Father's Day, 2023

 Dear Friends,

As we prepare to celebrate Father’s Day, I was reading the following article from the June, 2023 edition of Sports Illustrated Magazine. (See below…I hope you can cut and paste it into your browser and open it.  If not, please try to access the article written by Taylor Plimpton, George’s son).  As I have tried to explain my passion for attending baseball games to members of our family, this article captures the essence of my insatiable NEED and DESIRE to go to games.  Many members of our family think that my wife should be sainted, given how many games she has attended with me over the years.  On our recent trip to the Vatican, I tried to get an audience with the Pope in order to explore her sainthood, but somehow this wasn’t a priority for him:-)  So… this article is primarily for our children but you are welcome to come along for the journey.

I believe that one of the primary teachings of Judaism is how important it is to “teach your children diligently.”  (From Deuteronomy 6:4-9)  My connection to my parents is the strongest when I am either playing or attending baseball games.  Whether my mother’s regular attendance at my games, her finally telling my Dad and me that we would NOT listen to games at the dining room table, to her asking me (or TELLING me) I needed to find a home for my baseball cards when she and my Dad retired to Florida, or when my father and I would have a catch, baseball has always meant the world to me.  When things were stressful between us, I always knew that when the ball hit the mitt, my father and I were sharing moments of affection with each other.  When I think back on the significant research that my Dad did in order to find me a good summer league to play in when I was going into college, I recall the love that continues to bind us together when I play in and attend games.

As the Plimpton article states, I would have loved to be able to have my parents attend a baseball game with our daughters by marriage and our grandchildren so that they would better understand the bond of love that united us.

The memories flow like water as I recall visits to the Hall of Fame, pitching at Doubleday field to my Dad while my Mom filmed it on an old movie camera, my first game at the old Comiskey Park in Chicago when Whitey Ford bested Early Wynn and Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (look these people up!), hit back to back home runs, disappointing this seven year old child.  I remember seeing Stan Musial get a base hit in Wrigley Field with my Dad who said that was “Stan the Man", attending a White Sox World Series game with one of our children, the raising of the  White Sox World Series championship banner with another, the debut of Steve Strasburg with two of our children, a game in Alaska with another  child, Nationals' World Series games with Sue, three sons, and a grandson, and an All Star game and home run derby with a son.  

It was only a game of catch, but among the holiest moments of my life occurred the summer of my 60th birthday at the Fields of Dreams in Iowa when I was given a special baseball glove from all of our children.  (My brothers and I had given my  Dad a catcher’s mitt for his 50th birthday and our children must have remembered me telling them the story). I said Kaddish in the corn fields for my parents, played catch with a son, played catch with a daughter by marriage with an old 16 inch softball that my Dad had stitched (and had used to play catch with my maternal grandmother), while telling her that I hoped she and my Dad were somehow meeting in that moment.  And through it all, Sue was taking pictures so we would have a permanent record of these sacred times.

Through all of these moments once again the key factor for me is that baseball reminds me of the love I shared with my parents and that I have for our children and grandchildren.  And through all these moments, I have been blessed to be supported and (probably from her point of view???, far too often), accompanied by Sue.

I hope that as we celebrate Father’s Day, we all have special recollections of precious moments with our Dads.  And for those who don’t have moments to remember, I hope you have them with your own family members or with friends.

Finally, I hope to continue to play in  and attend as many games as I can, continuing to feel the love I have described.  As we remember from the movie, “Field of Dreams,” if you build it, they will come.  I hope to continue to build on the love which was shared with me so that many wonderful and loving memories will continue to come.

B’shalom,

Rabbi Bruce Aft

Fathers, Kids and Fandom: A Plimpton on What’s Passed Between Generations

https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/06/16/george-plimpton-son-fathers-day-daily-cover