Legacy Minded Men

A FATHER'S LOVE

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With one swing of the bat, New York Yankees first baseman Tino Martinez changed the complexion of the entire 1998 World Series against the San Diego Padres. Clearly, this was one of the most exciting games the Series has ever produced, and to have it occur in New York made it even bigger.

I have been a big Yankee fan since I was about 10. Quite frankly, the Yankees were the first thing I ever really locked onto. During a difficult childhood in which I had no self-esteem or self-confidence, baseball became my release and the Yankees became the object of my affection. After 28 years, you can rest assured that my affection for the Bronx Bombers still burns strong. I still receive a tremendous amount of pleasure watching the team play and following their progress, especially the record breaking seasons of the last five years. I have been fortunate to get to know many of the players through Baseball Chapel, an organization set up to bring church to the stadium on Sundays. I also got close to the baseball scene through my co-authoring of a Christian sports book entitled “Safe at Home”. In fact, I actually got to the point where I was rooting more for the guys I knew than for the other guys who were labeled superstars.

Since I have been a fan, the Yankees have been involved in 8 World Series, including the magical season of 1998.  I made a determination that year (1998) that the team was good enough to get to the Fall Classic and I was going to make it a point to be there to cheer them on. To guarantee me a spot, I purchased a partial season ticket plan, which gave me 2 tickets for every Friday night game at the stadium. It also assured me of two seats for the first game of every playoff series, including the World Series. I attended the first two playoff series and had an incredible time. However, when it became apparent that the Yanks were headed to the World Series, my wife mentioned to me that our church was having a father-daughter dinner. "Great", I replied, "When is it?" She replied, "Saturday, October 17th." I immediately cringed, thinking that that could be the first game of the series! The tickets did not have a date on them so I called the Yankees and they confirmed my fear, the first game was on the 17th. I then asked the ticket sale representative if I could trade the first game for the second game of the series. Their reply was simple--"No exchanges!  No returns!"

 
I slumped.  My dream of attending a World Series was now in serious jeopardy. What could I do? I called several ticket brokers and asked them if they would be interested in trading Saturday tickets for Sundays. They said no, but they would buy my tickets and sell me Sunday's tickets. Great! Only one problem; they wanted double would they would pay me for the tickets. Not an option!

 
The bottom line became very clear; if I wanted to go to the Series I had to go on Saturday night. I talked to the Lord about it, knowing what the right thing to do was. My daughter Jenny, who is 6, then asked me in that incredible way of hers whether or not we were going to the dinner. At the time she asked, I was reading the sports page and on the front of the paper was a big story on the Yankees with a picture of some of the players. After she asked I told her something very special was happening that night and I held up the paper and pointed to the picture. Her bright smile faded. She felt that I had chosen the game over her. I could only take about three seconds of her pain and quickly smiled.  Still pointing to the picture I said, "It is a very, very special night because it is going to be OUR NIGHT!" Her smile returned even bigger than before. She knew what I was giving up, and she knew exactly where she stood in my eyes. It is not something she will ever forget, nor will I.

 
I will never forget it because 5 minutes after we got to the dinner Jenny asked me if we could leave. I calmly got down on one knee and, looking into her eyes, told her that we will be staying for the length of the dinner! We did!

 
We arrived home just in time to see Tino hit that grand slam, and you know, it was ok that I wasn't there. After all I got my money back for the tickets (and yes made a little extra coin) but more importantly my daughter knew that no game, or meeting or anything will ever be more important then her!

 
I took a lot of ribbing because I did not go to the Series, but I know that I did attend the true series and we all won.

 
Just A Thought: Sit down and make a list of your priorities. Are changes needed? If so work towards putting those changes into practice.

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