{"id":27553,"date":"2015-06-21T14:13:39","date_gmt":"2015-06-21T21:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=27553"},"modified":"2015-06-21T14:52:04","modified_gmt":"2015-06-21T21:52:04","slug":"fathers-day-a-safe-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=27553","title":{"rendered":"Father’s Day: “A Safe Place” (article by Tim Lyon)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note:<\/strong> We are pleased to a special Father’s Day article written by Tim Lyon, head coach of the USA Jr. Men’s team.<\/strong> Click here to view PDF of “A Safe Place”<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you build it, he will come.\u201d Seven small, but very powerful words to sons around
\nthe world who have played catch with their fathers while growing up. The movie Field of Dreams captured this moment perfectly. ESPN columnist Bill Simmons was quoted as saying, \u201cI\u2019ve always thought there were two types of people: those who love Field of Dreams, and those who have no soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baseball, apple pie, and a father and son playing catch are about as American as it gets. I
\nhave no greater memory of my childhood than the times my dad and I played catch. We would
\nthrow for hours and hours. No words needed to be spoken.<\/p>\n

It was Sunday, April 15, 1989, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Three generations of the Lyon family together at Dodger Stadium. My dad wanted to make sure he was there when my own son attended his first Dodgers game. Trevor was only eighteen months old and had no idea what was going on, but it was a great day for the three of us; my dad, my son, and me at Dodger Stadium, eating Dodger Dogs, and listening to Vin Scully on the radio as we watched the game. That was a day I will always remember.<\/p>\n

Vin Scully, the Hall of Fame broadcaster and \u201cvoice\u201d of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was something my dad and I always shared. My dad taught me to appreciate Vinny, as we called him. More storyteller than broadcaster, his voice is like no other. I got to spend a few days with my dad the summer he passed. He was bedridden in his living room and couldn\u2019t open his eyes those last few days, but each of those nights we were together we would listen to Vinny call the Dodger games. We sat together for three hours, a peaceful feeling in the room each night as Vinny told his stories.<\/p>\n

I remember one moment that summer when my dad asked me if I wanted to play catch.
\nI just said, \u201cSure,\u201d but knew, of course, it was just a dream\u2014Parkinson\u2019s was winning the battle. Five minutes later he wanted to know why we weren\u2019t out playing catch. He asked me if I
\nwas afraid, if I thought I couldn\u2019t handle his best stuff. As a tear rolled down my cheek, I
\ntold him that was exactly right. About an hour later he spoke again. He knew he was dying.
\n \u201cI am never going to play catch or swing a bat again, am I?\u201d he asked. I told him, \u201cNo Dad, probably not.\u201d<\/span> Three days later my dad left us. I remembered the night I won my first fast pitch softball world championship and I called my dad. He was so proud.<\/p>\n

Musician Marc Cohn wrote: \u201cHow many roads you\u2019ve traveled, how many dreams you\u2019ve chased, across sand and sky and gravel, looking for one safe place, will you make a smoother landing, when you break your fall from grace, into the arms of understanding, looking for one safe place.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I will always remember the days we played catch for hours and hours; that was my one safe place. Playing catch is something dads and sons have always done, and I hope always will.
\nThanks Dad.<\/p>\n

\u2014Tim Lyon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: We are pleased to a special Father’s Day article written by Tim Lyon, head coach of the USA Jr. Men’s team. Click here to view PDF of “A Safe Place” \u201cIf you build it, he will come.\u201d Seven small, but very powerful words to sons around the world who have played catch with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,8],"tags":[255,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-27553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-featured","7":"category-general","8":"tag-fathersday","9":"tag-timlyon","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27553"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27559,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27553\/revisions\/27559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}