Buck Showalter still picks up the phone to call his mom. It's a habit he developed over decades of missed birthdays, family events and other holidays that passed with him in some dugout somewhere far, far away.
Lina Carrie Spires Showalter is not there to answer anymore, but she has never been far out of mind as the first Mother's Day approached since she died on the final weekend of the baseball season last October.
"I think about her every day," Buck said. "I can't tell you how many times I've picked up the phone to call her.