On Sunday, most of the Atlanta Braves players had the names of their fathers above their lockers.
Drake Baldwin had his grandfather’s.
“Lived with him, grew up with him, he was a huge part of everything I did,” Baldwin said. “Would take me to sports games. He, my grandma and my mom were at every single game I played, whether it be football, hockey, baseball — all of it.
“I don’t know if he ever coached baseball for me. He was flag football coach back in the day. He would help out with everything.”
Baldwin, 24, grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, with his mother and grandparents. He said his father was “not really in the picture.” So Randy Baldwin, his maternal grandfather, was there for every step of Baldwin’s childhood.
Randy Baldwin was an engineer for the city of Madison. He and Drake would often have breakfast in the mornings on weekdays before Randy walked to work.
When Randy retired, he had that much more time to spend with Drake and to watch the development of his grandson as a star hockey and baseball player. Baldwin spent three seasons at Missouri State before the Braves selected him in the third round of the 2022 MLB draft.
Baldwin went into Sunday’s game hitting .287 with an OPS of .807 to go along with 19 RBIs and seven homers.
The Braves catcher and National League rookie of the year candidate was starting Sunday’s series finale against the Rockies on the bench. He said he planned on calling Randy after the game to wish him a happy Father’s Day, because Sunday morning Randy would probably still be in church.
“He was a huge part of my life,” Baldwin said. “Cool to have a day to celebrate him.”
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