When the teams enter the field for Game 1 on Tuesday night, they will have been rivals for their whole lives.
“Quite honestly, tomorrow at 7:09 or whatever, he’s going to want to kick my (butt),” dad said Monday.
But on the eve of the game, the elder Snitker still found time to play the role of proud papa when talking about his son’s success.
“I kind of validated the fact that maybe I did something right, the way he turned out,” he said. “He’s a heck of a young man.”
And later Monday the family got together one last time before they had to go their separate ways for the start of the series.
“We talked about this last night at dinner, how we needed to just enjoy this,” Brian Snitker said. “You’re never guaranteed this. Who knows when you’re going to get back. Enjoy it and relish in it.”
And for anyone wondering, it was dear old dad who picked up the check.
Troy Snitker grew up in clubhouses and dugouts, following his father as he toiled as a minor league skipper for most of his childhood. Brian taught his son so much during that time, but as he watched him bounce around teams from Macon, Georgia, to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, it was not what he said, but what he did that served as the most important lesson.
“Just his work ethic,” the 32-year-old Snitker said. “I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve taken away from him, being able to watch him from a young age at the ballpark. He’s so consistent, hard working. He’s the same guy every day when you’re in the clubhouse with him.”
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