I was standing in Modell’s ready to get my first baseball mitt when my dad said “since you are starting baseball now, I have something special for you when we get home.” Once we arrived home I immediately darted into my room and laid out all my newly acquired baseball gear on my bed. I thought that nothing could possibly make the moment better. I was wrong. My dad then walked into the room holding something i had never seen before. At first I wasn’t even sure exactly what it was, sure I knew what baseball mitts looked liked but this one was different, this one was special. My father was holding a giant hunk of leather with 5 huge fat fingers. This wasn’t like any mitt i had ever seen before. My dad then said “This was my grandfather’s mitt then it was passed to my dad then it was passed down to me.” My mouth dropped. My dad explained how every male on his side of the family had played the game of baseball as far back as when my family came to America. My dad explained that it will be mine forever until I have a son of my own to pass it on to. I was honored to be given the mitt but I didn’t understood how truly important the game of baseball was to my entire family until my dad explained how far back the tradition of playing the sport of baseball went. I was excited to play baseball before, but now I felt as if it were my destiny to play baseball. I treasured the mitt because it was more than a mitt, it represented my family and our love for the great game of baseball.

– Nick Franklin

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