CLEVELAND – Guardian assistant Eli Morgan has released his cell phone, eager to show off one of his most iconic photographs.
“I am with you. It’s as good as it gets, “Morgan said, getting the picture soon.” Dodger’s first game. “
His father, Dave, catches him at a baseball stadium in Los Angeles.
The idea of Eli’s age at one year went too far.
“No,” Morgan said. “Six months, eight. It started small. “
“This” was Morgan’s love for baseball, as well as the bond he shared with his father during the game.
How the Guardian youth wins:Nerf basketball, loose clubhouse, strong relationships: How the Guardian clutch grows
Closer Makes All-Star Case:As the Guardian quarrels, Emmanuel Clase makes good on the money the team has made over a long period of time
Eli and Dave did not play strings every day. Dave did not win in all of Eli’s games. Until Eli was nearly 10 years old, Dave Morgan worked for the Los Angeles Times, from 1985 and left in early 2006. He was hired as a journalist and moved to assistant sports editor, night sports editor, and SE follower.
Then it became the main editor of Yahoo! Sports, then headed to USA TODAY as vice president for the content of his sports team. Dave Morgan is now the sports director at Sinclair Broadcasting Group, running the content of Bally Sports regional networks, including Bally Sports Great Lakes, which airs Guardian games.
With all his links in the industry, Dave knows only three other journalists – LA Times baseball writer Ross Newhan, Times editor editor Fernando Dominguez and John Marvel, who work for ESPN, NFL Media, Golf Digest stocks and now own Backstage Media – whose children participated in the larger groups.
David Newhan, a second / second player, was signed by Oakland A’s in 1995 and played eight years for five teams, three with the Baltimore Orioles. Matt Dominguez, the third player to score in the first division with the Florida Marlins in 2007, played five, three years with the Houston Astros. James Marvel coached the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019 and is now part of the Philadelphia Phillies.
“It’s very rare,” Dave said.
Eli Morgan did not do well because his father introduced him to professional athletes, although he admitted that his father’s work may have made him more interested in baseball.
“I met my friends on TV, in the press box, which was great, and I saw everyone writing and scratching their paper,” Eli told the Beacon Journal on June 27. “You see him chatting with everyone, a man of the time. team. “
Eli Morgan’s father, Dave, was ‘returning’ twelve journalists when Angels won the 2002 World Series.
Eli was 6 years old when Angelo won the World Series in 2002, but his father “brought back” more than a dozen LA Times reporters per game.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Let’s take my 6-year-old son to the World Series,'” Dave said in a telephone interview on June 29. “He was watching a game at home. He hears me talking about it and sees the newspaper. He wasn’t in the middle of it per se, but he knew that’s why I’m not home tonight and I know he followed it.
“I know it helped him as an Angel.”
When it comes to professional sports, Eli said he could see two or five times a year.
When asked if this was the case with him, Eli replied: “I am convinced that it does not hurt him. It made me really like baseball. I have to go see the level of professionalism. The little league was fun, but there’s nothing like going to the ballpark, especially with your dad.
“He always had tickets or a combination of Dodger games or games of Angels, Lakers, Clippers, which was a lot of fun. We had to go to the Rose Bowl. I was always a baseball player, but football did not work for me. “Just going to the Dodgers and Angels games was fun.”
Triston McKenzie for his excellent performance:‘Hear My Presence’: Guardian ‘Triston McKenzie attacks the Yankees, changes events at home
Larry Doby honored:Officials unveil mural “barriers” to celebrate Larry Doby’s 75th anniversary
Dave can understand what Eli meant by loving baseball on those special days.
“He loves what he loves, baseball and golf. To make Eli love baseball, it just happened, there was no motivation,” Dave said. “Even when he was a child, he was influenced by himself. I did not have to tell him, ‘We have to get tested.’ He wanted to. If he says he wants to throw it away, I always say, ‘Of course.’ ”
Dave said he trained Eli until he was 11 years old; he spent a long time with Eli’s sister, Briana, who played softball in high school. Their mother, Diana, was present at all of their games, and Dave said he took pictures and kept memories as he went to the Library of Congress. Dave came as far as he could, but he did not want Eli to miss the race to go to Dodger Stadium.
Eli Morgan’s assistant coaches were coached by two senior players at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School
In addition, Eli is trained by experts, including Michael and Ramon Garciaparra, his brother and six-year-old All-Star father and two-time champion Nomar Garciaparra.
“Instead,” says Dave, “I left those who taught him things that I could not think of. “His first club coach played big games. He played Michael and Ramon Garciaparra later. Brian Bowles, his high school coach played great games. Don Slaught was one of the coaches because that was the high school he went to.
“As a young and senior Eli in high school, he had former senior players as his coach and former senior player at Don Slaught as a striking and active coach.”
After graduating from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, Eli spent three years at Gonzaga University.
“They were in wonderful hands,” Dave says of Eli.
Eli was drafted by the Guardian in the eighth round of the pre-season season of 2017. After a stint at Triple-A Columbus in 2021, he scored 18 for the Guardian, going 5-7 and 5.34 ERA. This season Eli was transformed into a supporting role, his flexibility which is used to make several innings or sometimes as the founder of Emmanuel Clase. This means they stay longer if Dave wants to see Eli pitch as he travels around the country to the cities where Bally Sports has offices and routes.
Dave knows there is no certainty when Eli will be called out of the barn. Eli did not appear in the four-game series against the Angels in April.
Eli Morgan won Father’s Day at the first appearance in Los Angeles
In a three-game series in LA against the Dodgers June 17-19, Dave did not see Eli take the hill until Father’s Day. The Guardian won, 5-3, to win the series 2-1 and Eli hit three in 1 innings to win.
“As if we didn’t have enough week, he came to LA for the first time,” Dave said. “He enters Father’s Day, he wins. We get home and he gives me a Father’s Day gift.
It was what Dave described as a baseball card – similar to a shadow box, probably 16 and 24 with five shelves inside – to hang on the wall.
I have a custom Father’s Day card, with a picture of Dave carrying baby Eli at Dodger Stadium.
I had not seen this picture for 25 years. It stopped me in my tracks, “Dave said.” I took a picture of the picture and sent it to him.
After explaining how Eli phoned in a short time, Dave appreciated what his son meant.
As Eli said, “It is as good as dead.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.
Recent Comments