New Patch Columnist's Debut: "Baseball Brothers"

Yogi Berra once said, “In baseball, you don't know nothing.”

Perhaps.

But what I have learned about baseball is that while every pitch and play are different, there is something truly special that I do know about the national pastime, and that is the camaraderie and friendship that comes from being on a team.

Take, for example, two dads wanting to spend time with their boys playing the greatest game in the world. Dan Hoover and Jeff Chase, both former little leaguers, met for the first time after each volunteered to help coach their son's T-ball baseball team for Castro Valley Little League. 

Since that time seven years ago, Dan and Jeff have coached and managed teams together alternating roles as coach and manager.  Says Dan: “We have watched our boys, Tyler Hoover and Casey Chase, develop as baseball players and more importantly as young men.” 

“The game of baseball,” explains Hoover, “with all of it's challenges, situations and success is a micro-environment that can use to teach important life lessons.  Consistent maximum effort, team work, discipline and fun are some of the central themes we have tried to instill in each boy and team we have coached together.  It's as much of a culture as we can make it.  We have jelled so easily all these years in large part because we both shared a common mentor earlier in life: our dear friend, Oscar Miller.” 

The father figure in this baseball family of sorts, Oscar has touched thousands of lives in a positive way through teaching the game of baseball.  He has taught at every level, from small children to well-known professional baseball players. 

Dan was fortunate to have Oscar as a little league coach when he was 9, and  Jeff met Miller as a teenager playing high school baseball. “Many know Oscar and love him for his commitment to baseball, family, the community and to God,” says Hoover, “[and] I am sure there are other great men out there that you could consider a friend and mentor. There may be some equal, but none better than Oscar.” 

For Dan and Jeff to have the experience of coaching their boys, inspiring them as they were touched in their youth by Oscar Miller, and developing a lasting friendship along the way, has clearly made this a dream come true.