It Gets To My Heart

I have been calling ball games on the radio since 1971 and in the last ten years or so have added TV games. I do it because I enjoy it but at times you wonder who might be listening and watching if any.

There are special times when you run into a grandmother in a store and they ask if you are the man on the radio or TV and how much they enjoy and thank you for doing the games because it is hard for them to go to games to see their children or grand children play. Because I was there they could be there also. Those are the times that generate your heart and motivate to go to the next game regardless of it's importance because there is someone out there that needs you to be there.

Modern times have brought on the use of computers for blogs which have added to my media exposure. Like talking on the radio or TV I like doing this blog almost on a daily schedule passing along what information I might know that sometimes you cannot get any where else.

There is a core following to this blog and I thank those of you who are with me every step of the way. But like radio you wonder sometimes whether you are wasting your time until you receive a note from someone thanking you for kind words you have said about someone.

That happened back in May when high school baseball season was over. If you go back in my archives around May 20th or so I did a story on Dillon Cockrell who I said in the article was my favorite baseball player from Rocky Mount. A few days later I received a thank you note from Dillon's family thanking me for my kind word about him.

Just like hearing from those on radio it gets next to my heart to think that I have said something on this blog that is important to someone.

A few days later I got a call from a friend Gene Taylor who is a family friend of the Cockrell's. Gene expressed to me his appreciation for what I had said and told me of how much it had effected the Cockrell family. He told me of a plan he had that he wanted to take that article on my blog and have it printed up and put it on a plaque and give it to the Cockrell's.

Last night I had dinner with Gene and Wes Bradshaw. Gene had the finished product with him and he wanted me to sign it on the bottom.

Knowing that what you have done will hang on a wall in someone's home kind of gets me right here in my heart.

I may have made a family's life a little brighter for a day or two but I can tell you what Gene Taylor has done not only affect the Cockrell's but me too.

Thank You Gene,