A Father’s Passion
- Updated: March 11, 2016
I would like to take a moment here and introduce myself. My name is Bill Shelly and I was born in Los Angeles, CA in March of 1965. I am what people would call a true baseball junkie. I have grown up around the game of baseball my whole life. I thought I should give you a little history on my background here and on my baseball experiences.
Growing up as a young boy in California my Father and I were avid and very passionate baseball fans. The one thing that we always had in common was this great game of baseball. My father was very outspoken when it came to the game and he passed that firey passion down to me. We could always have a meaningful conversation about the game of baseball. The one thing that we always had in common was baseball. When I was just a youngster at the age of 5 my father took me to my very first baseball game at Dodger Stadium. It was here that I received my first real introduction to the game and the Dodgers. It was here that I became interested in the game of baseball. And since that day I have been truly been interested in the game.
Some years later the family moved from the Southern California baseball scene to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1978. It was at this time I was introduced to the rivalry between these 2 great baseball nations.. It seemed like I was immediately thrown into the the valley of the what I like to call ” The Halloween Crew ” AKA the San Francisco Giants. Growing up in Southern California as a die hard Dodger fan the rivalry as all Dodger fans as well as Giants fans know is very real. I have always hated the Giants. I tend to think it’s a West Coast thing. All thru my junior high and high school years my buddies were avid fans of the Halloween Crew. As with most baseball fans rivalries are very much alive.
The older I got the more we used to razz each other. As I grew older I became more interested in the game and the history of baseball. I find that the history of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers is as expected my favorite subject. My friends and I would spend hours and go round and round all day during baseball season about how much their team really sucked. It was always good spirited and all in good fun but the passion that we had back then seemed to carry on a life of it’s own. In today’s aspects of the game there seems to be no real baseball passion like the days gone by.. It seems that the fire we had back many years ago for some of us has burned out and there seems to be no way to rekindle that fire we had as kids growing up. No more is there any resemblance of that rivalry we shared together.
As I got older I spent many days in front of the television spending my time with my Dad. My Father became ill and finally in July 2001 I lost my father to a long drawn out illness that not only drained the life out of him but it seems my entire family. Following his funeral the Shelly brothers decided to packed up Mom and move her closer to my younger brother here in the state of Utah. It was here that I decided to go that next step and I started educating myself on the history of the game. His game, that he and I had for so many years shared a great and mutual interest in. I have since discovered the world of Facebook where today I operate my own baseball group and also a webpage with the help of some truly great energetic baseball people. I know that without these people and all that they do here there would be no possibility of doing what I love to do best. And that is spend my days talking and hopefully educating some on the history and the game of baseball. Deep down I believe in some sort of way that this is my way to give a real and meaningful tribute to his memory. Doing the things I do on these pages and in these groups I in my way keep his memory and that bond we shared for so many years alive and I have no doubts it grows more everyday. So to my father I say thank you old man wherever you are I know that you watch over me each and everyday.
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2 Comments
About Guest Writer
pmominator@aol.com
March 11, 2016 at 1:10 pm
Fantastic article
Bill Shelly
March 11, 2016 at 9:42 pm
Thank you very. The first of many to come so please stay tuned in here,