Happy Birthday, mom

My mom reads every word I write on this blog.
I know, because when I make a grammatical mistake, I hear about it in the morning.

I guess when you are the son of the editor in chief of Neuropsychology Review, you've got to be on your toes.

I'd like to get Sully Baseball peer reviewed one of these days.
But for now all I can do it wish my mom a Happy Birthday.

I wrote before about how my mom and her childhood books helped turn me into a baseball historian.

You created a monster, ma.
Happy Birthday, I love you and I am sure I made a tense mistake somewhere in this post.

I'm not putting that in the Dodged Bullet category

Yeah, I know the Red Sox came from behind late in the game... but I never got the sense that the game was 100% over.

OK, I'll level with you. I didn't watch the game.

I was in Palo Alto with my kids and I spent yesterday in a playground with them and their grandma (and my mom.)

So forgive me Sully Baseball readers... yesterday was daddy time.

But I confess, I did check my phone a couple of times for the score. When I saw they won, I gave my fist a little pump and went back to being a good dad.

One thing about the Red Sox in 2009 that is very heartening... they haven't been swept yet. Their pitching staff has been damn good obviously and the longest losing streak they've gone on is 3 games.

So even with a couple of back to back teeth grinders, I still feel confident with this crew. Confident enough to go play in the park with my kids.

Johnny Blanchard... rest in peace

Happy Birthday to the person who unwittingly made me a baseball historian

Since doing my Home Grown vs Acquired series, I've received a lot of a emails from people asking me how long I've been reading about baseball history.

The answer is since I was a kid. And I can thank a parent of mine for a great inspiration.

Oh I watched and talked a lot about baseball with my dad... but my love for baseball history comes from my mom. When I was a kid, I discovered a bunch of my mom's old baseball books about the Yankees of the 1950s.

And she had an old Baseball Encyclopedia dated back to 1955.

As a kid I devoured those books... I knew every World Series result by the time I was 10. I could recite the great feats of DiMaggio, Mays and Aaron when most kids just knew the local stars.

So if you think I am a little thorough in my research, then you can thank my mom for the original inspiration.

I have kept all of her books. I hope my kids discover them some day.

Happy Birthday mom!
You've created a monster!