I want to brag about Kerry Carpenter. His dad was one of my closest friends in the world. Ken was a great father, and both Kerry and his sister Haley were sports kids from the jump. Ken loved baseball, and Kerry has been in cleats his whole life. If he wasn't playing, they were watching Haley play softball. Ken was a fantastic baseball coach. He had a great baseball mind and did a great job of passing a lot of that on to Kerry. When Kerry was at V Tech. I went to FSU to watch him play, and Ken seemed to know what was happening before it happened.
Ken was a big, good-looking dude, and when he got sick, we all thought he would get better because he was Ken. Liver cancer had other ideas. When he passed, it was hard on all of us. Haley was utterly destroyed. It happened right before Kerry's first year as a pro. I remember going to Harrisburg to watch him play AA ball with Tork and Riley. We had lunch before the first of two games we would see, and my buddy Jimmy asked him if Tork and Green were worth their high draft picks. He looked at us and said both were the real deal. (He was right) In the second game of the two, we were there for Kerry hit one out. Deep to right field. We got so excited we had the Harrisburg fans cheering for Kerry. (Minor League Baseball is so much fun).
The next year, late in the season, he got the call, and we dropped everything to go to Detroit. It was so much fun!
Now, in the biggest moment in his young career, he gets the HR of a lifetime. Top of the ninth, two outs, two on, and he jacks one deep. Wow! What a moment.
His sister and I were texting, and we each admitted we cried. Some tears were tears of joy for Kerry, and some were tears of Sadness that her dad is not here to witness all this.
I gotta believe somehow, he is watching and loves it. Yesterday was Ken's birthday. Happy Birthday, Kenny. Go, Kerry! Go Tigers!
Ken was a big, good-looking dude, and when he got sick, we all thought he would get better because he was Ken. Liver cancer had other ideas. When he passed, it was hard on all of us. Haley was utterly destroyed. It happened right before Kerry's first year as a pro. I remember going to Harrisburg to watch him play AA ball with Tork and Riley. We had lunch before the first of two games we would see, and my buddy Jimmy asked him if Tork and Green were worth their high draft picks. He looked at us and said both were the real deal. (He was right) In the second game of the two, we were there for Kerry hit one out. Deep to right field. We got so excited we had the Harrisburg fans cheering for Kerry. (Minor League Baseball is so much fun).
The next year, late in the season, he got the call, and we dropped everything to go to Detroit. It was so much fun!
Now, in the biggest moment in his young career, he gets the HR of a lifetime. Top of the ninth, two outs, two on, and he jacks one deep. Wow! What a moment.
His sister and I were texting, and we each admitted we cried. Some tears were tears of joy for Kerry, and some were tears of Sadness that her dad is not here to witness all this.
I gotta believe somehow, he is watching and loves it. Yesterday was Ken's birthday. Happy Birthday, Kenny. Go, Kerry! Go Tigers!
