EL1 Reading Fightin Phils

Dreams have already come true for "R" dads

Published on June 17, 2005 under Eastern League (EL1)
Reading Fightin Phils News Release


In the mythical baseball movie "Field of Dreams," the main theme of the story is that dreams can indeed come true.

Kevin Costner's character, Ray Kinsella, builds a baseball field -- "if you build it, he will come" -- in the middle of his Iowa cornfield, and the 1919 White Sox show up, Shoeless Joe Jackson and the rest.

The thing is, only a chosen few actually can see the old ballplayers, which leads to all sorts of problems for Ray and his family. In the end, though, after "Moonlight" Graham gets his coveted first big league at-bat, and the writer Terence Mann comes to peace with himself, Ray and his long-departed Dad have a final catch on the field.

It is a two-tissue ending that tugs at the heart of every dad, every son.

And so we come to baseball and the Reading Phillies and Father's Day. Yes, they long ago built a baseball park here, and they do come, by the thousands, just as they did at the end of our movie. And these young uniformed men from faraway places still live their dream -- to one day step on a big league diamond, to be a part of The Show.

All of them, of course, are more than just baseball players, though this is how we characterize them. Some, though, are fathers themselves, and so Sunday is their day, even if they have to work.

Left-hander Allen Davis and outfielder Ryan Fleming are fortunate that their family will share the day with them. Davis and wife Nikki are the parents of 19-month-old Austin. Fleming and wife Heather chase after 21-month-old Reid. The families live in the same apartment complex. Austin and Reid are running mates.

The Davises and Flemings are fortunate to be together. The boys have been the source of unbounding love and joy. But each of the couple's lives have undergone extraordinary changes.

"Your priorities change completely," Davis said, "from doing whatever you want to do to doing things for Austin. It is just 100 percent him now."

"First and foremost having Reid made me realize how powerful God is," Fleming said, "and how much a miracle it is -- the creation of life. It's also changed our priorities in life bigtime. He and his needs are first. He's the main focus in our lives right now."

Life can be hard, too. Nobody ever said raising a young family was easy. And for aspiring young baseball players, whose job requires so much energy, so much concentration -- not to mention disappointment and frustration -- only a Wes Craven movie would have more things tugging at them.

"It's hard," Davis said. "They come on the road with me as much as possible. I don't want baseball to separate me from my family. We make due. I'm not going to miss Austin growing up for baseball. The season is long and it wears on you and you get tired. Having Nikki there to take care of him whenever I'm just worn out or I need to get ready for a game is a huge part of it."

"Anytime you're raising a child there's going to be times of stress," Fleming said. "Getting on feeding patterns and overcoming sicknesses. It is different, but it's a rewarding difference. My wife is as close to a saint that I can verbalize to you. She's just amazing. She deserves about all the credit. She's just unbelievable with him."

With the stress and the worry comes unbridled love for that little peanut you know is yours and yours alone.

"The best thing is just seeing his face," Davis said, "letting him come to baseball games everyday, growing up around baseball. It's seeing his face and how happy he is being here, growing up around all these players. The best part is that he's getting to grow up in a baseball atmosphere, and what kid wouldn't want to do that?"

"As soon as I wake up, I'm lying in bed and he wants to grab the ball and bat and glove," Fleming said. "Ninety-nine percent of the time that's what's on his mind. I know he's happy and how much he likes baseball."

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Phillies relief pitcher Felix Villegas is not so fortunate. His daughter Vianalex, who will be 4 on Saturday, and his stepson Steven are home in Puerto Rico, living with his estranged wife's family.

Villegas talks to them by phone almost every day. He knows for sure they will call him on Father's Day. But it is hard, the uncertainty of his future with his family, his recent struggles on the mound.

"I'm doing my job," Villegas said. "I'm doing it for them. Everything I do is for them."

This is what sustains him.

"I know I have to separate my problems from my business, which is baseball," Villegas said. "I've been working hard. I've been kind of struggling lately, but I try to do my best, and if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. But now I feel relaxed, because I'm working as hard as I can."

Like all the players we talked with, Villegas credits his father for setting patterns in his life that allowed him to be such a caring, loving father.

"My father is my buddy," Villegas said. "He's my everything. He is more than my friend. That's why I care about my family so much, because I grew up in this good relationship between father and son. I want to do the same things he did."

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And then there is the newest father, catcher Trent Pratt. Last month he and wife Darice brought twin girls Marly and Morgan into the world. It was not an easy delivery for Darice. Because of late complications, she had to be hospitalized the last eight weeks, and the delivery was by C-section to ensure the safety of the infants.

Pratt was there for the blessed event. "It was neat," he said, but he admitted those last eight weeks weighed heavily on his mind.

"The closer it got the more it started becoming real to me," he said. "It was kind of an escape for me to come to the park."

The babies were a handful -- literally, 4 pounds 8 ounces, and 4 pounds 4 ounces. Both are still in the hospital, but they are doing fine, breathing on their own, and Pratt expects they will be home soon with Darice.

"It was hard to leave them," he said. "Once I got here it was OK, but leaving them was one of the hardest things emotionally I've had to do."

Sunday will be special for Pratt, the rookie father.

"It will be my first experience as a father," he said, "and it's something I'll always remember. (But) I'm comforted to know my girls are in good hands. The doctors and nurses are special people that I got to meet. If I didn't know that it would be a lot harder than it is. And my wife is an amazing person. I couldn't ask for a better wife."

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Space prevents us from completely chronicling the special relationship each of our players said he enjoys with his own father, who was always there for each of them, sharing their lives, shaping their lives.

Allen, Ryan and Trent all have seen "Field of Dreams." It is one of their favorites, and not just because it is a movie built around the game.

"That last scene where they have a catch is something I've always had with my dad," Pratt said. "I can feel the Kevin Costner character in the movie and how special that was to play catch with his father. It's something I've always had, because my father was always there to do that, no matter what."

Which was pretty much the sentiments of all our Phillies fathers.

"If you build it, he will come" -- not a ballpark, a relationship.

Playing catch. It is a ritual that requires no words, no instruction, no critical analysis. It is a simple pleasure whose silence is interruped only by the thwap, thwap, thwap of ball meeting glove -- a sound that is as true today as it was during Abner Doubleday's time.

Playing catch. It is a man reaching down to the level of the boy; the boy elevating himself to the level of the man, so that for the first time they are equals, enjoying a ritualistic exercise that is both simple and complex in its meaning.

Happy Father's Day everybody. And go have yourself a catch.

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Eastern League Stories from June 17, 2005


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