NewsBaseball always brings Tracys together
Dad's advice is just a call away for Rangers prospect
Chad Tracy is hitting .277 with 24 home runs for Double-A Frisco. (Shawn E. Davis/MiLB.com)
By Daniel Paulling / MLB.com
08/25/09 1:58 AM ET
FRISCO, Texas -- Welcome to one of the most bittersweet days in Rockies manager Jim Tracy's life. It's March 21, and the Rockies are playing the Rangers in Spring Training. A Minor Leaguer with the Rangers' Double-A affiliate in Frisco, Chad Tracy, his son, steps to the plate with the score tied at 4 and the bases loaded in the seventh inning. Chad hits what will be a game-winning grand slam. His dad wants to cheer, but he can't. "I went to jump up," Jim says during a telephone interview. "But I grabbed the arms of the chair and quickly fired myself back down before anybody caught on. I was glad I had dark sunglasses on at the time. "That's one [memory] I have to hold onto until I see him get his first hit in the Major Leagues." Two levels of professional baseball and about 775 miles between their home fields separate the two, but Jim keeps in constant contact with his son, coaching him from hundreds of miles away while trying to manage the Rockies in their quest to make the National League playoffs. No matter what's going on with the Rockies in an intense pennant race, Jim calls after each game and asks how his son performed. Chad is hitting .277 with a career-high 24 home runs with the Frisco RoughRiders. But Chad said their conversations are more than just cursory catch-up calls. "Next thing he'll ask, 'What were the at-bats like? Did you hit the ball hard? Where'd you hit the ball? What pitches was the guy throwing?'" Chad says. "He can make little solutions based on that. He knows my vices and what makes me go bad. "He's been my hitting coach since I was a young kid. He was teaching stuff to me since Little League. He was passing advanced stuff along to me when I was 12 years old. He taught me everything I know. My dad laid the groundwork for me." If the opposing pitcher is left-handed and the ball is running away and Chad hits a popup in the infield, Dad can be a thousand miles away but still know he's pulling off the ball. "I probably talk to him five days a week and see how he's done, see how the team's doing," Jim says. "He may discuss swing thoughts with me. Am I in constant conversation with him? Yes. Does he ask me for advice? Yes." As manager of the Rockies, Jim has gone 53-26. When he took over on May 29, the Rockies were 8 1/2 games out of the National League Wild Card race. They entered Tuesday with a four-game lead. The conversation goes both ways. Chad grew up around baseball while Dad was manager of the Dodgers and the Pirates, and the two would spend hours discussing Jim's in-game moves and why he made them. "If it was a school night, I'd watch [the game] on TV and try to make guesses," Chad says. "I'd tell my mom, 'Hey, Dad's going to do this, a mound visit and bring in the righty or whatever.' And then he'd come home and we'd discuss it. 'Why'd you do this, why'd you do that?' "I wanted to learn the game and the best way to do that was ask. It helped to have a big league manager in your house." He grew up in a baseball-heavy house. That much was apparent from the Christmas presents throughout his childhood. When Chad was 8 years old, his parents bought him a red Wiffle bat and ball. A few years later, they bought him his own set of catcher's equipment. He would go into his room and, with the Wiffle bat in hand, hit. His father remembers sitting in his kitchen and listening to his son pretend to be a broadcaster to make those situations more realistic. "I'd be dragging that Wiffle bat behind me when I went to the field with my dad," Chad says. "I carried that thing everywhere." His bat-dragging habit earned Chad the nickname Bam-Bam from his dad after the character from the Flintstones. He's certainly lived up to that nickname in the Rangers' organization.Daniel Paulling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
