Poppy turned 68 last Sunday.
He celebrated with a Margarita and coconut shrimp tacos at a local, beachfront restaurant with his four grandsons, who later gleefully blew out the candles atop their mother’s delicious key lime cheesecake while Poppy made a wish.
He then opened his presents, which included a crayon drawing of him playing golf and riding a standup paddleboard.
It’s now featured on the front of his refrigerator, along with other colorful artwork.
He received his favorite gift a day earlier, however, when he got to watch Hampton (10), Graham (7) and Nixon (4) play baseball.
Last Saturday served as opening day for Little Leagues throughout Atlantic and Cape May Counties. It is a special day, a reminder of how the sport can be pure and fun without shelling out thousands of dollars for monogrammed bags stuffed with $450 bats and sliding mitts and traveling to all parts of the state and beyond for tournaments.
Poppy’s day began at 10:30 a.m., when Nixon was making his tee ball debut with the Yankees. He was so excited he slept in his cleats and awoke at 6 a.m. to find his mitt. Before leaving, he begged his dad to let him wear Eye Black like his older brother.
The Yankees were playing the Dodgers in a miniature version of Aaron Judge versus Shohei Ohtani.
Nixon took the field for the first inning, dropped into a crouch, placed his glove in the dirt, and waited for a ball to come his way. The Dodgers’ leadoff batter hit a slow roller, then promptly took off for third base.
Nixon had three at-bats and enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the bases. Upon reaching home plate, he launched into a head-first slide, knocking over the tee in the process.
“I’m pretty good at tee ball,” he told Poppy after the game. “Did you see how far I hit the ball?”
Ninety minutes later, Graham took the field for the Red Sox in a machine-pitch league game.
Poppy saw him smack a line drive in his first at-bat, but unfortunately missed his next plate appearance while chasing his youngest brother Whit (20 months) around the complex.
Three innings into the game, it was time to hustle over to another field, where Hampton was playing for the Braves in the 9-10 division against a team from Middle Township.
The temperature began to dip and the wind began to swirl, but Poppy’s chills had nothing to do with the weather.
Hampton was pitching.
It took Poppy back 30 years, to when Hampton’s dad was standing on the very same mound on opening day for Cecil B. Design.
Nearly 30 years before that, it was Poppy who was making his pitching debut in the the Cape May Little League for Firemen.
Poppy put on his sunglasses although clouds covered the sky.
The next day, after cake and ice cream, the boys begged Poppy to come out to the backyard, where they grabbed bats and balls from the shed and took turns hitting while Poppy ignored the aches in his shoulder and kept throwing.
Nixon hit one onto the roof and ran inside to tell his parents. Graham smacked one over the fence into a neighbor’s yard. Hampton smoked one that still hasn’t landed yet.
Whit picked up a whiffle ball bat and ran up to Poppy. Poppy took his tiny hands and wrapped them around the bat, tossed a ball in the air and swatted it.
Whit circled the bases like he had seen his brothers do, then picked up the bat and whacked Poppy in the shin.
Where did I put those sunglasses?
David is a nationally recognized sports columnist who has covered Philadelphia and local sports for over 40 years. After 35 years with The Press, he has served as a columnist for 973ESPN.com and created his own Facebook page, Dave Weinberg Extra Points.
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