The first letter is from an old friend of my Dad's. I received it after my dad's funeral. I never met John, but we have corresponded before. I wrote him for my dad at Christmas time and I wrote him when Dad died. This was his response. I am not sure when the last time Dad and John met in person, but I know they still felt the connection of their shared passion and old memories. I found a large manilla envelope in Dad's things from John with the statistics of all the games dad played in H.S., including his hits and the scores. I am sure dad enjoyed reading about his high school exploits. I wish I had a team photo or yearbook from those years.
I received this letter from a man I never met and was so touched by his thoughtfulness in sending us his memory of Dad playing baseball in high school. I know I heard Dad talk about meeting for coffee(diet coke for Dad, I'm sure) with some of his old team mates.
Most days, I miss Dad but I am OK. Occasionally something hits me and the tears well up and my voice will not work right. This happened when I took his memorial money to the library with a list of the top 100 baseball novels. I asked them to spend the $350 to buy some books from the list. Cindy, the librarian was explaining that they would place a sticker inside the book and asked me what I wanted it to say. At first I couldn't talk at all so I walked away to sit on the bench and think and write it down. I hope that future readers will stop when they read his name inside the cover and think of a man named Bob Johnson who had a passion for baseball and a passion for books.
9-11-1932 to 2-2-2017
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