not yet nine, looking to the sky, as he
circled the bases with his fist held high. Matthew
had just hit his first home run as a
member of his Little League team - a grand slam
on his "Field of Dreams!"
His father, Mark, had always wanted to be a
professional baseball player. He tried out and survived several
"cuts," but never lived his dream - a dream instilled
and supported by his father, Chet.
Mark continued to play on sandlot teams and taught
neighborhood children how to play. When Matthew was born
on July 30, 1985, Mark promised himself he would share
his dream with his son. By the time Matthew
was four, he was hitting a baseball over the
neighbor's roof.
Matthew's uniform number -7- was the same as his father's.
He was so pleased that his daddy loved him, as
he enjoyed the family tradition. After all, the movie
"Field of Dreams," is not just about baseball - it's
about fathers and sons and it's about faith!
Sadly, yet with great faith, Mark bravely faced, but lost,
a hard-fought battle with cancer. He was 33.
The Sunday that Mark died, he had entered the hospital
for "observation only." The doctors had promised that he
could be released to see Matthew's first game on
Monday afternoon.
Family and friends knew that Matthew would play the next
day, just as his father would have wished. Little did
Matthew know that the promise he had made to his
mother, Sherry, that "My first ball will be hit for
my daddy," would be heard by a much
higher, ever-present power.
The comment that Matthew's achievement, "probably knocked his father off
the cloud from which he was watching," sums up
the victories of this life for all of us, doesn't it?
By Ronald D. Eberhard
stopped to watch a local Little League baseball game that was
being played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind
the bench on the first-baseline, I asked one of the boys
what the score was.
"We're behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile.
"Really," I said. "I have to say you don't look very discouraged."
"Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on
his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven't been up
to bat yet."
By Jack Canfield