A Special Gift
By Eric Conklin
It was 11am when we opened gifts on Christmas Morning this year. My family took a trip to Charlotte, NC for a visit with my cousin Joe and his wife Lizzy, at their new home.
After spending time together during a tasty southern cooked breakfast, we decided to finally open gifts. It was an important gift opening time this year, since it was my baby cousin Gunnar’s first Christmas.
I opened about four boxes before I reached the all-important gift I was biting my lower lip for.
The gift was labeled as being from my father. It was wrapped perfectly – knowing that my mother had some part in it – in a box with a picture of Santa Clause sitting on a brown step-ladder reading a “Extra Good Boys & Girls” list.
I opened the box and inside was a Philadelphia Phillies jersey.
This jersey wasn’t a high-selling jersey, like that of Outfielder/First Baseman Rhys Hoskins, Pitcher Aaron Nola, or any classic players like Mike Schmidt. It was a jersey for one of my close friends Bobby Bell.
The jersey is an official Majestic jersey, with Bobby’s last name on it and the number 1 below it. This jersey was my most hoped for Christmas gift this year because I wanted a way to take Bobby to the Phillies’ games with me this season.
Bobby passed away after a two-week battle with pneumonia this past spring. He was a Boston Red Sox fan, but also loved the Phillies and enjoyed going to their games. In fact, he had been to about 100 games, I recall his brother Tommy saying.
We graduated from Holy Spirit High-School together and we both loved baseball. We went to a few games, one being Mike Trout’s return home to Citizens Bank Park in May 2014.
Ironically, I was cheating on the Phillies the day he died. It was April 29, 2017 when the Yankees played the Orioles in New York. My father and I were mislaid in the third deck on the third-base side sitting in the warm late-spring sun.
On our way back to South Jersey, we crossed the Harlem River that runs across from Yankee Stadium. I decided to check Instagram, and the most unthinkable posts appeared on my iPhone screen. Both Bobby’s sister Christa and brother John posted their farewell posts to spread the news of Bobby’s death.
I tried to hold back the tears on the bus, but I wasn’t successful. I let more out once I got in the car and called our friend Mandi to inform her of the news, and to say that I was planning on visiting him in the hospital the following day.
Then a few months before Christmas, my mom asked me what I wanted as a gift. This year the only thing I could think of was a new Phillies jersey because my Ryan Howard jersey was getting more stained is approaches its tenth birthday.
After considering asking for the jersey, I thought about the ultimate memorial, Bobby’s last name on the back of a jersey of one of his favorite major league teams.
I put in the request, and thankfully it was fulfilled.
Bobby’s jersey is a Christmas gift that doesn’t fall into just another item that could clutter a closet or may end up in a trashcan in a few years. A baseball jersey is a common Christmas gift, but this one holds a greater meaning. This gifts gave special meaning to the holidays.
Eric Conklin of Absecon is a Radio/Television/Film and Journalism student at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ.
