The holidays are always a time for me to stop and acknowledge how lucky I am and with 2010 coming to an end, I can't help but look back on the last 12 months a little out of breathe. Every day has been one step closer to my dream, an aspiration that was passed along from my dad. Meet Jim.
Everything I know and love about baseball I learned from my dad. A farm boy who grew up playing in the fields of southern Minnesota, my dad spent his adolescence hitting home runs and winning batting championships for the Waterville Buccaneers. When I was a child he tried his hand at coaching, spending countless hours teaching me how to play the game in the shade of our backyard. He showed me how to catch the ball, field a grounder, follow through on my swing, the same skills his father had taught to him years before on their family farm.
Baseball became our sport. The youngest of four daughters, I was his last chance at having someone to share his passion with. My older sisters had already turned him down and in a way I became the son he never had. He truly loved everything about America’s pastime and he made sure that I loved it, too. As I grew up, my Barbie dolls were slowly moved off their shelves in favor of Homer Hankies and autographed baseballs, my storybooks replaced by a baseball card collection. Even through my teenage angst when my dad just seemed to be an embarrassment in my life, baseball was the one thing that kept us connected.
This last year has been a crazy one for me -- internships at WCCO and KFAN and a sportswriting position at the Minnesota Daily have thrown me into crazy situations, opportunities that I dreamt about when I first considered pursuing a job in sports. Through it all, though, one thing has been constant: my dad cheering me along from the sidelines. His support has given me the confidence to pursue what can only be described as my dream job and if it were all taken away tomorrow, I would be satisfied simply because I know he is proud of me.
Jim and I will be busy in the next couple of weeks. I'm taking him down to Madison for the Big Ten opener at the Kohl Center, followed by as many Gopher basketball games at Williams Arena before he and my mom jet off for Mexico for the winter. Then in March we're heading down to Fort Myers for our first Twins' spring training, a fitting celebration of my 25th birthday. I'm just waiting for news that Jim Thome has been resigned so I can start working on Jim's 72nd birthday present -- an autographed baseball from a player he admires. A small request in exchange for all I've been given over the years.
