Báez’s magic creates loyal following

My middle son Bobby, who is eight, is absolutely in love with baseball.

He spends most nights recreating the best plays of the day in our living room. We have wood floors in the house, so he happily wears out pairs of pants sliding into an imaginary second base. He also likes to work on mirroring the quick-twitch ability of his favorite player, Cubs’ superstar Javier Báez.

When his birthday came around last December, his grandmother asked for a wish list.

Bobby asked for only one thing: a new Báez jersey.

When the time came to buy him something, my mother asked if the jersey should be white with blue pinstripes or the road blue jersey.

My response was easy: the road blue jersey. As any parent of a son who owns jerseys can likely attest, a white jersey on an eight-year-old is begging to find nacho cheese or ketchup on it somehow.

What I didn’t know is that grandma had already bought the white home jersey when she asked for the recommendation. The result was an incredibly happy Bobby getting not one but two Báez jerseys for his birthday.

When it was time to choose numbers for the travel team Bobby is on this season, there was only one choice: nine. He made it clear to me – and the coaches – that he wanted to wear the same number as “El Mago.”

As the Cubs open their 2019 home schedule today, the excitement in our home is building.

I have three sons. The older two, Matt and Bobby, play Little League. The youngest, Ian, will turn three in September. If we’re honest, we can admit that he might grow up to have the best arm of the three.

Matt, 12, has been an all-star the last three seasons, and Bobby has joined a full-time travel team for this year. When Bobby had the opportunity to choose his number for the year, he made the decision easily. “I’ll wear nine,” he told me. “Javy wears nine.”

Bobby, a creature of habit who holds to the rules of the game, will wear only a road jersey when the Cubs are on the road. So the blue jersey has been getting plenty of play around the house over the past 10 days.

Now I just have to hope that he doesn’t spill something on the white jersey with the Cubs giving him an excuse to finally wear it.

Inset Images: Tab Bamford