Day was always spent outside listening to the Phils on the radio, playing some wiffleball in the backyard while food is on the grill. As with many others, baseball (or some form of it) is always a part of the day.
TTB 