Random Thoughts on Fatherhood, Former Cleveland Closers as World Series Begins

The World Series begins tonight and the Brewers are favored to win it on the 10th anniversary of the Cubs’ historic title. I’d be lying if I told you I had strong feelings about this Fall Classic — outside of hoping the Rays win, that is — but I’ll be watching it on the periphery at the very least. After all, this is every baseball player’s ultimate dream. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, whether it was Junior Caminero‘s ebullient home run celebration or something closer to home.

The 23-year-old Caminero took 38.66 seconds to round the bases after putting his team up 5-1 effectively icing the game, making it the second-longest home run trot in the Statcast era. The longest trot also belongs to Caminero after he spent two more seconds circling the bases back on September 15. The reaction was mostly positive, with fans enjoying the display of emotion following the biggest hit of his life, but there were more than a few who took issue with it.

Some went so far as to call it a disgrace to the game, and others worried that it would corrupt youth players. If you think professional athletes should be responsible for teaching kids how to behave, I’m not sure we can be friends. Coaches and parents allowing the kind of nonsense that takes place on the field is another story. Of course, the horses may all be out of the barn on that front.

I can still vividly remember playing ball with my dad and brother in the yard when I was maybe eight or nine years old. This was when Andre Dawson had burst onto the scene in Chicago and I’d play around with his signature batting stance. I had also taken to spitting like I saw ballplayers do, and my dad put that to a stop real quick. Just because you see an athlete do it doesn’t make it okay.

Just like anyone playing basketball at any level other than the NBA isn’t allowed to take five steps without dribbling. This “gather” nonsense they let guys get away with right now is ridiculous, but I digress.

There are different standards of propriety at different levels, just like there are in everyday life. You don’t comport yourself the same way around your friends at a bar as you do in the office, or at least I wouldn’t imagine you do. Speaking of different levels, we’ve been pretty busy lately navigating the recruiting circuit and trying to find a college home for my son in the fall.

He’s a smart kid with a 3.9 GPA, so he’s earned acceptance into at least five schools and has gotten decent academic merit scholarships as well. The real key, though, is being offered a chance to play baseball. Playing in college has been his dream for a long time, and it’s one that seemed pretty distant for a long time. I won’t bore you with the whole timeline, but suffice to say you would probably only need one hand to count the number of people who believed five years ago that it was possible.

I mean, we’re talking about a kid who hardly played on his freshman team, was cut as a sophomore, played sparingly on JV as a junior, and has no guarantees of playing varsity. Yet he’s got one very strong offer in hand from an NAIA school, another pending offer from an NAIA powerhouse, an official visit to a D3 next week, and a camp at a D3 whose coach scouted him this summer. Oh, and he just received an email from a D3 coach in Minnesota who was impressed by his video.

When I took to Twitter to express my pride in the work my son has put in to reach this point, the responses were overwhelmingly positive. I was met with several other examples of kids who had persevered through various obstacles to play at a higher level than some thought possible. And that’s really all I was trying to do, just pointing out that there are different paths than what we most commonly see.

There were, however, some detractors. One in particular ended up providing some unintentional humor, not to mention a second-hand tie to the Cubs and this World Series. Former two-time All-Star Chris Perez felt the need to tell me I was delusional for believing a kid who didn’t play in high school would ever be able to play in college, then asked whether I give my son a participation trophy after every game.

I may be delusional, but at least I’ve never been arrested for mailing marijuana to my house addressed to my dog. Perez became Cleveland’s closer in 2010 after Kerry Wood was traded to the Yankees at the deadline, and he went on to rack up 123 saves over the next four seasons. His tenure was contentious, as he frequently criticized fans and even boycotted the media for a while. Then came the whole drug arrest thing.

Cleveland released Perez following the 2013 season, after which he signed a deal with the Dodgers that included a $500,000 bonus for appearing in 50 games. His 49th and last appearance of the season came at Wrigley Field on September 29, 2014, after which the Dodgers opted not to pitch him in any of their last six games to avoid paying the bonus. Imagine the Dodgers being cheap.

Perez signed a minor league deal with the Brewers in February of 2015, then was released and signed a new minors deal after failing to break camp with the big club. He made only six appearances at Triple-A before opting out in late April, then was suspended for 50 games in June after testing positive for a drug of abuse. The Orioles signed Perez in July, but he retired in August without ever pitching for them.

Anyway, it was funny to see how folks clapped back at Perez for being a dick to a total stranger who was celebrating his kid. The best was the guy who said Perez was probably a cat person, when history clearly indicates otherwise. I also find it hilariously ironic that Perez’s Twitter bio opens with “Father of 3.”

If you’ve made it this far and were hoping that I’d finally get back around to discussing the matchup between the Rays and Brewers, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I was cheering for Team Meteor in the NLCS, so now I’ve got no dog in the fight. Well, I do actually have a lot of friends and family in the Tampa area. And I can’t stand the Brewers. Here’s to hoping dreams don’t come true for Milwaukeeans.

Whatever happens, let’s try to be a little kinder to one another. Unless, that is, we’re given reason not to be.