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The Best There Ever Was

                                                                                Mike DiPatri       05/21/04  

There have been a lot of ball players come and go, but the best one that I ever saw never played in the big league.  He played a lot of years and I grew up watching him.

The best player I ever saw came from New Jersey as so many great ones have.  Baseball was a part of his youth.  He developed his abilities from the time he was a kid.  I was fortunate enough to even see the little field where he played when he was growing up.  The best baseball player I ever saw is Al Di Patri.  You may notice that his last name is the same as mine.  There's a reason for that.  He's my father.  Everything he did on the field was so natural.  It looked as if he didn't even think about how to do it.  I don't even remember ever seeing him make an error.  He played shortstop and could teach Jeter or Nomar how to play the position.

Everything I leaned about the game of baseball, I learned from him.  As I said, I grew up watching him play.  My brothers and I spent our youth at the ballpark watching his games.  In fact, my youngest brother was not even walking yet and he was at the games.  If you like my writing about the game of baseball, you can thank my dad.  Though I love the game, I would not have become so passionate about it.  He's the reason I became the student of the game that I am today.

As I was growing up, I heard about baseball.  I think that instead of a blanket when I was a baby, I had a baseball glove.  I would sit and listen to stories about the old players and old teams all day if I had the chance.  That's probably why I'm such a Yankees fan now.  I heard so much about these players and teams that I feel as though I actually saw them play.

There's another reason I think he is the best.  Even though he was the best baseball player I ever saw, he taught me there's more in life than baseball.  I remember when he told me that.  He never had to say it though, he lived it.  I did not just learn the game of baseball from him.  I learned to be a man; how to be a father.  He seemed to know how to do everything. Naturally, he was a baseball coach, but he also coached Pop Warner football.  I saw him build houses and raise cattle.  Yes, even though he grew up in the city, he could raise cattle.

Everything I have done as a man has been an attempt to make him proud.  Even when I felt that I had failed, he made sure I understood how I had been somehow successful.  Though I lived all over the world, he has always come to wherever I was living.  He has also been a great father to my wife.

The best ball player I ever saw was the best there ever was because he showed us that baseball was a great game but there was a lot more to life than a game.  My dad has been the poster child for leading by example.  His whole life has, so far, been a lesson to my brothers and me on how to be men.  He taught us to love the game, but more importantly, to love our family and that what a man does for the ones he loves is bigger than any game.  And by teaching us this lesson, he is the best there ever was.