Saturday, March 12, 2022
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Anne, Maryanne, Rich, Jack, and Katie, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Dick Barry, Mr. Barry or Jackie and Richie's dad when I was growing up in Halesite, was a wonderful and kind man! I admired and respected him not just because he was a friend's father, but because like many of the adults I knew through my childhood friends, he also actively took it upon himself to mentor me. I can still vividly recall sitting in the Barry living room when I was 12 or 13 being amazed while he showed me how to hold a basketball with one hand and then went on to convince me that the only intelligent choice to make regarding baseball was to be a Yankees fan. He knew I favored the Mets and of course knew he was fighting an uphill battle trying to convince me to root for a team that had not been close to competing for the pennant since 1964. He knew exactly how terrible the Mets had become under Grant McDonald and did not hesitate to spell that out to me. More importantly though, he did not lecture me, but asked my opinion of the Mets and how they compared to the Yankees. He laid out the vaunted history of the Yankees, but seemed also to realize that kids do not care too much about what happened before they were born. By the time I left the Barry house that day he had recruited a new Yankee fan and a Yankee fan I have stayed even living up here in Boston with 2 sons and a wife who are Red Sox fans. God bless you all during this difficult time.
