Best Advice

A little piece I wrote at a workshop that I really enjoyed writing. The prompt was "There were 3 things ________ told me never to do...."

There were three things my dad told me never to do: backpedal, keep my eye off the ball, and, under any circumstances, waste my talent.Everyday, as I ate my breakfast of Frosted Flakes, he'd look at me over the sports section of the newspaper and say, "Remember, Skyler: there's nothing sadder than wasted talent."

Those magic words were a quote from one of his favourite movies, A Bronx Tale, which we watched several times a month. We also watched tons of baseball movies: The Sandlot, Angels in the Outfield, Major League, and about a zillion others. Then, of course, we watched games. MLB Network, ESPN, and Fox Sports were the most watched channels in our house. I lived and breathed baseball. When I was a kid, my dad presented me with his old baseball jacket, the very one he'd worn in high school. That jacket- along with my baseball autographed by Angels great Tim Salmon- was my most prized possesion.

All the way from t-ball to varsity baseball, two things never changed: my jersey number (four) and my second base position, both of which were tributes to my dad and his childhood hero, Bobby Grich.

Now, as I stomp on homeplate after hitting a walk-off homerun in the Dodger-Angels World Series, I scan the screaming red crowd. And there he is- my dad, as proud of me as ever.