GaryMrMets
06-16-2002, 01:32 PM
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/chc/news/chc_news.jsp?ymd=20020611&content_id=50492&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp
06/11/2002 8:39 pm ET
Father's Day: Girardis love baseball
Cubs catcher just bought daughter first bat and ball
By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com
Want to see Joe Girardi smile? Just ask the Chicago Cubs catcher about his two children, Serena and Dante.
The Peoria, Ill., native grew up a Cubs fan thanks to his father's influence and several trips north to Wrigley Field. Wife Kim also is a baseball fan. When Joe, 37, and Kim were students at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., they would take the train to Wrigley and watch games from the bleachers. It's only a matter of time before young Dante, just seven months old, is hanging around the clubhouse.
MLB.com: What's changed the most since you became a father?
Girardi: I think once you become a father, you have the ultimate respect for your parents. You see the difficulty in raising kids and trying to juggle everything. For me, I've just begun. I don't have to run one child to this baseball game, another child to that baseball game. I just have the ultimate respect for what my parents did.
MLB.com: Did your father take you to Cubs games?
Girardi: We would drive 10 times a year to Wrigley and we never missed "Bat Day." That was our favorite day at the ballpark. They'd give us the yellow bats. There were four boys and we'd all come home with a bat. Those are fond memories. I used to ride with my dad a lot. He was a salesman and we would listen to the games on the radio. I played a lot of games in the summer and the days I wasn't playing, I would ride with him so we could listen to the games.
MLB.com: Dante is a little young now, but do you think you'll take him to games?
Girardi: I envision taking him to the park. Kids always want to be close to the action, but I'll make sure he's far enough so he doesn't get hit by anything or try to get behind the screen. I'm sure Kim and I will take both of our kids. We'll take Serena, too. Kim loves baseball. We used to take the train down from Northwestern (University) to watch games and sit in the bleachers. It will be a big baseball household.
MLB.com: Do you see Dante -- or Serena -- playing professional baseball?
Girardi: If he wants. I don't really care if he does. Our first focus will be education. I'll explain that it's a wonderful game and a wonderful job but don't feel like you have to put all your effort into it because your dad did. You do what you want to do.
MLB.com: If Dante did want to be a pro ballplayer, would you discourage him?
Girardi: I think it's a wonderful job and you meet a lot of wonderful people and obviously you're able to provide for your household very well. If that's what he wants to do, I'll do everything I can so he can make it.
MLB.com: Does Dante have a glove yet?
Girardi: No, he doesn't have a glove. We actually bought Serena a bat and ball the other day. Her first one. Dante is only seven months. He's not quite ready. They went to a birthday party for a friend of theirs named Jack and (the bat and ball) was the present my wife bought them and Serena wanted one. So she got her first bat and ball.
Right before we left for Seattle, we were out in the yard playing with it. We also gave her a tennis racket, too, and she seemed to like the tennis racket better.
MLB.com: How does baseball affect being a father?
Girardi: I think the hardest thing is being away. Obviously if you don't travel a lot and you work, you usually have the weekends off, but you're also gone five days a week for most of the year. We get four straight months off. It creates some different challenges for fatherhood. You're home four straight months every day with your kids and not only is it difficult for you sometimes when you start traveling again, but when they're young they don't understand. Serena was used to Daddy being home every day and not having to go to work and all of a sudden I've got to go to work every day and that creates some challenges. They get really attached.
I was able to take Serena wherever I go. Twice a week I had these long workouts and I wouldn't take her then, but I'd take her to the place where we threw and she threw with us, and when I went to the gym on my short days she went with us. So she was able to be with me for 24 hours a day for four straight months.
MLB.com: Some players say their kids hate airports because that means Daddy is leaving. Are airports a problem?
Girardi: My daughter loves them. They understand. What she understands most is that when we left on this road trip, I told her I'll be gone a week -- and she's learned her days of the week from Barney -- and I said when I get home, it's an off day. She understands that off day is a play day and she gets really excited.
Carrie Muskat covers the Cubs for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/images/2002/04/19/NgZeN2f6.jpg
Cubs catcher Joe Girardi loves being a dad, although his job keeps him away from home -- which makes it hard on the kids. (M. Spencer Green/AP)
06/11/2002 8:39 pm ET
Father's Day: Girardis love baseball
Cubs catcher just bought daughter first bat and ball
By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com
Want to see Joe Girardi smile? Just ask the Chicago Cubs catcher about his two children, Serena and Dante.
The Peoria, Ill., native grew up a Cubs fan thanks to his father's influence and several trips north to Wrigley Field. Wife Kim also is a baseball fan. When Joe, 37, and Kim were students at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., they would take the train to Wrigley and watch games from the bleachers. It's only a matter of time before young Dante, just seven months old, is hanging around the clubhouse.
MLB.com: What's changed the most since you became a father?
Girardi: I think once you become a father, you have the ultimate respect for your parents. You see the difficulty in raising kids and trying to juggle everything. For me, I've just begun. I don't have to run one child to this baseball game, another child to that baseball game. I just have the ultimate respect for what my parents did.
MLB.com: Did your father take you to Cubs games?
Girardi: We would drive 10 times a year to Wrigley and we never missed "Bat Day." That was our favorite day at the ballpark. They'd give us the yellow bats. There were four boys and we'd all come home with a bat. Those are fond memories. I used to ride with my dad a lot. He was a salesman and we would listen to the games on the radio. I played a lot of games in the summer and the days I wasn't playing, I would ride with him so we could listen to the games.
MLB.com: Dante is a little young now, but do you think you'll take him to games?
Girardi: I envision taking him to the park. Kids always want to be close to the action, but I'll make sure he's far enough so he doesn't get hit by anything or try to get behind the screen. I'm sure Kim and I will take both of our kids. We'll take Serena, too. Kim loves baseball. We used to take the train down from Northwestern (University) to watch games and sit in the bleachers. It will be a big baseball household.
MLB.com: Do you see Dante -- or Serena -- playing professional baseball?
Girardi: If he wants. I don't really care if he does. Our first focus will be education. I'll explain that it's a wonderful game and a wonderful job but don't feel like you have to put all your effort into it because your dad did. You do what you want to do.
MLB.com: If Dante did want to be a pro ballplayer, would you discourage him?
Girardi: I think it's a wonderful job and you meet a lot of wonderful people and obviously you're able to provide for your household very well. If that's what he wants to do, I'll do everything I can so he can make it.
MLB.com: Does Dante have a glove yet?
Girardi: No, he doesn't have a glove. We actually bought Serena a bat and ball the other day. Her first one. Dante is only seven months. He's not quite ready. They went to a birthday party for a friend of theirs named Jack and (the bat and ball) was the present my wife bought them and Serena wanted one. So she got her first bat and ball.
Right before we left for Seattle, we were out in the yard playing with it. We also gave her a tennis racket, too, and she seemed to like the tennis racket better.
MLB.com: How does baseball affect being a father?
Girardi: I think the hardest thing is being away. Obviously if you don't travel a lot and you work, you usually have the weekends off, but you're also gone five days a week for most of the year. We get four straight months off. It creates some different challenges for fatherhood. You're home four straight months every day with your kids and not only is it difficult for you sometimes when you start traveling again, but when they're young they don't understand. Serena was used to Daddy being home every day and not having to go to work and all of a sudden I've got to go to work every day and that creates some challenges. They get really attached.
I was able to take Serena wherever I go. Twice a week I had these long workouts and I wouldn't take her then, but I'd take her to the place where we threw and she threw with us, and when I went to the gym on my short days she went with us. So she was able to be with me for 24 hours a day for four straight months.
MLB.com: Some players say their kids hate airports because that means Daddy is leaving. Are airports a problem?
Girardi: My daughter loves them. They understand. What she understands most is that when we left on this road trip, I told her I'll be gone a week -- and she's learned her days of the week from Barney -- and I said when I get home, it's an off day. She understands that off day is a play day and she gets really excited.
Carrie Muskat covers the Cubs for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/images/2002/04/19/NgZeN2f6.jpg
Cubs catcher Joe Girardi loves being a dad, although his job keeps him away from home -- which makes it hard on the kids. (M. Spencer Green/AP)