Meet the Fan-ily: Sully Sr.

It’s just fun to see these fans sort of rally behind him. I could be sitting next to them and they have no idea I'm his dad, but they're cheering for Sully and the Slim Reaper. And that's just really special.

The next in our series getting to better know the Ballers’ fan-ily, those people sitting in the seats next to you. Today, we talk to the real Ballers’ family, the family of the Ballers! Nine questions for nine innings, edited for clarity.

Rob is closer Connor “Sully” / “Slim Reaper” Sullivan’s father. Last night, Sully set the current-era Pioneer League record for saves in a single season. Sully Sr. talks here about the baseball family life: the origins of those nicknames, convenient disguises for the fretful parent, banning skateboards and scooters and bikes during baseball season, what is a pistol shrimp, and being a metal guy.

1) How did Connor—how did Sully—get into baseball and/or what are some of your first memories of him in baseball?

The first thing I thought of was: how could we not have put Connor in baseball? We would have had a harder time keeping him out of baseball. He wanted to play as soon as possible. 
I think I've got some historical videos of him barely being able to stand but having one of those giant plastic Bam Bam bats.

And a more serious memory—he tried out for the local travel ball team when he was 10 years old, and he didn't make the team, so they stuck him on the house league, or a regular kind of little league team. But that was actually good for him, because we sat down and said, "This is an opportunity to become a leader, to help out these other players who maybe aren’t as good or maybe just don’t have the experience you have.” And he really took that to heart, and he still is that today. He's always helping out his teammates and that kind of started on that team.

2) From where/whom did he get his athletic skill?

Well, I think it's my side of the family, the Sullivan side. My wife's side, they were more musically inclined. So if he has any musical talent, it's from that side. My dad was a pitcher at Long Beach State. My brother pitched at Cal State Northridge; he was a true freshman Opening Day starter. Myself, my shoulder, you know, overuse, from Little League, because back in my day, I think we counted pitches to see who could throw the most pitches in a game. 
I can recall pitching four innings where I was like at 130 pitches. So he didn’t get the skill from me, but what I developed into, once I saw Connor was really good, you know, this little guy can pitch—I leaned on my brother, who later became a pitching coach while being a firefighter—I studied up and I became a much better pitching coach and advisor than I ever was a player. So as far as his talent, it’s definitely from my dad's side and from my brother.

3) What kind of baseball parent are you? Yeller, stewer, nervous hand-wringer, jump-out-of-your-seat-and-suit-up? (Or something better not listed here?)

I printed out your list and I wrote, yes, all of this. I'm definitely a pacer, a stewer. I think it was about when he started playing travel ball, the family gave me a really nice camera with a telephoto lens, so I kind of became the unofficial/official team photographer. What that allowed me to do is to wander around the field and not look like a nervous parent. I could say, “I'm trying to get the shot,” and all I'm trying to do is get away from other parents or other fans and just kind of be in my own quiet space. So it literally allowed me to pace back and forth. So I’m a pacer, or if he’s on the mound, I’ll hide. I’m all of the above. Oh, and I wrote after this, the toughest thing is when you hear an opposing fan heckling him. I take it personally. 
So that's also tough. I have to sit on my hands and bite my tongue sometimes.

8) So maybe I'll jump to that, usually our eighth question. What’s one thing you wish non-family fans knew or better appreciated about being in a player’s family?

It's just how personal it feels sometimes. Especially with the Ballers, where in the stands no one knows who I am. Sully’s on the mound and nobody around me—unless I've told them or someone's a regular—they don't know that's my kid. 
And to see them cheering for him, it just makes my heart swell. They don't know him from anybody, but they're cheering for him because he's a Baller or they love his attitude or mentality or his nicknames of Sully and the Slim Reaper and the great video the Ballers have made for him. I sit back in awe, seeing these fans cheering for him, and it just really makes me feel good, but it's personal.

And then the opposite, too. There was a game at home, and there were some opposing fans there. They were saying some not some nice things about him. That’s I guess the message I want to send: that's somebody’s kid out there.

4) From the outside, we hear a lot about the sacrifices that families make for players to “pursue their dreams.” Can you tell us if that rings true to you, and if so, how?

The first thing that came to mind with that question was our favorite family summer vacation was we'd go to Pinecrest Lake and go camping there with a big group of folks. 
It was our favorite thing to look forward to. You know, lots of great memories. But as he got better in baseball, the travel ball schedule got more rigorous and that’s usually when the championships are, the end of July. So we had to stop going to our favorite vacation, and he still will even say, I miss going to Pinecrest Lake. 
So I think it's the summer vacations, missing out on a family get-together, a regular occurrence for us that we had to sacrifice.

I was talking to Kristy Colyer and she was saying something very similar, like, all of our vacations are baseball vacations now.

Yeah, and as the teams get bigger and better, the locations are going to get better. When he was at Cal, you’re going to Scottsdale and going to Las Vegas and going to Oregon. So yeah, your vacation does become, let's look at the travel schedule and make a vacation when we go there.

5) Best moments/worst moments on the baseball journey?

Yeah, that one was hard to nail down. I mean, the most recent one that stands out is Connor striking out his first batter as a professional. 
Yeah. That put a tear my eye.

He had a travel ball team that one summer made it to the Connie Mack World Series, and they only had 13 players because we weren't supposed to go, but we won a tournament last-minute and got to go. This team of 13 went up against teams of 25-man rosters, and we came in third place. We just kept winning and winning, and all of the parents were looking like, I didn't plan for this. I need to call my boss and get another day off.

And then the worst was the first time he made an All-Star team, he went out on a bike ride and crashed and gashed his calf and had to have 12 stitches and missed his first time making the All-Star team…So then we instituted that he can't ride a skateboard, he can’t ride a scooter, he can’t ride a bike during baseball season.

6) Best baseball mascot, theme, promotion, ballpark snack you’ve encountered?  

I mean obviously the best is Scrappy. You can’t beat Scrappy. Just the tongue-in-cheek of Scrappy being the possum, and people that don’t get it just don’t know the A’s.

But Connor played summer ball in Peru, Illinois for the Illinois Pistol Shrimp and their mascot was pretty good. Probably can give Scrappy a run for his money on the dance floor. 
And everyone goes, what the heck is a pistol shrimp? So a pistol shrimp has one claw that's gigantic, and the other is just the regular size of the pincher. It's called a pistol shrimp because when it snaps its claw, it literally makes like a bang, almost like you’re popping a cap on a cap gun. And his name is Southclaw Sam.

7) Anything different in supporting Sully on the Ballers compared to other teams? And I’ll add on to say that there are lots of nicknames and monikers in baseball, but the Slim Reaper is really one of the best.

Well, I have to give credit for the Slim Reaper nickname to Cal Berkeley, one of the other dads of one of the pitchers, he came up with it. And as soon as I heard it I loved it. I told it to Connor, and Connor gave me that smirk…because Connor's very quiet, a kind of introspective kid, and while he loves the competing and winning, he doesn't like the limelight being on him. I think he's grown to like the name, but I loved it right away. I'm thinking of getting a Slim Reaper tattoo in fact as my first tattoo because Connor’s got all the tattoos right now, so that might be my first.

But the difference in supporting is just seeing fans, like I said earlier, fans in the stands cheering for him that maybe don't know who he is other than what they know watching baseball. I think I have a video one time of him striking out the last batter, and then these fans jumped up and you can see these two big guys high-fiving each other. And I'm like, they have no idea anything about him! It’s just fun to see these fans sort of rally behind him. I could be sitting next to them and they have no idea I'm his dad, but they're cheering for Sully and the Slim Reaper. And that's just really special.

9) If YOU could have a walk-up song, what would it be?

Yeah. I'm a music guy. I mean, I saw Rush on their Moving Pictures tour. I saw Van Halen on the Van Halen II tour in 1979. I saw Kiss in '79. So I've always been a music guy. I'm like, you know, something hard, like a Megadeth Symphony of Destruction?
Maybe something a little more introspective, like Rush’s Entre Nous, which is about friendships and how friendships come and go, like ships passing in the night? But then I also thought, Ted Nugent's instrumental Hibernation, eighteen minutes long, just wailing on the guitar? 
But I think I'll go with Megadeath’s Symphony of Destruction, because I'm definitely more of a metal guy.

Extra, extra! One additional, late-breaking question: What are your thoughts about Sully setting the new Pioneer saves record?

First thing that comes to mind is, everytime this "kid" has what seems to me a HUGE challenge in front of him, I stress and worry...and then he handles it so seemingly effortlessly making me look foolish for even questioning his ability to rise to the challenge. Like this kid has another gear inside him that he can turn on. I'm so incredibly proud of him...