Help Wanted

That softball convention really motivated my daughter, but not in the way you might think.  She called yesterday to say that she had in fact applied for a job…with the Dodgers in player development.  “I won’t get it,” she reassured her slightly surprised father.  “But if I can do a phone interview, that would look good on my résumé.”  This is what I get for railing against the status of women in professional sports, a budding GM.

And you can be assured my wife blames me, too.  If only to pass the buck, I’m fingering Luke Appling.  I met him at a memorabilia show back in October of 1989, two years and a month before Clare was born.  Appling was signed by what must have been the first-ever husband-and-wife scouting team of Roy and Bessie Largent.  Mrs. Largent is credited with making the call to the Sox urging them to sign Appling.  Some of Mrs. Largent could have rubbed off on Appling, who passed it onto me.

And when I held my child for the first time on November 20, 1991, the connection was complete.