Big Leather Couch

OK, one of our TOOSP group sent us Paul Potts, the Opera singing mobile phone salesperson.

This next young lady, Connie we stole from my friend Gail's site Doing This For Myself. Well, as Travis says, you do not steal from friends....you borrow their ideas, and thank them for it. So, thank you Gail.

This is once again from "Britain's Got Talent"...just fantastic




THE COUCH NOTE: This is NOT a Baseball story...it is a story of love framed in a theme of baseball...BEE...you read (and watch) it now!...hehehe

Yesterday on ESPN's "Outside The Lines" show they had a Father's Day Story that we truly enjoyed. It is not a new story, in fact the story begins back in the late 1950's when Joe O'Donnell would play baseball with his son Pat and the neighborhood kids.

Joe also played baseball for semi-pro teams in the upstate New York area. Dad and son talked about going to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown one day but that day never happened when Joe passed in 1966 when Pat was 18 and about to have his first son.

Pat did not have a close relationship with his son as he got divorced and his ex and son moved a few hours away. Pat did get to visit the Hall Of Fame in 1989 and while there he left the picture you see above with this note on the back. "You were never too tired to play catch. On your days off you helped build the Little League Field. You always came to watch me play. You were a Hall Of Fame Dad. I wish I could share this moment with you. Your son Pat"

He hid it between two cases honoring WWII and it stayed there until a renovation in 1994 when the photo floated to the floor as the displays were moved and a maintenance employee gave it to Mr. Ted Spencer, who is now vice president and chief curator for the Hall.

Spencer was able to identify the uniform as one from the late 1930s or early 1940s, and the dinosaur logo helped tab Sinclair Oil as the man’s team. Realizing it wasn’t a Hall of Famer touched Spencer, who believed the story a perfect response to any baseball naysayers.

“I was overwhelmed emotionally,” Spencer said. “It didn’t take a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist to figure out what somebody had done. It was very difficult for me to read it to people because I would become emotional. I’d say, ‘You have to read this, I can’t read it.’ And then they would react the same way.”

An article authored by Steve Wulf was published in Sports Illustrated on April 4, 1994, before anyone knew anything about the picture. The article helped identify Pat O'Donnell.

There is so much more to this story and it is not about baseball...it is about a love...and the outcome for Pat O'Donnell, the son who just wanted to do something special for his dad.

Go HERE and watch the segment. It is a wonderful 10 minutes. You will not regret it.

Oh, and grab some tissues first...