For many Sox players, fatherhood big priority
For many players, every day should be Father’s Day
Sitting in the chair next to Xander Bogaerts’ locker, the kid in the Moreland jersey has feet that won’t reach the ground. He looks calm, and he’s definitely quiet, sitting perfectly still with eyes wide open while his daddy answers questions from a bunch of strangers with cameras.
When the interview is over, the boy gets down, lands a high five from Chris Young, and follows a familiar path through the Fenway Park clubhouse and out the open door.
It’s been a good night. For 4-year-old Crue Moreland, it’s always a good night when the Red Sox win. Those are the nights he’s allowed in the clubhouse — and can be just like daddy, just like one of the guys.
“The great thing about it is,” Crue’s father, Mitch Moreland, said, “obviously when you’re winning and having fun, you’ve got a lot of grown men in here acting like a bunch of kids. So, we actually all kind of fit in together with him.”
This Father’s Day is another day on the road for the Red Sox. There will be phone calls and text messages and video chats from the Houston ballpark reaching out to kids of different ages, different ethnicities and different backgrounds who have come together just as has the team itself: through trades and drafts and free agent maneuvering.
“It’s cool, I guess, they get to see me on TV and things like that,” Dustin Pedroia said of his kids. “But, obviously, the job is tough. You’re away from your family a lot, and you miss things that. It’s real tough to miss. But we FaceTime. Whoever invented that is the man. That gives us an opportunity to see one another on FaceTime, when we’re on the road, 10 times a day. You just try to be in every minute of their lives even though you’re not there.”
Today’s Sox starter, David Price, became a father a month ago, almost to the day.
“(Baseball) is my first love,” Price said, just days after his son Xavier was born. “But there’s no feeling that can replace having a kid.”
Emulating the stars
From the far corner of the clubhouse, Crue Moreland watches everything and everyone.
“He’s got his favorites,” Mitch said. “He tries to hit like Bogaerts right now in his tee-ball. Just the stuff he picks up on. He comes in and he tries to high-five (Young) as hard as he can. He looks forward to that type of stuff. All the guys are great to him and all the little guys who come in the clubhouse, they seem great with the kids. He’s looking forward to it every day. I think he wants us to go undefeated so he can come in the clubhouse every day.”
Manager John Farrell explained the basic guidelines: there are times in the day when kids are allowed in the clubhouse, and times when they’re expected to vacate. Kids entering after wins, he said, was a natural postgame development.
“Having three sons of my own,” Farrell said, “and knowing the limited time that you have because of travel, because of their schedules, all things combined, if there’s an hour in the day that they can live being with their being dad’s — and not just on Fathers’ Day, but throughout the course of the year — it’s part of their upbringing. It’s part of their bond and relationship with their dad.”
Pedroia has three kids. Dylan is 7, Cole is 4 and Brooks turned 3 this week. They’re among the clubhouse regulars, and they long ago found the shelf in the middle of the room where the team keeps buckets of gum.
“They torture the gumballs,” Pedroia said.
If there’s any dissension surrounding the team’s policy about kids in the clubhouse, it’s not apparent from the outside looking in. Even for those players without kids, the little ones are just a part of the experience.
“It’s awesome,” Bogaerts said. “It’s obviously a good feeling when you win, and even better when you see those kids from my teammates being in the clubhouse. . . . It’s definitely fun, because when you lose, you can’t see everyone.”
‘The main priority’
Pedroia’s father was in the tire business. He had tire stores in Southern California, and the way Pedroia sees it today, the greater responsibility was no different from that of an MVP second baseman.
“My dad got home from work at 5 o’clock, and I’m sure he was tired,” Pedroia said. “But he still took the time and played whatever game I wanted to play. When I’m home, that’s what I try to do. It doesn’t matter how tired you are, or if you got in at 5 in the morning. When they’re up, that’s your main priority.”
Baseball’s the job — and make no mistake, it’s a cool job and a good job — but what does that matter to 19-month-old Amaia Young? What does a father’s job mean to any kid that young?
“She knows what I do,” Chris Young said. “Because any time there’s a baseball game on TV, she just starts pointing at the TV and just saying, ‘Dada!’ ”
Traveling around the country, the players say, gets tough with a family at home. And this reporter, with his own 3-month-old son, can confirm that being away becomes much harder as a family grows.
“We have the offseason,” Moreland said. “So, we can catch up a lot in the offseason. But there’s no way to ever make up for lost time. It’s impossible.”
Hence, Crue Moreland sitting in that clubhouse chair, with his 2-year-old sister Swayze sitting with Mom in the stands. Hence, the Pedroia boys traveling with their father to Minnesota this year, and Hanley Ramirez’ sons lounging on the clubhouse couch in New York, and Jackie Bradley Jr.’s daughter, Emerson, running wobbly circles outside the clubhouse in Baltimore.
“That,” Bradley said, “was actually her 1-year-old birthday weekend. … Ironically, the previous year, we also had a four-game set against Baltimore. I played the first game, and then on the second day, I had to leave to come back to Boston to get ready for the (birth) of my daughter. It was pretty unique how it all lined back up.” It always comes back. When the games are done, the winning and losing decided, it always comes back to the players families.
“We won, we’ve got the music going, bring the kids in,” Young said. “Have a good time. There’s nothing we’re talking about in here that you can’t talk about around the kids. It’s just having a good time and making everybody feel welcome, and kids are a part of that.”
And baseball is a part of life for those kids, just like it’s always been for their dads.
“It makes it a lot easier to leave a good day at the field or leave a bad day at the field and go home,” Moreland said. “I’m Daddy then. I’m not a baseball player, I’m Daddy.”