When you're down and out, Eric Clapton says, "nobody knows your name." But when I was down and out recently after a traumatic brain injury that I suffered while coaching my son's baseball team last year, the Seattle Mariners did know my name. Their amazingly kind gestures to my family also gave me time to reflect on what a large impact they've had on bringing my family together over the years.
They played their first game a month before my fifth birthday and I was hooked. Center fielder Ruppert Jones quickly became the man and there was nothing as cool as the "Rupe, Rupe, Rupe" chant before all of his Kingdome at-bats.