A note left by Ethan Anderson’s grandfather, Randy Long, along with a bucket full of old baseballs is warming hearts of thousands of people who have seen it online.
His grandpa left the bucket with balls at the batting cages they used to go to together, with the hope that sometime in the future, kids would get a little more use out of them. A picture of the note was sent by Anderson’s grandmother to him and he subsequently tweeted it out causing reactions from strangers everywhere.
The note
The note reads,
“Hope someone can use some of these baseballs in the batting cages. I found them cleaning my garage. I pitched them to my son and grandson for countless rounds. My son is now 46 y/o and my grandson is 23 y/o. I am 72 and what I won’t give to pitch a couple of buckets to them. They have both moved away. If you are a father cherish these times. You won’t believe how quickly they will be gone.
God bless
P.S. Give them a hug and tell them you love them every chance you get.”
Anderson is a resident of Birmingham, Alabama, which is two hours away from his grandparents in Montgomery. “I get to go back and visit every now and then, just didn’t realize that he missed hitting in the cages, I guess,” he said. They plan to go together this weekend. “He’s very excited,” Anderson laughed.
‘I’ve gotten thousands of messages:’ He said his granddad, 72-year-old Long, is “just shocked, really,” as to how far his little note has reached. “He was just trying to give away some free baseballs,” Anderson chuckled. “He doesn’t really know anything about social media really at all.”
Anderson added that when his grandfather heard that news reporters wanted an interview, “He was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy,’” Anderson said. He feels moved by how many people were impacted by his grandfather’s note, from people from the good old days to high school students.
My grandad left an old bucket of balls at the batting cages we used to go to with this note on them…. I’m not crying, you’re crying pic.twitter.com/zlQFwNq1R2
— Ethan Anderson (@TheBigE_21) September 28, 2020
“I’ve had a lot of kids younger than me telling me they’ll cherish the times they have in the cages with their dads or granddads,” he explained. “How they won’t take it for granted anymore.” He says, “I was the same way when I was younger, sometimes I didn’t really want to go to the cages but now looking back on it, it was some really good memories,” Anderson said. “I just hope everyone can kind of take away they need to cherish those moments while they have them.”
