Pirates find special reason to play ball
Published 12:00 am Sunday, August 9, 2009
None of the Vicksburg Pirates knew Seth Harris. They never played baseball with him or against him, never went hunting with him, never even met him in passing.
The Harris family didn’t know any of the Pirates. They live in Bay Springs, almost 100 miles from Vicksburg.
Yet, over the past two months, the team and the family have formed an unusual bond. Seth Harris died on May 31 after a two-year fight with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The Pirates, a 12-year-olds’ baseball team, heard Seth’s story shortly before his death and have been playing to honor his memory ever since. At this weekend’s Governor’s Cup, they wore shirts bearing the emblem “Team Seth” rather than their usual game jerseys.
On Friday, Dawn and Chad Harris — Seth’s parents — met the Pirates for the first time. They shared tears and hugs, hung around to watch their new favorite team, and smiled as children who had been total strangers a few months ago honored their son’s memory.
“You expect it from your hometown. But kids that had never heard his name, to do that, was unexpected,” Dawn Harris said. “I tried to talk to them. The whole time I was crying. I told them to take this with them forever.”
Seth Harris was diagnosed with leukemia in July 2007. Over the next two years, the family became active in events benefiting cancer research, such as the Relay For Life and the annual Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital radio telethon.
It was through the telethon that the Pirates became connected to Seth. Lesley Grace, whose son Taylor Hollowell and stepson Marc Grace both play for the Pirates, heard Dawn Harris’ story. She relayed it to the Pirates before a tournament in Canton in May. They dedicated their performance to Seth and played better than ever before. In several years together they had never even made it to the semifinals of a tournament. This time, they won it.
“We decided we were going to play the whole tournament for him,” Pirates player Layne Tedder said.
On the same day the Pirates celebrated their first tournament victory, Seth lost his fight with leukemia. He died of complications following a bone marrow transplant, just 16 days after his 12th birthday.
Shortly after, Grace mailed a letter to Chad and Dawn Harris telling them of the Pirates’ tribute. The team said a prayer for Seth and chanted his name instead of the team’s before each game. They also signed a Pirates jersey and sent it to Seth’s parents.
“She said instead of chanting ‘Go Pirates!’ they started chanting Seth’s name,” Dawn Harris said. “She wanted it to be a comfort for us, and it was. A tremendous comfort.”
The Harrises were unable to make it to the Pirates’ next tournament, but they drove up from Bay Springs for the Governor’s Cup. Arriving just ahead of them were nearly two dozen T-shirts, left over from a Relay For Life event, that had been customized for the Pirates. Along with the “Team Seth” logo on the front and a charging buck on the back — Seth had been an avid hunter until his final days — the players’ numbers were printed on the sleeve. The team wore its normal maroon caps, finally merging the two families into one.
Dawn Harris spoke to the team before Friday’s game against the Mississippi Tigers.
“I told them there were curves, there were bumps in the road in everybody’s life. We’ve been mad at God but we know Seth’s in heaven and we’re going to see him there.”
Seeing boys Seth’s age do things he would have done had he stayed healthy has been tough, Dawn Harris added. Seth played baseball and football before he got sick. And one of the Pirates players, Sam Skipper, even bears a striking resemblance to Seth. Dawn Harris said seeing the tribute has helped ease the family’s pain, though.
“It’s been tough. But we wouldn’t trade it for anything,” she said.
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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com