USPBL shortstop Skylar Mercado talks about losing his father, Steve Mercado, a member of the New York Fire Department, in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Todd McInturf, The Detroit News
Utica — Skylar Mercado has his dad with him wherever he goes, from the number on his baseball jersey — 11, doubling the No. 1 Steve Mercado wore when playing softball in the Bronx — to the impeccably drawn tattoos, one on his left bicep that Skylar sketched out himself, and another, expansive one on his left chest.