ANAHEIM, Calif. – It didn’t hit Brad Ausmus until his drive to the park on Friday afternoon — up Interstate 5 from his home in San Diego — that today would be the first Mother’s Day without his mom.
But it long ago hit him that he might not be a baseball lifer if it weren’t for his mom.
“Truthfully, my mom is the reason that I got into baseball,” Ausmus said.
Linda Ausmus grew up in Brookline, Mass., a 10-minute drive from Fenway Park, and grew up a Boston baseball fan. Groomed into the game by her father – Ausmus’ grandfather – she was an avid follower dating back to the Boston Braves days.