Father, son share love of the game
EAST BUTLER — Cody Herald wasn't born with a ball in his hand.
If he could have been, he would have been.
“From day one, his favorite toy was a ball he could hold in his hand,” said Ben Herald, Cody's father. “Even on Christmas morning, no matter what else he got ... Cody wanted to grab his ball and throw it.”
His father caught on.
Baseball has been their bond ever since.
Yeah. That's how it's been,” Ben Herald admitted. “Some fathers and sons bond through fishing or hunting. Baseball has been our bonding thing.”
Ben was a ballplayer himself. He played for the Chicora Legion team that went 19-0 in 1976 and had a recent reunion at a Butler BlueSox home game.
The BlueSox' field manager this year? Cody Herald.
“I looked up from the dugout one night and saw my dad standing in the concourse behind home plate,” Cody said. “That was so surreal to me.
“It's like we switched places. I spent so many years watching him coach. I'm here because of him. When I coach, I use everything he taught me.”
Cody's older brother, Josh, played baseball through Pony League. Their father coached Josh — who is five years older than Cody — as well.
“Cody used to tag along to the games when he was 4 or 5 years old,” his father recalled. “He'd sit in the dugout, just one of the guys.
“He loved being around the game for as long as I can remember.”
And Dad loved that about him.
He coached Cody's Little League and Pony League teams and served as an assistant coach on his East Butler Legion team.
“Dad was always harder on me than the other kids. I understood that. It's what he had to do,” Cody said. “It wasn't just about getting me to be better at baseball.
“It was about helping me to become a man.”
Ben Herald made it a point to take his son to the batting cages, hit baseballs to him and teach him the game as he felt he should learn it.
“Some coaches are bad. Cody loved baseball and I didn't want something to happen to turn him away from the game,” his father said.
“Those are such fond childhood memories for me,” Cody said. “Going on the field for practice, hitting in the cages, working on my swing, my fielding — it was always my dad.
“He spent so much time with me. He did it all for me.”
Cody Herald went on to a successful baseball career at Seton Hill University. He hit over .300 in each of his four seasons, all as a starter. He played different positions in the field and was a perennial all-conference player.His father was his harshest critic.“Any kid wants his father's approval and that's all I ever wanted,” Cody said. “I could go three for four in a game with one strikeout. He would see that as going 0-for-1 with one strikeout.“I'll admit, that was tough to deal with sometimes. But he just wanted me to be successful.”Ben Herald recalls the years of watching Cody play college baseball. He also saw him play briefly with the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League, an independent professional minor league.“I was just ... so proud,” he said, fighting off emotion. “He got to play for such a long time. When his playing days finally ended, I was so sad.“It was almost like someone died ... I would never see that again.”Ben Herald stopped playing baseball himself at age 28 when his sons showed interest in learning the game.He's never stepped away from the game. He still umpires. He coaches the Butler High School junior varsity team.And he watches his son manage the Butler BlueSox.“The biggest thing I learned from my dad is what I tell my players: You have to have a good work ethic. You have to give 100 percent.“He still gives 100 percent to me. Can I ever pay him back? ... Just make him proud. I'll always try to do that.”
