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Fathers and Sons and Baseball
By Chad Gramling | June 23, 2008
Here’s an interesting string of events that relates to father-and-son stories as it relates to the Fort Wayne Wizards
As previously reported, Zach Dascenzo, the son of current Wizards skipper, Doug Dascenzo, was drafted by the San Diego Padres; effectively making it possible tha tthe duo would unite in Fort Wayne as player and coach. I doubt he will sign, but you never know.
On Thursday (6/18), former Wizard, Michael Cuddyder hit a two-run triple and reached base all four times he batted to help the Minnesota Twins complete a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals. Then he missed the Twin’s game the next day to be present for the birth of his child. He and his wife, Claudia, welcomed a son, Casey, to the world.
Earlier in the week, another former Wizard consulted with his 13-year-old son for advice on breaking out of his slump. The Angels’ Torii Hunter was visibly discouraged when Torii Jr. asked what was wrong. The elder Hunter said he was not hitting the ball the way he should.
He looked at me and said, ‘Keep your head still, and you’ll hit.’ I thought about it, and he was right. He’s 13, and that’s what I always tell him: ‘Keep your head still.’ I worked on it [Tuesday], concentrating on keeping my head still and not jumping at the ball. I’m trying to be more quiet up there. I think it paid off [source: mlb.com].
In his first at-bat against his former Twins teammate, Johan Santana, Hunter kept his head still on a waist-high changeup and crushed it into the left-field corner for a two-out, two-run first-inning double. Hunter also hit a double and a walk to lead the Halos to a 6-1 win.
