Hold the Bat Level

My grandfather, Dino Bartoli is in hospice care in Florida at the age of 90. I spoke to him on Friday night and again on Saturday morning. He played baseball for Shickshinny in the Pennsylvania minor leagues in the late '30s. He won the MVP for hitting .368 one year. He received a $5 check from Chick's Auto Service, one of the team's sponsors. He loves baseball and the Orioles. He watched every game the Orioles played on TV for decades. He taught me how to hit a baseball. "Hold the bat level, hit line drives." When I spoke to him, he told me to call his two brothers, Sergio and Renato, both deceased. I tried to talk to him about baseball. "Have you seen the Orioles play?" I asked. "Nah," he said. He was confused for most of the conversation until I said, "Do you remember Earl Weaver?" He said, "Oh not him. Don't send him here." He remembered Weaver ferociously arguing calls with umpires. Ever since I made that call, the Orioles have been winning games. I found his 1932 Shickshinny School football picture by searching on his name. He's in the upper right corner with a bandage on his hand. I was named after him.