“Well, I tried. But I struck out.”

Poor Gary. He’d just made a trip to the local Christmas store in search of a very specific ornament, but came home empty-handed.

We’d already found a squirrel ornament for Dad. And a bear for cousin Beth. But the ornament for Beth’s dad, Uncle Bill, wasn’t as easy.

Bill loves, loves, loves baseball. And the New York Yankees.

Especially his Yankees.

When you live in New York or New England, you’ve got choices to make. In my family, it was the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox. Uncle Bill (married to Mom’s sister, Bunny) is all about the Yankees. Dad’s sister Janet was a rabid Red Sox fan (my brother Harry’s son, Andy, carries on that tradition).

Uncle Bill has had a rough year. He’s had to move into a rehabilitation facility following a fall. We’ve gone to visit him every time Gary and I make it to Connecticut. Bill regales us with stories about his baseball-playing days – first in the Navy and then as a banker.

Anyone who knows me realizes I’m not the least bit literate when it comes to sports. Neither is Gary, come to think of it. But we managed to come up with a question for Bill.

“Did you know Don Mattingly is from near where we live?”

Oh, Donnie’s my boy!

Bill’s grin said it all. When we told him our grandson, Cameron, played in a Mattingly Charities league in Evansville, I promised to send a photo.

When Gary and I returned home from Connecticut last week, he was determined to find a Yankees ornament for Uncle Bill’s tabletop Christmas tree.

Upon return from the store, though, he sadly admitted, “I struck out.” (He was quite proud of his little play on words, though.)

Gary told me that after searching for the ornament in the huge store, he asked for help (this is second only to asking for directions on his “I’d rather not” scale).

The clerk searched the computerized inventory system and announced happily that they carried four different Yankee ornaments. Off they went to find them.

Alas, other fans had already grabbed them up.

Oh, wait! Here’s a Red Sox ornament – will that work?

Holy cow, what a suggestion! That’s nothing short of baseball treason! Gary thanked the clerk and headed for home.

Happily, Amazon came through for us. Beth promises to present this to her dad over the weekend.

Merry Christmas to Uncle Bill, who also told us about his unlikely friendship with Sister Uephemia from New Haven’s Saint Mary Academy. Apparently wearing cleats on polished wood floors broke at least three commandments. But that’s a story for another day.

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