I felt like I should share this for those of you who have not seen it. The boys, grand kids, extended family and I, threw out the first pitch at a Jefferson High School Baseball game a few weeks ago. It was a great honor for our entire family. It was in celebration of the team's media guide being dedicated to Mom and Daddy this year. Here is the dedication I composed.
Baseball. It was
one of many common threads of the shared life experience of Tommy and Tootsie
Mercer. Born March 18th, 1948
in Charleston, the fourth of five children, Tootsie moved with her family to
Philippi , WV at an early age. A tomboy
from the start, “Toots” found a home playing Little League in Barbour County
reaching the level of All-Star. No small
feat, considering that girls were not generally welcome to play. Tootsie’s short blonde hair made it easy to
disguise her from opposing teams.
Tommy, born June
25th, 1948 was a lifelong resident of Jefferson County. Tommy and his older brother Bill played in
the Charles Town League as youths, Bill for the Yankees and Tommy for the
Giants. They spent their spring and summers playing teams from exotic locations
like Millville, Summit Point, Harpers Ferry, Berryville and Winchester. Tommy continued his baseball career as an
outfielder playing for the Panthers of Charles Town High School. Upon graduation in 1967, he hung up his
baseball cleats for the football gridiron.
At Fairmont State Tommy played college football for four years,
including playing on Fairmont’s National Championship team in 1967.
After meeting at
Fairmont State and a short courtship, Tommy and Toostie were married in May of
1971. Moving back to Charles Town, the ball field soon became a second home for the Mercers as Tommy started playing
fast pitch softball for many years as he and Toots began raising their family.
Baseball once
again became an important part of the Mercer’s lives when their oldest child,
Heather (Runion), went to play Little League for the Charles Town/Ranson
Twins. Tom Jr. was next, starting his
baseball career with the Angels of the Jefferson County Little League, followed
5 years later by the youngest Mercer, BJ, who played with the JCLL
Yankees. Tootsie and Tommy became
staples at the local ball fields for many years.
They spent countless hours at the fields and on the roads, taking their
family all over the tri-state area for league games and all-star
tournaments. Tommy, especially, was a
particularly “vocal” supporter of his sons and their teammates…just ask any
umpire or opposing coach. Eventually, he
found himself most comfortable watching games from far down the right or left
field line, depending on which dugout his team was assigned. This continued
into the boys High School careers at Jefferson. He could be found there game after game, while
Tootsie preferred the more social aspects of being in the stands where her
effervescent personality endeared her to the friends and families involved with
Jefferson Baseball through the 1990’s.
State
Championships came home with Jefferson Baseball and the Mercer boys four times.
In 1992 and 1993 with Tom Jr. and in 1998 and 1999 with BJ. Tootsie and Tommy did not miss a minute. Tommy could often be found mowing grass and
helping maintain the fields, while Tootsie kept busy helping plan tournament
trips and coordinating social events for the players and their families. Toots and Tommy made some of their most
treasured friendships with the baseball families that they spent so much time
with at JHS. The strong bonds they
forged were evidenced by the support their entire family received when Tootsie
passed away in August 2017, followed unexpectedly a few weeks later by
Tommy. Countless players and their
families visited the “Mercer Compound”, the hospital and the funeral home,
providing much comfort to the Mercer children and grandchildren.
The Yankees
legendary Yogi Berra said, “Love is the most important thing in the world, but
baseball is pretty good too.” Certainly,
Tootsie and Tommy had a lot of both in their lives…love and baseball.
