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Before Father’s Day, the News-Journal approached the Daytona Tortugas with a simple question: “What’s your favorite baseball memory with your dad?” Here’s where those conversations went.
DAYTONA BEACH — Little Dylan King made an assumption.
When he was preschool age, he always asked his friends which baseball teams their dads played for.
“My family was like, ‘Yeah, not everyone plays. They do other stuff, too,’” King said with a laugh.
But for King, professional baseball was as routine as tying his cleats.
His father, Brad, suited up for UCF before the Chicago Cubs drafted him in the 17th round in 1996. He spent eight seasons in the minor leagues, including the 1998 campaign with the Daytona Cubs, and concluded his career with two years of independent ball and a spring training with the Minnesota Twins in 2007.
King, born in 2002, remembers a little bit from his dad’s final stints.
“People say I was born into it, and I probably was,” King said. “But I loved it from an early age.”
After Brad retired, he still visited Twins spring training. He’d pull his son out of school one day each year and allow him to experience big-league camp. King would leave with souvenirs like a Joe Mauer bat.
“It was the best day ever,” he said.
King developed into quite the player himself. He lined up at shortstop before transitioning to full-time catcher — like his dad — as a freshman in high school. He attended American Heritage in Delray Beach, enrolled at North Carolina and later transferred to UCF, becoming an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention standout.
The Cincinnati Reds selected him in the 17th round — same as Brad — in last year’s MLB draft. He still picks his dad’s brain about the sport.
“Definitely my biggest role model in this game, for sure,” King said.
The long-awaited call arrived. Tyson Lewis answered and put it on speaker phone.
It was July 14, 2024, the first night of the MLB draft. Lewis waited at home with his father, Peyton, and brother, Hayden, to learn his pro destination.
In the second round, the Reds contacted him and said they were choosing him with the 51st overall pick. The conversation was quick. The star shortstop from Nebraska wandered toward the corner of the room. When he hung up, he turned around and informed his family what happened.
They wrapped Lewis in hugs. The father told the son how proud he was.
“It was just like all those years of hard work and working with my dad, working with my brother, it all kind of came to fruition right in that moment,” Lewis said. “It was pretty emotional.”
Almost every weekend, Mike Villani and his dad would wake up early.
They’d hop in the car. Mike Sr. would tune the radio to old country music. And they’d head to junior’s travel baseball tournaments.
The drives weren’t too long — usually 90 minutes or so from their San Diego hometown. They often stopped for Starbucks on the way.
“That was like peak time with my dad,” Villani said.
After Villani played three or four games over the course of a couple days, the duo would check out of the hotel and head home. They rarely talked about baseball during those trips.
“I’m a lot like how he is, just super laid back,” said Villani, a right-handed pitcher. “The only thing he asks is, if we’re going to commit to something, you’re going to do it, and you’re going to work your ass off, and you’re going to give it your all. It doesn’t matter what the end is.”
One summer, while managing in the Coastal Plain League, Jason Immekus went to his team’s front office with an idea.
Could his dad, Larry, throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Father’s Day? And could he catch it?
They said yes.
When the holiday arrived, Immekus and his dad warmed up on the side. Larry insisted he wasn’t nervous. But as more and more fans piled into the park, Immekus sensed otherwise.
“I said, ‘Dad, I can tell you’re nervous,’” Immekus recalled. “He goes, ‘Yeah, maybe a little bit.’ I said, ‘Well, here’s the bottom line. If you throw it off the backstop, it even becomes more funny.’ We always had that kind of sense of humor in our family all the time. So it was like, ‘Hey, if you skip it or short-hop it and I catch it in the face, ha ha on me, right? Like, make a better play.’”
No need for chuckles, though.
Larry walked out to the mound and fired a strike right down the middle to his son. The crowd roared.
“I got to repay him finally for all of those years of him taking me to games and traveling around,” the Tortugas’ pitching coach said. “... That was a pretty special thing. I thought for all the times he sat in the stands and watched me, he had people in the stands watching him.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Tortugas reflect on favorite baseball memories with their dads
Continue reading...
DAYTONA BEACH — Little Dylan King made an assumption.
When he was preschool age, he always asked his friends which baseball teams their dads played for.
“My family was like, ‘Yeah, not everyone plays. They do other stuff, too,’” King said with a laugh.
But for King, professional baseball was as routine as tying his cleats.
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His father, Brad, suited up for UCF before the Chicago Cubs drafted him in the 17th round in 1996. He spent eight seasons in the minor leagues, including the 1998 campaign with the Daytona Cubs, and concluded his career with two years of independent ball and a spring training with the Minnesota Twins in 2007.
King, born in 2002, remembers a little bit from his dad’s final stints.
“People say I was born into it, and I probably was,” King said. “But I loved it from an early age.”
After Brad retired, he still visited Twins spring training. He’d pull his son out of school one day each year and allow him to experience big-league camp. King would leave with souvenirs like a Joe Mauer bat.
You must be registered for see images attach
“It was the best day ever,” he said.
King developed into quite the player himself. He lined up at shortstop before transitioning to full-time catcher — like his dad — as a freshman in high school. He attended American Heritage in Delray Beach, enrolled at North Carolina and later transferred to UCF, becoming an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention standout.
The Cincinnati Reds selected him in the 17th round — same as Brad — in last year’s MLB draft. He still picks his dad’s brain about the sport.
“Definitely my biggest role model in this game, for sure,” King said.
Tyson Lewis will never forget his MLB draft night
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The long-awaited call arrived. Tyson Lewis answered and put it on speaker phone.
It was July 14, 2024, the first night of the MLB draft. Lewis waited at home with his father, Peyton, and brother, Hayden, to learn his pro destination.
In the second round, the Reds contacted him and said they were choosing him with the 51st overall pick. The conversation was quick. The star shortstop from Nebraska wandered toward the corner of the room. When he hung up, he turned around and informed his family what happened.
They wrapped Lewis in hugs. The father told the son how proud he was.
“It was just like all those years of hard work and working with my dad, working with my brother, it all kind of came to fruition right in that moment,” Lewis said. “It was pretty emotional.”
Mike Villani took road trip after road trip with his father
You must be registered for see images attach
Almost every weekend, Mike Villani and his dad would wake up early.
They’d hop in the car. Mike Sr. would tune the radio to old country music. And they’d head to junior’s travel baseball tournaments.
The drives weren’t too long — usually 90 minutes or so from their San Diego hometown. They often stopped for Starbucks on the way.
“That was like peak time with my dad,” Villani said.
After Villani played three or four games over the course of a couple days, the duo would check out of the hotel and head home. They rarely talked about baseball during those trips.
“I’m a lot like how he is, just super laid back,” said Villani, a right-handed pitcher. “The only thing he asks is, if we’re going to commit to something, you’re going to do it, and you’re going to work your ass off, and you’re going to give it your all. It doesn’t matter what the end is.”
Jason Immekus repaid his dad on Father’s Day
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One summer, while managing in the Coastal Plain League, Jason Immekus went to his team’s front office with an idea.
Could his dad, Larry, throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Father’s Day? And could he catch it?
They said yes.
When the holiday arrived, Immekus and his dad warmed up on the side. Larry insisted he wasn’t nervous. But as more and more fans piled into the park, Immekus sensed otherwise.
“I said, ‘Dad, I can tell you’re nervous,’” Immekus recalled. “He goes, ‘Yeah, maybe a little bit.’ I said, ‘Well, here’s the bottom line. If you throw it off the backstop, it even becomes more funny.’ We always had that kind of sense of humor in our family all the time. So it was like, ‘Hey, if you skip it or short-hop it and I catch it in the face, ha ha on me, right? Like, make a better play.’”
No need for chuckles, though.
Larry walked out to the mound and fired a strike right down the middle to his son. The crowd roared.
“I got to repay him finally for all of those years of him taking me to games and traveling around,” the Tortugas’ pitching coach said. “... That was a pretty special thing. I thought for all the times he sat in the stands and watched me, he had people in the stands watching him.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Tortugas reflect on favorite baseball memories with their dads
Continue reading...
