Homecoming

Clare put her Bluetooth feature to good use yesterday driving back to Valpo from Hammond, where she had a meeting with Ron Santo Jr. (yes, of that Santo clan).  “Breaking news, Dad,” she said, “the White Sox have just signed Gordon Beckham and designated Dayan Viciedo for assignment.”

Beckham is what you call a real hair-puller of a player.  He can turn a double play in his sleep, and most of the time he looks asleep at the plate.  After a late August trade to the Angels, he’s back with a one-year contract, and, if he’s to be believed, a whole new outlook.

Beckham broke in Clare’s junior year of high school.  He was both alter ego and crush; we had to go to SoxFest a few years back so the ex-second baseman could have her picture snapped with the good-looking Georgia Bulldog.  You can make the high school infielder into an outfielder come college, but….

Beckham’s rookie year in 2009 he hit everything to right center and looked like the best second baseman in Sox history since Nellie Fox.  Then came the need to pull the ball; popups and strikeouts followed soon after.  Here’s hoping Gordon goes back to his old ways, assuming he can get enough playing time; there are two rookies ahead of him at second base.  It’s a good thing he played shortstop in college and debuted at third for the Sox.  Life is all about second chances and change.

How better to describe my daughter’s odyssey, from high school to college to graduate school, with the Valpo baseball fundraiser constituting yet another internship in her young life?  She had contacted Santo, who provides sports memorabilia for such occasions.  He drove down to Hammond, Clare drove up, and they loaded up her trunk with all sorts of goodies.  “Do you have a blanket to protect everything?” he asked, and she did, covered in Sox logos.

“That’s alright,” the son decided.  “My dad played for the Sox one year.”  Indeed, the elder Santo had to change over to the South Side in 1973.  It’s never easy, all this change.