Diamond advice produces heartfelt thanks from Sox
They have been in professional baseball for many years, working their way through the minors to the Major Leagues.
They have turned to pitching coaches and batting coaches for advice. They have talked to teammates.
But while the years have passed, they have not forgotten some words of wisdom or encouragement they received from their dads at the early stages of their love affair with baseball that paved the way to big-league status.
So today, on Father's Day, a few members of the Boston Red Sox reflect on their baseball memories and lessons they learned in their formative years.
JOHN BURKETT
His father, Ken, was an advertising sales executive for a newspaper for 40 years in Pennsylvania.
"He didn't really give me advice, but my dad always had time for me. He'd come home from work and make the time to go out into the yard and play catch. He took me to all my games. He let me go at my own pace. He coached me until I was 13.
"He got a little rowdy in the stands at times. I was pretty cocky. There were times when I'd be pitching and I'd hear him and I'd be saying to myself, 'Dad, calm down. I've got this under control.'
"But mostly, he was a laid-back guy. He never raised his voice to me about baseball. He was perfect for me and what I was going through.
"He doesn't like to travel much. But he'd come to games in Pittsburgh or maybe Cleveland.
"I have a son, Max, who's 7. We had an off-day recently, so I got to see Max play tee-ball. I was real laid back, letting him have fun. He'll be 9 or 10 when I retire and can be more hands-on with him and baseball. But he's already starting to get into it. He really likes it."
CARLOS BAERGA
His father, Jose, a contractor in Puerto Rico.
"The best advice he gave me was 'Don't you ever come back from a game if you didn't get your uniform dirty. After you're done playing a game, your uniform should be dirty because that means you were playing hard.'
"He's the reason I'm here in the big leagues. He was my manager for a long time. I was one of the best players and one time I didn't really want to play that day, and he took me out of the game. That was to tell me he was the manager, and I was the player, and that the player does what the manager says.
"He made me into a switch hitter because he was a Yankee fan all his life and Mickey Mantle was his idol.
"He never put me in a league with kids my age. I was always the youngest in the league. He did that because he wanted me to have to work hard to be the best.
"Sometimes, I would hear him yell during a game. But he always talked to me after the game, telling me I could do better, I could do better. He told me to do good all the time.
"He still comes to my games. He was in Boston recently. And when I pull the ball a lot, if he's not with me, he'll call me and tell me I should be trying to hit the ball to the opposite field because that's what I do best.
"My son Giovanni is 6. He loves the game. He watches the games all the time. Mama tells me he watches Sportscenter all the time and you can't turn it off until he goes to sleep. He's always with a bat in his hands, practicing.
JASON VARITEK
His father, Joseph, works in data processing.
"Advice from him? That's easy for me. No matter what I did, my father told me to do it 110 percent or not to do it at all or he'd take it away from me. That made me learn to control my temper and my emotions a little more.
"He was okay at the games, but if I threw a glove or a helmet, that's about the only time I'd hear from him about stuff on the baseball field. He'd wait until after the game. We'd be driving home and that's when I'd get the 'If you can't control your emotions' speech. He'd be like, 'If you do that again, I'll go out to the field to get you and take you home.'
"But talking about the games, he was always complimentary, always positive."
TONY CLARK
His father, Arthur, is a retired Naval officer.
"One of the biggest things he would say, and this wasn't just about baseball, was to never let a lack of success be the product of a lack of effort.
"He was one of those guys who would tell you to get up early. He'd say if someone else was working on something and gets up at 6, then you get up at 5 and work on it. If someone else gets up at 5, you get up at 4. There's always someone trying to do more than you do. You may not see him, you may not know him, but it's someone you could cross paths with, and how prepared will you be?
TIM WAKEFIELD
His father, Steve, is a draftsman.
"My father coached me in Little League. He always told me to bow my neck. When things go bad, try harder, keep trying. He instilled that never-give-up attitude. No matter how bad it gets, never quit."
LOU MERLONI
His father, Louis, is an educator.
"I have a funny story about that. My father coached me one year in Babe Ruth. I was 13. We were in a tournament, and I was pitching the first game. We were up maybe 5-0 or 6-0 in about the sixth inning, and he pulled me out of the game. I wanted to stay in, but he wanted to save me to come in another game as a closer.
"Well, the other team came back and beat us. I was upset. That was the last year he coached me. I don't think my mother could handle the dinner conversations we were having when he coached me.
"He always told me from Little League on up to never to try to hit home runs. He'd say, 'You're not a home run hitter. They'll just happen.' Well, last year I had a little fun with him. I hit three in a week, one in Detroit and two in Toronto. So when I talked to him, I said, 'Hey, I hit three in a week.' And he said, 'When you swing for the fences, that's when you strike out and pop up. Go for base hits.' I was like, 'Yeah, yeah.' But he's always there for me.
TROT NIXON
His father, Bill, is a nephrologist.
"I remember one time we were playing in an all-star tournament. I think I was 12. We were staying with hosts families, and I had probably stayed up late talking to my roommate.
"Anyway, the next day we were playing a doubleheader, one game during the day and another at night. We were getting throttled in the night game, and we were making a pitching change, so I sat down in center field and put my legs out in front of me, relaxing.
"Well, after the game, my father aired me out so bad, telling me never to lie down again on any field. He thought I looked lazy out there, which I did.
"He'll call me up now when he sees me doing this or that. He'll have a few things to say, especially about the mental aspects of the game. You don't want to hear those things, but sometimes you need to hear them from him."
MIKE STANLEY
His late father, Charles, was a plumber.
"He was my biggest fan. He was always there for me, like that Lifesavers commercial when the kid has a bad day and the dad is there to console him, handing him a Lifesaver.
"He had a calendar, and in each box for the days, he'd write down what I did that day. Maybe he'd write '0-for-2, now batting .275.' I have his calendar from 1993, the year he passed away.
"When I was younger, he'd come to the games and watch. He'd sit there and enjoy the game. He had me when he was a little older, so we didn't get the chance to play as much together as he or I would have liked.
"But he was never negative. He never got on me about bad games, but he'd be so excited on the good days. That's something that's so important and what I try to instill in my kids. I tell them that I will never get on them for poor performances, but I'll enjoy the times they do well.
"I coached in Little League last year, and there were some parents who would be tearing their kids down. The kids got so discouraged. That's not the way my dad was.
GRADY LITTLE
His late father, Bill, a truck driver who was in the Cubs' minor league system in the 1940s.
"He would tell us just to go out and play baseball. He didn't want us to do anything else but play. That's something that a lot of kids in the U.S. have gotten away from. You go to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and kids are playing baseball all day, every day, but not here anymore.
"So we played all the time. Not that it made me a good player, but I learned a lot about the game. Sometimes there would be snow on the ground at home (in North Carolina), and he'd be wondering why we weren't shoveling off the walk and playing catch.
PEDRO MARTINEZ
His father, Paulino, is a supervisor of workers in a school.
"The best advice he gave me was to work hard, and that nothing was going to be easy. He made me understand that. He always said 'Hard work, hard work.' "
NOMAR GARCIAPARRA
His father is Ramon.
"He told me to always respect the game because no one is bigger than the game. He never wanted to see me get arrogant on the field because that wouldn't be respecting the game. He wanted me to play hard all the time."
