On a Sunday set aside to celebrate fatherhood, Braves catcher Tyler Flowers just might turn the whole theme of the day on its ear and tell you that it’s the fathers who should be grateful.
Grateful, in his case, for the healthy delivery of his fourth child, daughter Madi, on Thursday.
For Flowers was bowled over the fourth time just like he was the first. The collision with creation is nothing like the ones he might experience on a throw to the plate. “Just like the first one, it’s hard to fathom two people created this, and (hard to fathom) the instantaneous love,” he said.
Grateful for the chance to be a father. For better than two years into his marriage to Nancy the couple’s efforts to have a child produced only frustration. Doctors told them everything was working properly. They turned to the therapy of prayer. Then came Mia (now 4). Then Brantley (2). Then Beckham (1). And now Madi. It could be said they are getting the hang of this begetting thing.
And grateful in no small measure for way children have shaded his baseball life, transforming the black and white of 162 games into a healthier rainbow of experience.
No, the kids are not the reason Flowers is having the best of nine major league seasons at the age of 31 — currently hitting .331 while doing the bulk of the squatting for the Braves.
But, Flowers figures, they just might be the reason he truly is enjoying the success.
Last Monday, Flowers hit a ninth-inning, three-run homer in Washington that won the game. The next night he went 0-for-3. And back home in Woodstock, his kids loved him none the less.
“(Having children) definitely translated into more peace for myself and my wife and our relationship,” Flowers said. “Before children, I was very result-oriented. Then, once we had our first one — especially with what we went through — of course I still cared about an 0-for-4, but it didn’t ruin my day. It didn’t affect me off the field as it did before.
“It’s huge on your perspective.”
There just may be more to this life than just parenting rookie pitchers such as Sean Newcomb. Although that’s exactly what Flowers was doing Friday night, 26 hours after Madi’s birth.
If he hasn’t taken up Major League Baseball’s offer of a three-day paternity leave by now, it’s unlikely he ever will.
“I enjoy playing,” he said. “One day it’s going to be over. Hopefully it’s over when I say it’s over, but it’s very possible it’s over sooner. I kind of feel with each and every opportunity to play and have fun and help the organization win, I should be doing that.
“While it would be nice to sit at home, this is my job, too. They’re going to pay me either way. I feel I should earn that pay if it’s reasonably possible. And it is.”
Three of his four children were born during the season, and he was there for every unveiling. Arriving on an off day for the Braves, Madi was a most considerate child.
Their first, Mia, was a challenge. With her, Nancy went into labor while Flowers, then with the Chicago White Sox, was playing a night game in Baltimore. He got word back in the clubhouse and sat there helplessly, resigned to the fact there was no way back in time to witness the birth of his first child. But after teammates chipped in and got him on a private jet leaving for Chicago at 2 a.m., he successfully arrived ahead of Mia.
Playing baseball is not always agreeable with being a father. As Flowers’ family has grown, it has become increasingly cumbersome to include them on road trips. FaceTime helps keep the connection. And Flowers has found one of the benefits of catching to be all the time on the road spent studying the opposing batting order and keeping his mind off what he is missing at home.
When the Braves signed Flowers as a free agent in late 2015, bringing back the player they drafted 10 years earlier, it was a very mutually beneficial homecoming.
Everyone was back where they belonged. Flowers and Nancy met at Roswell’s Blessed Trinity High School. Fortunately, her maiden name was Fiedler and, with lockers assigned alphabetically, the two were always running into each other. Further intersections at school weren’t likely.
“We didn’t have any classes together — she’s way smarter than I am. The locker thing helped out,” Flowers said.
Even as he put in his time with the White Sox, after being traded north by the Braves in 2008, he kept his home address in Georgia. Once he signed again with the Braves, Flowers was struck by the many ways the move simplified his family life. It may even be possible to measure such a thing statistically: At home in almost a season-and-a-half with the Braves, Flowers is hitting nearly 70 points higher than in seven seasons in Chicago (.291 from .223) and his Braves OPS dwarfs that percentage with the White Sox (.816-.665).
One down side is that Flowers doesn’t get Father’s Day off — the Braves have a matinee Sunday at home against the Marlins. At least he’ll be able get back in time to take a couple of spins down the street with Mia on that scooter contraption he had modified to accommodate his 240 pounds. “It’s fun for me, too. I get to ride a kid’s toy down the hill and watch her enjoy it at the same time,” he said.
As for the boys, it’s not likely that any Father’s Day soon Flowers will be strapping them up in catcher’s armor and taking them out to the backyard to practice blocking wild pitches.
Daddies don’t let your babies grow up to be catchers. At least not in the beginning.
“If they want to catch, they can go catch later on in life. I think that’s one thing that kind of benefited me — I didn’t catch when I was a kid growing up,” said Flowers, who didn’t assume the position full-time until 2007, with the Rome Braves. “I think physically that has given me a little more longevity.”
Other lessons a baseball father may offer his children vary, of course.
In Flowers’ case, he’d like them to know that, for one, a game should not be the focus of a life.
And, like his father taught him, “Just keep the pedal to the floor, and God will steer you whatever way you’re supposed to go,” Flowers said. “All you can do is work hard in the direction you think you should be going and have fun doing it. If it’s not the way you’re supposed to go, something will steer you in another direction.”
And that, if any of them ever do research on their father’s career and discover that he served a suspension for PED use long ago while still in the Braves’ minor league system, he’ll, like any other good dad, try to transform his mistakes into a teaching moment. He figures he’ll explain that he was young and single and stupid, so consumed with making it in baseball that he lost his way for a while. So, beware of your misguided passions.
Born into an established baseball life, the Flowers children are fortunate ones. A kid’s dream, right? They may not realize it yet, but there is much for them to celebrate every day, not just the one marked Father’s Day.
Yet, it’s their father who is the lucky one.
