Baseball dreams

Roger Carlson

COSTA MESA - Does anyone not remember where they were and who was

playing when dad took them to the major league park to see their first

big league baseball game?

It’s an indelible impression that leaves a mark so deep, it’s

something that most very kid takes with him, whether he realizes it or

not.

Al Kent will never forget those days, even when as young as a

4-year-old, remembering the sights and sounds of Rocky Colavito, Al

Kaline and Norm Cash crushing the ball in Briggs Stadium in Detroit. Who

wouldn’t?

A long time later he would find himself in the same stadium, virtually

unchanged in appearance with the Toronto Blue Jays dueling the Tigers,

and like he has done in every major league park he has played in with his

mom and dad attending, Jeff Kent belted a home run.

“That home run was really Goose Bump City,” admits Jeff Kent’s dad,

who retired from the Costa Mesa Police Department a little over a year

ago after a 241/2-year career.

“I remembered the stadium, the stands, the field, the big beams in the

aisles. It was exactly the same and all these years had passed and then I

was watching my son hit a home run there.”

Clearly it was one of the great highlights for Al Kent and wife

Sherry, who have been busied of late building a home in the Temecula

area.

They’ve been so busy, it was not until after 6 o’clock Thursday

evening when he was putting some tools away that he found out about his

son’s latest honor, Most Valuable Player in the National League for the

2000 season.

That’s a long way from the days when he took his son to Fountain

Valley where he could begin baseball a year earlier than most at age 7,

and through the Little League process, into Edison High School and on to

college, then to the minors, finally to the bigs and now to the top.

“It’s an ultimate reward any baseball player will ever achieve,

besides the World Series,” said Kent. “This award is a very nice

compliment to Jeffrey. He’s always had that work ethic and I’m really

proud he’s such a team player. We’re just very happy for him. It’s icing

on the cake.”

When Al Kent heard the news he went to the television set and watched

an interview taking place as the numbers were ticked off: The San

Francisco Giants’ second baseman with a .334 batting average, 33 home

runs, 125 RBIs ...

“We saw our grandkids on television from Jeffrey’s ranch in the San

Antonio area,” continued Al Kent. “That was really neat.”

Looking back, there are still vivid memories of Jeff as a third

baseman for Edison, of All-CIF honors as a junior, of all three sons

(Jeff, 32, Eric, 25 and Adam, 22, all Edison graduates who have

their parents’ love.

“We’re really proud of all our sons,” continued Kent.

“For Jeffrey, he’s been in the majors for nine years and it’s nice

when you work hard at it long enough that rewards will come your way.

“But no, I never dreamed of anything like this (as his son’s gusto and

love for baseball materialized long before he was even a teenager).”

As do many parents looking back on Little League and the like, Al and

Sherry found the most pleasure just being in the process.

The rewards came, however, with starting status, with All-Sunset

League and All-CIF credentials, with the college offers, with the pros

beckoning, gaining a berth on a major league team, and, of course, home

runs; like the one Jeff Kent ripped in Briggs Stadium when with the Blue

Jays.

“Al Kaline was there (as an announcer) and I wanted to find him and

and tell him my story and get his autograph,” said Al Kent, whose own

sports career consisted of a couple of years in lower level football at

Loara High in Anaheim, and track and field, as a sprinter and hurdler, as

well as competing in the high jump and broad jump.

It was a vision from someone who had never really played the game of

baseball, yet found the presence of an Al Kaline in the same park while

his son circled the bases, to be an overwhelming experience.

He never got the autograph, nor has he ever got one from the legendary

announcer Vin Scully, another idol in Al Kent’s baseball psyche.

He doesn’t dwell on it, however.

There’s not much room left in Al Kent’s trophy case, considering all

the memorabilia left strewn around that belonged to the National League’s

MVP for 2000.