STORIES GROWING UP
Baseball always played a major role for us as a family going back 25
years when we lived in Florida. Pat was awesome with the big plastic
wiffle ball bat and ball when he was just one year old. We attended
many Vero Beach Dodger games, Pat's favorites were the San Diego
Famous Chicken and Max Patkin, the Clown Prince of Baseball. We
moved to Minnesota when Pat was 4 years old and our yard soon became
the center of the universe for all the neighborhood kids. Pat would
organize sandlot games in the yard every night. It first started
with wiffle balls, then tennis balls and finally baseballs. We had a
baseball field on the side of the house for over 8 years. Our
greatest experience as a family and as a dad was Little League. We
were part of the Brooklyn Center American Little League for 7 years.
I coached and umpired each year including the first year Paul and
Pat played together on the same minor league. That first year we
ended up winning the league championship in dramatic fashion. A few
years later Pat's team won the Minnesota State Championship in
Duluth and went on to the Central Region in Indianapolis. Pat had a
no hitter going against the Ohio team in the Central Region but lost
1-0 and Ohio went on to Williamsport. The next year Paul's team made
it all the way to the Little League World Series! Pat was influenced
quite a bit by Kirby Puckett since Kirby lived in Brooklyn Park
during the years the Twins World Series years. During that time we
attended many games at the Metrodome including almost all the
SuperAmerica Knot Hole games. We would load our Mitsibushi Van with
every kid in the neighborhood and the kids would just have a blast.
It was always crazy around our place on those days.
ROLE AS FATHER
Pat was always focused on baseball. Growing up in Minnesota
presented challenges in the winter each year if you wanted to play
year round. From the time the boys were little they always had
unlimited passes to the local batting cage. Later on, I organized a
winter baseball team playing in the Winfield Sportsdome in St. Paul.
This was a big bubble that the city put up each winter. The team
played games and practiced all winter but it was usually second
fiddle to softball teams so we got the midnight Friday and Saturday
slots for our games. You had to be really dedicated to play at those
times. Additionally, when Pat was older fishing nets were put up in
the basement for throwing (he still uses this today!) and neighbors
must have thought we were nuts when I would put the catching gear on
in the middle of winter and catch Pat in the front yard. That was
always tough because of the glare from the white snow often made the
curveballs impossible to catch, and the cold would make the
fastballs really bit in your hand, ouch just thinking about it!
ON THE TWINS
Pat has said that currently "he has the greatest job in world"
playing professionally for the team he grew up with. The
organization has always been lots of fun. Now he gets to represent
them at various functions throughout the year and is proud to do so.
ON PLAYING BALL PROFESSIONALLY
When Pat was in 10th grade he had gone to some tryouts and later in
the year he received his first letter from the Atlanta Braves. This
was just a letter saying they thought he had potential to play
professionally and they would be watching his development. I think
this was the first time we all started thinking "wow, maybe he can
play professionally". This really motivated Pat to work harder and
make his dream become a reality.