Summer Time

Last night I was talking to a very close friend about my day; gathering with my Family of 40,000 as we celebrated the life of Summer Serrano. I was at a loss at how to explain what the day felt like; what it all meant. We all have been to memorial services and celebrations of life, yet had anyone been to something like what we experienced yesterday?

From the very beginning, it felt more like Opening Day than a day of mourning. Padre jerseys were everywhere in the parking lot. When I walked into the venue, one of the first persons I saw was a man who wears three World Series rings; naturally there long before everyone else and that’s exactly how you find success in baseball and everywhere else.

In helping Bruce ad Delia, I was inside long before the doors opened to the public; much like I did before games at The Murph and later at the Ballpark. Again, when I shared that I had to keep looking at the walls and the ceiling to remind myself of where I was, I wasn’t kidding. One family member after another poured through the doors, as it appeared they were going to have to accommodate 40,000 people.

With yet another apology to Nick Canepa, whom I still hope knows imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, I will share a few more thoughts on the Celebration of Life for Summer Serrano.

As I mentioned yesterday, we can all come up with at least 3,141 great things to say about Summer. But for the sake of brevity I’ll keep it short…

We all know and love the adrenaline that came along with Trevor Time. And coming from me, you know it means a lot when I say it pales in comparison to the love we all have during Summer Time…

Favorite personal quote of the day came when introducing my son to Tim Flannery- “You’ve been coaching him for 13 years Tim, you just didn’t know it”. Honored to introduce Trevor to a man who epitomizes all that is good about the Sacred Game…

Never thought I would cry during “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”. Started out as tears of sadness, ended with tears of joy in knowing what Summer would have thought of it…

Summer never served in the military, but the Medal of Honor Challenge Coin was a fitting tribute for Delia and Bruce. As I’ve said before and will say again and again, if baseball fandom was the military, Summer and the Madres would be Seal Team Six…

Had a brief but poignant moment of conversation with Alicia Gwynn. She and Tony are THE example of what it takes to make a success of the most Sacred form of teamwork…

Longtime Padres employee Andy Strasburg was in the house, sharing a letter from Cooperstown. Check out his stories. My favorite thing about the baseball is the storytelling aspect and for every great story you might have, Andy has at least 61 equal or maybe even better ones…

Though all the speakers of the day shared wonderfully, with laughs, tears and flat out hilarity; I don’t think anyone led the charge better than Brian Beechler. He pleaded with everyone to help get Summer honored on her birthday and it became a reality not long after the sun went down. Hey kid, you did good…

In the days leading up to Monday, I wondered if it would be poor taste to have my son Trevor wave my original Trevor Time flag when we gave Delia a standing ovation. As with many of the ideas I had for the day, I wondered what Summer would have thought of it. I can feel her smile as I write this, and I know her eyes were shedding happy tears when we all honored Delia the way we did…

Delia, Part Deux; She may have given birth to only one child, but she is Mom to hundreds of us…

Hearing Mudcat read the letter from Hoffy brought to mind past services for locally and nationally known dignitaries. I don’t feel quite the same about Summer. We all know she was a hell of a lot more important than that…

As a civilian, I’m not all that up to task on knowledge about military uniform protocol when it comes to baseball jerseys. But who else loved when Chaplain Don Biadog pulled that jersey over his uniform?...

It is often said what we call coincidence is actually God’s way of working anonymously. Summer is the Ultimate fan, Bruce is owner of Ultimate Sports Adventures. Coincidence? I think not…

Seeing Carlos, Andy, Mark and Archi from the 1998 team along with the guy who waved them home for each and every run was a reminder of how much we can accomplish together. Boys of Summer indeed…

Fan Experience Wizard Dr. Charles Steinberg hired Summer to the Pad Squad in 1995. No better place to start, in that her love for the game and everything about it is nothing short of Ruthian…

I’ve done several speaking engagements over the years and each time I came home from one I was filled with gratitude and humility for the opportunity. In the past 6 months I have done two for my Padres Family because of Summer. Greatest two speaking engagements of my life. Thank you…

No matter what I posted on Facebook, the first “like” usually came from Summer. I’m gonna miss that…

In talking with Carlos Hernandez and sharing our mutual sadness, I thought of the many friendships I’ve made with some of the most hallowed names in Padres history. I’ve never looked at it as “Hey, look at me; I know this guy or that guy.” No, it’s just a humility to have such great friends in my life. Baseball is just how we met…

I’ve long believed that the truest and purest measure of success is determined by how many lives you touch in a positive way. On that note, I’ve never been blessed to meet someone more successful than her…

Last time I saw so many Padres fans in Mission Valley, Phil Nevin had Mike Darr jr on his shoulder and Mayor Dick Murphy was boarding a helicopter bound for Downtown with home plate tucked under his arm. It may be safe to say we’ll never see such a large gathering of Friar Faithful in Mission Valley again. And that’s very fitting…