Our love of baseball started with our dad. He would tell us about his playing stickball–this old fashioned version of baseball–when he grew up in New York City. He used a broomstick as a bat and a rubber ball and it was a very popular sport back in the day. The rules were the same as for baseball. It was played locally as the streets became the ball field. Johnny and I grew up loving baseball too. I have such fond memories of our dad taking us to see the Mets at the Polo Grounds as young kids … Johnny and I went to many N.Y. Mets games together at Shea Stadium and watched so many games on TV together.

For Johnny’s 60th Birthday I took him to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. We loved the museum’s collection of historic baseball artifacts, photographs, and documents. This trip was one of so many wonderful memories of my brother.

About a week before he died, we were looking forward to baseball season and going to future games together. Tragically he died of Covid, on a ventilator, on April 11, 2020. I lost my brother and best friend and I miss him everyday. I hope for Johnny’s sake and my dad’s sake they have baseball in heaven.