Truly Appreciative 6/25

Dear Mr. Dorsey,

There are few things that I am certain I will have with me for the entirety of my life: my faith, friends and family, and an absolute love of the Chicago Cubs and all things baseball. Thank you for sharing that passion with me many years ago.

I couldn’t have been more than five or six years old, but I still remember the day I became a Chicago Cubs fan. It was one of the many days that Jeff and I went to your house after school to stay until Mom or Dad got off work. It was a dark and stormy day and since I was afraid of storms, you had me sit on the couch with you to watch the game. Even being so young, I can still recall thinking how white the player’s uniforms were and how green the grass was compared to the dark skies out the large front window at your house. From that moment, I was hooked.

I have now spent at least 20 years of my life living and dying with the team I love. Being a Cubs fan has taught me how to be loyal and certainly how to deal with losing. It might be painful to root for this team more years than most, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

That day also turned me into a genuine baseball fan. I have spent countless hours of time watching games, reading books and articles, talking with friends and sometimes strangers, watching TV shows and movies, and who-knows-what-else baseball related over the span of my life. My favorite movie is Field of Dreams and I’m convinced that wars could be ended over a game of catch.

I hope this letter finds you and your family well. I have spent the last three and a half years living with Jeff in Nashville, Tennessee. I am a Business and Marketing Manager at The United Methodist Publishing House (Cokesbury) and spend the majority of my time out of the office volunteering as a youth advisor at church, but I find some time to play softball, ultimate Frisbee, and attend Vanderbilt basketball games.

Your gesture that day was one made out of kindness and comfort, but it has changed my life forever. Thank you, many, many times over. Go Cubs!

Truly appreciative,



Brian J. Moles

"Baseball will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen,
give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set.
Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us."
–Walt Whitman

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Mr. Dorsey is a Presbyterian pastor who I have known my whole life. We spent many, many days at his house playing with his two daughters when we were children. Needless to say, him and his family had a huge effect on my childhood.