Happy Father's Day

I have been having a great day with my kids today and my dad has been in my thoughts.  He recently went through a procedure on his heart and seems to be recovering well.  I gave him a call today and he seems in fine spirits and is looking forward to our visit in July.

My dad and I have had a decent relationship throughout my life.  Early on he was my baseball coach, he pushed me hard, etc. but I believe he did what he thought was best for me.  He has always had a bigger bark than bite, he was known for his yelling when my buddies would hang out at my house but if I had to be spanked, he was the one I preferred (although he never knew that) as he would let up right at the end resulting in a fake cry while mom would always connect solidly.  Late high school and throughout college my dad hit a rough patch that was tough on the entire family and ultimately led to he and my mom getting a divorce.  He moved back to his home town and ended up taking care of both my grandparents as they suffered through illnesses and ultimately passed away - I saw this as a redemptive stage for my dad.

Over the past few years we have reconnected and have the strongest bond we have ever shared and baseball is a big part of that.  Baseball was always something we shared, he started me collecting cards with buying me packs and passed down his near complete 1959 and 1960 sets to me (which I finished and need to figure out how to best showcase in this blog some day soon).  We are both huge Giants fans and every time we talk they are the center of our discussion.  My first call after the Giants World Series victory was to my dad once I caught my breath enough to speak.

The last 2 summers we attended the All Star Game together.  2010 was in Anaheim which is in my back yard. I picked up tickets from a local broker and we attended together. He put his name in the lottery for 2011 tickets and Phoenix and got some so we took a road trip and attended all the events together, Fan Fest, the Futures Game, Celebrity Softball and HR Derby in addition to the game.  It was the longest period of time we spent together and was a really good time.

To me Father's Day is about recalling the good times with my dad and now enjoying time with my kids hoping to build memories that will last into their adulthood.

To bring it back around to cards, let me share 3 cards I picked up in a Topps pack break give away at last year's Fan Fest.

These are great looking cards, all sparkly and shiny.  The Lincecum is obviously for my Giants collection but I picked up the other two as trade bait and never offered them up to anyone. If you are interested in the Jeter or Pujols, check out my want lists.

I hope all the dads out there have a great Father's Day and I hope that everyone can think back to a great memory of their dad. If you dad is still around and you don't have a great recent memory, seize the day and make a new one.