I can still remember the first time John Frates said a line that stuck with me forever. I interviewed him on the ramp at the parking garage at Shea Field. It was cold because it was always cold over there, and we were among a great crowd tailgating up for a doubleheader.
I felt pretty lucky at all about stealing a couple of minutes of his time with the circus atmosphere around us, so I wanted to start the interview with a genuine ask of his son Pete's condition. Pete was well into his battle against ALS by then, and it felt like the family had some other wrinkle impacting his condition.