TCB's Father's Day Storytime and Gift Guide

Yep, this weekend is the best holiday of them all (for dads). In celebration of that day, we're going to be talking to our writers and handing out gift ideas all weekend long. We have quite a few of our writers who are going to share stories about their dads and baseball, capped off with a reposting of Sean's great story from last Father's Day on Sunday.

In the meantime, I wanted to get this started by sharing some of my own Father's Day memories. This will be my third Father's Day without my dad. I talked at length about him and how our relationship was so tied up to my appreciation and love of baseball.

It was in the little moments, like this one:

He also colored my opinions in ways I had never really thought of. One of the videos we watched last week showed him back in 1989 talking about what a great fielder Rafael Ramirez was. It was in the background of some family gathering and he was having this whole discussion with my great grandfather about how smooth Ramirez was defensively. He added at the end about this "kid" Caminiti and how good he was, making all those diving plays and still throwing the guy out at first. I don't remember actually watching much of Caminiti as an Astro. I was aware of him, but I don't remember watching him play the field that much. I just always knew he was one of the best defenders at third, as one of those things I just never questioned, as one of those fundamental things I believed about the team.

I think Dad would have enjoyed this site. I know we would have had some great arguments about the topics on here. That was part of the fun of talking baseball with him.

Now, I get to be the same conduit into the game for my son. I've already started him down the right path, as he thinks the Cardinals and Rangers are "bad," and knows how great Nolan Ryan is. We'll be starting teeball soon, so I might have to strap on my dad's old team statistician hat for that one, as a tribute to him.

But, enough about me. Let's end this with a gift idea. One of the coolest books I've gotten recently is Bill Brown's "Deep in the Heart." It's all about the Astros, written alongside Mike Acosta, and is just a treasure trove of Astros facts, pictures and memories. It's very nicely done and I couldn't recommend it enough for the Astros fan in your life.

If you have your own Father's Day memories to share, let us know. Write up a FanPost and we'll add your thoughts to the stream with all of ours.

Oh, and in case I forget this weekend, Happy Father's Day to all of you readers/dads.