WEBVTT

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As soon as he could stand and hold a bat, he
was out in the backyard swinging. Meanwhile,

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all of his friends were playing hockey. He was
2 hitting off of one of those tees.

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Dad, I want to do another one, he would say.
Another one, and I'm like, oh my gosh. And so I

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started walking away, he took the ball and
threw it at me and hit me. So I turned around,

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threw the ball back at him, and he just went
whack. I was like, wait a minute.

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Hit in the air to deep left. It is way out of
here. And

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Webber kneels, it's a solo home run. He's
always been

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uh. A brute. His number one tool is his
competitive spirit.

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He's a man of many layers. I would say he's
almost like Ferdinand the Bull. May look

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intimidating. Certainly is in the box when
he's hitting. But when you get him off the

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field, he's got a big heart. He cares deeply
about this program. And probably more

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importantly, he cares a lot about his family.
There's a history of baseball in the family.

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Weber's grandpa played. Whoever's dad played
He went to Mankato State. He was a pitcher and

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played a little third base. Me and my pops put
up a cage in our backyard and we got an old net

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from our high school. I absolutely love
throwing VP. yeah. Even when there

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was snow on the ground, we would be out there
hitting balls nonstop. I know his swing really,

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really well. I've coached him for years, so
when he has a little bit of trouble or when he

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wants to find his feel. He'll call me up and
just, Dad, can you come and throw some BP to me?

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I'm like, yeah.

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Well, since he's been in college, he has
Mondays off, so he'll say whenever you're done

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with work or whenever you can, can you come on
down to the facility and work with me? I never

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thought I'd be doing something like this. Very
happy that I am because I absolutely love it.

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Such a great bonding thing. Very few words are
said.

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And we just get in the lab and he gets me back
on track pretty quickly.

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I think Webb maybe got off to a little bit of
a slower start the first week. We talked about

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some things on the way home and Who came in to
throw to him on Monday, his dad did. And

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then who took off from there. Webb did. That
is hit hard to deep left and it's

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gone. 2nd home run tonight for Weber Niels. I
think more than anything, Weber's

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after the connection that those sessions hold.
Beyond, hey, let's get your

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leg here, let's get your hands here, let's do
this with your swing. Because often the swing

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doesn't change, but the person does when he
finishes that. When it comes to the game of

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baseball, it is super romantic. This is my
grandfather's

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baseball. He got the chance to play for the
Milwaukee Braves.

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Right before training camp broke, they were
playing the New York Yankees and he got hit by

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a pitch by Bob Turley. And then it ended his
career.

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The Yankees signed a ball for him. Joe
DiMaggio, Yogi Berra.

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So that team from the 56th year. This has been
in our family for.

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60 years and I'm not sure many people have
this type of ball in their living room, so just

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a lot of history and a lot of stories in this
baseball. Not only does it represent my dad,

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but it's just this kind of folklore baseball
story out there that. We love

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My favorite baseball movie is Field of Dreams.
It's a story of

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a father-son relationship and baseball, how
that

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just is that binding glue. From the time that
Webber was a little

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boy. Just that love between father-son. Can we
play catch? Just one

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more, one more bucket of balls. I won't stop.
I'm

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never gonna stop playing catch with him. I'm
lucky to have a great father

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that is. It's able to throw me baseballs and
and um be there for me when I need it on the

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field but you know also be one of my best
friends off the field.