My father passed unexpectedly New Year’s Eve

[kc19990]

I’m 44 and my dad unexpectedly passed New Year’s Eve. We buried him on Friday and now I sit here reading Bill James’s Historical Baseball Abstract.

I’ve just recently gotten back into baseball and collecting 6 months ago. It was such a strange thing for me to begin doing again at this point in my life. I didn’t know why I was drawn back to it so deeply after essentially ignoring both for almost 30 years now.

But I soon discovered the reason - it was another connection point to my dad. I would find myself regularly text him pics of the cards I was buying these days and we would then talk about the players through text or a call. And we even went to some card shops again together for the first time in 30 years.

Until recently, he had never mentioned to me his love for Brooks Robinson and Harmon Killebrew. So I had started buying some of those & showing him in person & via text. (I tried to give them to him & get him to start collecting again but he wasn’t that interested - he just enjoyed following my new collection.) I am now planning a full collection of these two HOFers in my dads honor. I picked up these two double autos of Brooks & Harmon yesterday to anchor the collection.




It was nice creating these final memories with my dad - revisiting and reliving the times we once shared together as younger versions of ourselves. I know it made us both very happy.

I will be forever grateful to the game of baseball and the cards that have become more than just pieces of cardboard or investments. For me they became memory keepsakes and reminders of the bond between my dad and I.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bpm0014]

So sorry for your loss. A sad but nice story.

[Eric72]

Terribly sorry to hear this happened. I lost my father in 2020. We had a similar connection regarding baseball. The cards I get in his honor/memory are Don Mattingly and Nolan Ryan.

[Carter08]

Sorry for your loss. The man had good taste
In baseball heroes, that’s for sure.

[KCRfan1]

I am so sorry about your dad.

May your memories of him be fond and last you a thousand lifetimes.

[vthobby]

I'm a dad and I am so sorry for your loss. Please message me your name and address. I'd like to send you something for your collection. Thoughts and prayers to you.

Peace, Mike

[Dewey]

Thanks for sharing. May he rest in peace.

Six months from now or two years down the road when you get emotional out of nowhere and are struck by how beautiful Killebrew's signature is or randomly start bawling in the shower...it's normal. Peace to you!