Father's Day Baseball

I'm sitting at home today watching the Blue Jays Pre-Game and there's a touching segment on John MacDonald and his homerun on Father's Day last year.

Unfamiliar with the story, let me bring you up to speed...John MacDonald's father passed away 5 days before Father's Day last year. His first game back off bereavement leave was on Father's Day. Toronto would give MacDonald leave for the final 11 days of his father's life. Jack (father) MacDonald asked his son to hit a homerun for him. John hit a Jeremy Affeldt pitch over the right field wall. The Jays would

It's a story that one year later is just as touching. The fist pump while rounding first base, the obvious emotion of the event and his teammates reaction when he got back to the dugout.

Take a look at the moment here.

Pulling from Yahoo's Big League Stew Blog (and writer Kevin Kaduk):

"I think (the homer) was for both of us," McDonald said. "The fact I got it out of the way quick was nice. I told him they're not that easy to hit."

Asked what he was thinking as he rounded the bases, McDonald was painfully honest. From MLB.com:

"Probably the fact that I couldn't call my dad after the game to tell him."

Watching baseball on Father's Day is an exercise that strikes a particularly emotional chord with me. Coming from a family background where I was raised by my mother and her side of the family, Father's Day hasn't been a focal point for me. But as I prepare to celebrate my first wedding anniversary, it's a day that starts to mean a little more to me. Today my wife and I will enjoy the Jays/Reds game and on our anniversary we have tickets for the Jays and Phillies. We also spent the day after our wedding last year at Target Field watching the Twins and Rays.

It's not a stretch to say that the game of baseball has taken a large role in my marriage. My wife is incredibly tolerant, but has also started to pick up some of the baseball nerditry that I have been writing about. We're in no rush to create the scenario where Father's Day is a day that we celebrate with our own kids, but when that day arrives, you can bet that we'll be at a ball park somewhere, no matter what corner of the globe we're in.

Happy Father's Day to any of the father's reading this. I hope that if this blog is getting to your twitter feed, facebook newsfeed or Google Reader that you're having a wonderful day.