It couldn't have been very enjoyable for my parents to sit through cold, early-spring nights and watch their 4-foot-6 son (that was me) cower at home plate, praying that the opposing pitcher, A) wouldn't throw too hard and B) would be accurate enough not to hit me. Still, I am extremely grateful that my parents took the time to watch me and my brother play — they wouldn't have missed it for the world.
If I was fortunate enough to have been an MLB player, it goes without saying that they'd have been glued to the TV for every single game. That's not exactly the case for Lucas Giolito's father — or "Rick," as his son calls him by way of bad habit — and the White Sox starter detailed his dad's interesting baseball-watching habits in his debut appearance on "The Chris Rose Rotation" from Jomboy Media.
"...The only time he can watch me live is if he's there in person, and even when he's there he likes to walk around and like, he doesn't want to just sit there and watch every pitch," Giolito explained, adding that he isn't the most vocal supporter when he does attend games. "When he's watching it on TV, he can't take it, he can't handle it. So during the regular season, when it's my start day, it's time for my game, he'll have something to do. Maybe he'll cook dinner or go to the store.
"I know that, like, when I was struggling bad he was going and buying a movie ticket and sitting in a movie theater and watching a movie during my game because he wasn't expecting the best results, you know. But now, it's like, he'll go on a walk or whatever. It's very strange. I don't know of any other dads that are like that, you know. Any other dad that's like that, I'd love to pick their brain and see what their thought process is."
Rose was stunned by this news, seriously suggesting that Giolito's father should maybe talk to someone and figure out why he can't enjoy it.
"I know man, I agree 100 percent. I try and tell him all the time, hey, not every start's gonna be good, it is what it is, you know," Giolito said. "Nolan Ryan had bad starts, Bob Gibson had bad starts, like that's part of the game. Baseball's hard... I think there's superstition at play as well, there's a lot of factors.
"...I think his formula is like, game happens, he looks at the box score. If the box score is good, he'll sit down and watch the game. If the box score is bad, move on."
Giolito even said that his father was out for a walk during his no-hitter this past season, only to be informed by their neighbor — who is also Giolito's uncle — of what had happened. If that game doesn't check off all the boxes for a "good" box score, I don't know what will. And, as it turned out, Giolito's father ended up watching the no hitter late at night, as Rose estimated a 1:00 am watch time.
"After the game, I hung out in the clubhouse for a while with my teammates after that because, like, we can't go anywhere to celebrate during COVID so we're kind of just chilling," Giolito recalled. "I was texting everybody, texting my parents and my wife and stuff like that, and then I FaceTimed them when I got home later that night and that was pretty special, but it was like super late for them at that point. I think it was like 2:30 in the morning."
Giolito's mom didn't miss the no-hitter however. Though she started to develop a similar routine as his father, Giolito's brother didn't let it happen for such a special, historic occurrence. Once the fourth and fifth inning came around and Giolito still hadn't let up a hit, she finally resisted.
Still, Giolito finds his father's behavior peculiar, especially when he sees how teammates' parents act around them, and Rose predicts that they will get him to watch a game live at some point in the 2021 season.
"The thing is, my dad [is] wonderful when he comes out to visit," Giolito said. "I think he just got... his second vaccination, so I think he's gonna come out to visit at some point here in the spring and he's just wonderful. He loves talking to players and coaches and learning about the game and taking it all in, and absolutely loves coming to the games.
"He's just, like, a huge baseball fan and he loves it, but when it's my turn to play something changes."
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