As soon as he could stand and hold a bat, he was out in the backyard swinging. Meanwhile,
all of his friends were playing hockey. He was 2 hitting off of one of those tees.
Dad, I want to do another one, he would say. Another one, and I'm like, oh my gosh. And so I
started walking away, he took the ball and threw it at me and hit me. So I turned around,
threw the ball back at him, and he just went whack. I was like, wait a minute.
Hit in the air to deep left. It is way out of here. And
Webber kneels, it's a solo home run. He's always been
uh. A brute. His number one tool is his competitive spirit.
He's a man of many layers. I would say he's almost like Ferdinand the Bull. May look
intimidating. Certainly is in the box when he's hitting. But when you get him off the
field, he's got a big heart. He cares deeply about this program. And probably more
importantly, he cares a lot about his family. There's a history of baseball in the family.
Weber's grandpa played. Whoever's dad played He went to Mankato State. He was a pitcher and
played a little third base. Me and my pops put up a cage in our backyard and we got an old net
from our high school. I absolutely love throwing VP. yeah. Even when there
was snow on the ground, we would be out there hitting balls nonstop. I know his swing really,
really well. I've coached him for years, so when he has a little bit of trouble or when he
wants to find his feel. He'll call me up and just, Dad, can you come and throw some BP to me?
I'm like, yeah.
Well, since he's been in college, he has Mondays off, so he'll say whenever you're done
with work or whenever you can, can you come on down to the facility and work with me? I never
thought I'd be doing something like this. Very happy that I am because I absolutely love it.
Such a great bonding thing. Very few words are said.
And we just get in the lab and he gets me back on track pretty quickly.
I think Webb maybe got off to a little bit of a slower start the first week. We talked about
some things on the way home and Who came in to throw to him on Monday, his dad did. And
then who took off from there. Webb did. That is hit hard to deep left and it's
gone. 2nd home run tonight for Weber Niels. I think more than anything, Weber's
after the connection that those sessions hold. Beyond, hey, let's get your
leg here, let's get your hands here, let's do this with your swing. Because often the swing
doesn't change, but the person does when he finishes that. When it comes to the game of
baseball, it is super romantic. This is my grandfather's
baseball. He got the chance to play for the Milwaukee Braves.
Right before training camp broke, they were playing the New York Yankees and he got hit by
a pitch by Bob Turley. And then it ended his career.
The Yankees signed a ball for him. Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra.
So that team from the 56th year. This has been in our family for.
60 years and I'm not sure many people have this type of ball in their living room, so just
a lot of history and a lot of stories in this baseball. Not only does it represent my dad,
but it's just this kind of folklore baseball story out there that. We love
My favorite baseball movie is Field of Dreams. It's a story of
a father-son relationship and baseball, how that
just is that binding glue. From the time that Webber was a little
boy. Just that love between father-son. Can we play catch? Just one
more, one more bucket of balls. I won't stop. I'm
never gonna stop playing catch with him. I'm lucky to have a great father
that is. It's able to throw me baseballs and and um be there for me when I need it on the
field but you know also be one of my best friends off the field.