(Photo: The Wellsville baseball team with A.J. Fay on Sunday)
A column by JOHN ANDERSON
Being an assistant baseball coach in Wellsville for years and years, I’ve developed a lot of friendships with parents and past players.
There’s something special about looking in the stands on game day and seeing a graduate, knowing they were a part of one of our 16 Section V titles. Each players has a name, each player has a story.
This season, I was fortunate to take over the varsity program and on a balmy Sunday in Rochester, we had a must-win game.
We were invited to the Joe LaPietra Strike Out ALS Classic. We were playing in honor of Rollie Miles, our assistant coach for years under his brother, Dennie.
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On Saturday evening, we are playing a Class A school and losing 1-0 when the rain and lightning started. We had to get on the bus, and then come right back to Rochester on Sunday morning to finish. Thank goodness our bus driver, Dakota Silsby, also wanted to come back. Dakota and I had unfinished business with “garbage plates” at a local diner.
We picked the game up in the third inning. Suddenly, I hear a voice heckle me from the third base side.
I turn and see A.J. Fay.
He has a rare and aggressive form of Stage 4 bile duct cancer. He did the chemo, he tried a liver transplant. Nothing worked. But his desire to spend time with his family and kids worked. He fights every day and shows up for scheduled and unscheduled hospital visits with doctors shaking their heads in amazement as he fights.
On Sunday, he gathered the strength to come see us play.
I know Gates-Chili is close to his home — the kids go to Cal-Mum — but still, for a man spending so much time with family and unable to work, there he was taking in a baseball game.
A.J. was in his familiar Yankees cap. I was coaching third base, but in the moment, I forgot where I was and started walking over to say hi. He laughed and said “you have to coach third, I’ll walk over to your side.”
Let me tell you something about 2005. A.J. was a college-level hitter on our high school team, In college, he led the nation in RBI’s during one season. We had an incredibly athletic high school team in 2005 but no dominant pitcher — especially when Brady Miles went down with a broken leg. Damon Arnold was still a year away and A.J. would jokingly remind Rick Whitwood, “I’m the ace. You are 5-0 with wins against Walsh and Elim Bible Institute.”
So A.J. would take the ball and pitch. And pitch. Pitch counts weren’t a thing. Today, you can only throw so many pitches in a game and then have to wait several days to pitch again.
Not A.J. Fay.
If we scored 10, he would give up 9. If we scored 3, he would give up 2. Every game, every inning in sectionals. Up to 160 pitches in a game. He put the team on his back. He never let his team down.
As the third inning ended on Sunday, seeing A.J. hit me like a ton of bricks. Especially when he sat down unnoticed in our bleachers. I got emotional. I tried to avoid everyone. One of our seniors, Andrew Ordiway, noticed it. He saw my glassy eyes and asked what was wrong. “Man .. nothing,” I said. It was the opposite. Everything is right, AJ is here.
We took the lead and it was exciting. A.J.’s laughing because he knew every move I was going to make.
Hanging on to a one-run lead, our senior catcher, Matt Ritter comes in to close on the mound. I told Matt to look at the guy in the Yankees hat. I told him who it was and what he was fighting. Matt said “then let’s win it for him.” Matt closed the game out with strikeouts, two double plays and just 15 pitches with no runs (Tony Perkins anyone?).
Now with a 10-5 lead, the last batter of the game hit a fly ball to Paul Giovanniello in center. Game over. We usually go to the outfield to talk. Not today. Another senior, Trenton Green, made a huge metal ‘W’ necklace that goes around the neck of our player of the game.
There were a lot of heros to pick from, from Trenton’s home run to Hudson Hoffman’s double play. But Matt earned it.
We turned and asked A.J. to come out for a photo with the team. As he went around the dugout, I explained to the kids, this was our Section V MVP in 2005. A winner.
I didn’t realize after the final out, Andrew Ordiway had grabbed that final out game ball from Paul and had it in his pocket. He was the only one who knew A.J. was there (of course Greg Cook knew). Andrew presented the game ball to A.J.
I grabbed a pen and marked it up: “Game Ball, A.J. Fay,” with the date and score — exactly 21 years since I marked up his last game ball from Wellsville.
This one was a little sweeter, cause no one expected A.J. to be alive. And on June 27 at the Wellsville American Legion from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., there will be a benefit for Anthony “A.J.” Fay.
I asked A.J. if he will be there. He smiled and said only if they won’t let me leave the hospital.
As he walked away, I realized why A.J. is extending his life and experiencing more memories with his family. Hey cancer, when it comes to A.J. Fay, you don’t have a pitch count!
(John Anderson is a Wellsville Sun contributing writer and columnist. You can reach him at jandersondigitalmedia@gmail.com or visit johnandersonmedia.com)
