Baseball is the most conversational game there is.
"What do you have going on this weekend?" The pitch is delivered for a strike.
"And where's that?" Outside, ball one.
"That's great. You'll have to let me know how it is." The ball's grounded to third, throw to first. One out. The conversation continues.
It's conversations like those - sometimes about baseball, oftentimes not - that form the foundation of my relationship with my dad, John Blake, who happens to be getting inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame on Saturday.
I'm smart enough to realize what I had was an unconventional childhood -- that I got access to places a 10-year-old baseball nut could only dream about. But it's where my dad was, so that's where I wanted to be.
And now, 33 years into this life, I think it is impossible to separate my love for the game from that desire to be around him.
Those conversations I'm talking about took place on drives across Florida, and later Arizona, during spring break; on our way home to Irving from The Ballpark in Arlington after games; from North Texas to Houston, often with the coveted Silver Boot riding in the backseat; and from the New York suburbs to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown during snow-covered upstate winters.
Baseball has been the common thread throughout, not just in my life, but in the lives of our whole family. Of course, there were plenty of perks to growing up with a parent working in pro sports, but there were downsides too.
The Rangers were playing the Blue Jays in Toronto when I was born. It was supposed to be my dad's final road trip before my mom's due date -- but then I decided to show up six weeks early.
Or just a few weeks later, when the request was made for me to stay in the hospital just a little bit longer because Nolan Ryan was going after his 5,000th career strikeout.
And, of course, attending extracurricular activities my sister and I were involved in was all but off the table from April through September -- unfortunately, October has only been busy a few times in Rangers history.
But I wouldn't trade any of it because the game has brought so many meaningful relationships into my life. Without baseball, there's a good chance I never would've met my fiancée -- we met in Corpus Christi, where I was working for the Double-A Hooks. I've also made friends that have stayed with me long after I left baseball. From the Cape Cod Baseball League to Corpus Christi to New York, there's a bond that doesn't easily break when you go through the grind of a baseball season together.
While I'm biased, I think my dad's induction into the Rangers Hall of Fame is well-deserved. Friends around the game have told me for years that he's been one of the best public relations professionals in baseball for decades. And, as I've moved on in my own career, I've started to realize no one stays in one place for this long without making a significant impact on an organization.
Rangers public address announcer Chuck Morgan wrote a poignant post Facebook last week about that very topic. Chuck and my dad have both worked for the team since the early 1980s, so they've seen the highs and lows across more than 40 years with the Rangers.
"Over the years, John has had to deal with multiple ownership groups, multiple Rangers managers, the closing of Arlington Stadium, the construction of two new ballparks and much, much more," Chuck wrote. "He has done so much to help and promote Rangers players, not just in Texas, but across the country. I truly believe that the way John and his staff handled Nolan Ryan when he was pitching here, was a big reason Nolan decided to stay and pitch a few extra years."
He's also been instrumental in establishing the team's Hall of Fame. And while his career stats may pale in comparison to Pudge Rodriguez, Michael Young, and Adrian Beltre, he'll be alongside them in the institution he helped build.
Chris Blake is the managing producer of podcasts and multimedia at KRLD.
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