An FSU Mother’s Perspective: Life as a Baseball Mom

They’re often seen at the baseball stadium wearing caps, but they’re not players. They make plenty of sacrifices, but that has nothing to do with moving a runner into scoring position with a bunt or getting him home from third with a fly ball. They’re largely responsible for the players’ successes, but they’re not coaches either.

Instead, their role is much more important. They’re moms.

The final home game of Florida State’s 2017 season takes place on Mother’s Day against Wake Forest. A number of moms will likely be at Dick Howser Stadium on Sunday, including a decent number who raised the young men that the people in attendance are paying to watch. So what goes into being a baseball mom? The short answer is a lot.

“Little League, travel ball, high school, college ball with two boys was a hard job,” said June Busby, mother of FSU junior infielder and home run leader, Dylan Busby. “Any mom who has two boys, who both played baseball for 20 years knows that’s a lot of playing ball in the yard or street, ball games, uniforms, concession duty, Band-Aids, heating pads, bats, cleats, batting gloves, helmets, dinners out, hotels, not to mention one car had 100,000 miles in a matter of five years and my current car has over 80,000 miles in three years. That’s a lot of money spent on tires, windshield wipers, gas and oil changes.”

As Busby noted, being a baseball mom is very involved. Youngsters serious about the sport are playing essentially all year long in some way. Mothers have to balance that along with the rigors of daily life, such as work, keeping a clean house and the bills paid. Finding a way to get all of it done is neither easy nor cheap.

Renee Daughtry, mother of FSU freshman utility man Tyler Daughtry and a softball player named Hailey, said she and her husband both had decent jobs, but still sometimes lived paycheck-to-paycheck to provide her children everything they needed to pursue their hobbies.

Renee and Tyler Daughtry (Photo provided)

“This life is definitely not for everyone,” Daughtry said. “Our life has pretty much been consumed by baseball and softball for the past 14 years. To be honest, it’s not easy balancing the day-to-day stuff. I can recall many times getting home at 2 a.m. on a Monday morning after an exhausting travel ball tournament and having to get the kids ready for school, make lunches, go to work, come home, clean a little each night because you also have to take the kids to practices, hitting lessons, or pitching lessons almost every evening. You lose a lot of rest and other things tend to suffer. For me, it was laundry and house work. As long as I found time to scrub and bleach the white baseball pants and keep the uniforms clean, everything else got done when I could get to it.”

For mothers of ballplayers, life can be constantly on the go. On top of balancing all the things many other families take for granted or having leisure time, another challenge can be keeping siblings happy. Finding time for everything and everyone is not easy. Even things like family vacations tend to be baseball trips.

“From the age he was playing t-ball when he was like three to the time he was playing travel ball at like nine or 10, it sort of took over our lives, but we enjoyed it,” said Ana Byrd, mother of senior pitcher Alec Byrd and his sister, Angelica. “Our family vacations were Cooperstown when he was 11…Cal Ripken at Myrtle Beach when he was 13, there was a Disney Salute to Baseball; there was a tournament he did in New Mexico. Even in the college years, we did Cape Cod his freshman year because that’s where he was; we did Kalamazoo, Michigan, where I never thought I would go, his sophomore year.”

Alec Byrd, age 9. (Photo provided)

Through those years, Byrd and her husband made friends with other baseball parents, which sometimes included parents from opposing teams. At the ballpark, she recalls keeping score and later compiling stats. When games weren’t going on, she recalls helping host fundraisers for the team. In some ways, it’s no different today.

“Even at this level, we don’t always see each other that often, but the pitchers’ moms, we text to congratulate or commiserate,” Byrd said.
“We still bond. I’m always talking to Krist Voyles (mother of brothers Ed and Jim) or Ivonne Zirzow (Will’s mother). We’ll all share that special place in heaven where we’ve shared their highs and lows.”

When Tyler Daughtry went down with a season-ending knee injury last month, Renee Daughtry said the other team moms served as her support system.

“This FSU baseball team has a phenomenal group of moms,” she said. “They support their sons so much, but they also support each other’s sons. And coming in as a freshman mom, I was clueless. But very early on, Taylor Wall’s mom, Michelle and Krist Voyles helped me out so much. And several moms have been there for me during Tyler’s injury. Michelle Walls is a constant support system for me. With this team, it’s not all about your own son; these moms care about all of our boys.”

The trials and tribulations are something the mothers experience not just with each other, but with the players they drove to the ballpark as little boys. When one is hitting or pitching well, they get to experience the joy. When they have a bad night at the plate, on the mound or in the field, they feel that also.

When their son is frustrated or in a slump, they know about it. When one is fighting through a nagging injury, they know about that too. When one of their names appears in a certain FSU publication’s “Duds of the Game”, they know about that as well.

“I know I’m his biggest cheerleader,” Busby said. “I go to bed every night and check the stats after the games, wake up and check them again, just to make sure I read them correctly, read all of the articles at least twice, watch reruns of the prior days game at the gym while I’m on the bike or the treadmill; I try to get to every game I possibly can, text him sometimes before the game and after the game.”

The mothers said the time and effort put in all the years wasn’t for the individual accolades or to push their children toward scholarships. They did it, because their children enjoyed it.

“As he got older, the natural ability along with his incredible dedication and drive helped him develop into an extraordinary player,” Daughtry said of her son, who grew up dreaming of playing for FSU. “Just about every day from the age of nine or 10, he would beg us to go out and hit him ground balls, or pitch to him in the cages. Since about fourth grade, I don’t ever recall him going more than two days without wanting practice and work on his game. And I probably knew from the time he was in middle school that he had the talent to play at a major (Division) I school, so that was always in the back of our minds, but we also didn’t want him to stress about it and wanted him to enjoy playing.”

Byrd said Alec’s potential to play at a high level became evident to her when he was in high school. He was told by his cousin not to attend St. Thomas Aquinas High School, because it was too competitive, she said. The left-handed Byrd was told that he would be a high school junior before the varsity coach knew his name. Alec didn’t listen and wound up making the varsity team as a freshman. Before long, scouts started to show up.

Dylan, Dalton and June Busby (Photo provided)

Dylan Busby was fortunate enough to have an older brother, Dalton, who went on to play junior college baseball. His mother said Dylan always took pride in hitting the ball a long way. While his older brother would play games growing up, Dylan would walk over to an empty field with a bat and a bucket of balls.

“Dylan would run back over yelling,’I hit a home run, I hit it over the fence’,” Busby said. “He was always so excited and determined to hit the ball over the fence. He was three years younger than the kids and he was obviously smaller and hit a home run before most of the older kids.”

Putting in the effort has been expensive, time-consuming and at the expense of getting adequate rest. Though the task of being a baseball mom has not come easy, all three say it has been worth the effort they put in.

“It’s a wonderful experience,” Byrd said. “It’s the biggest thrill. It’s more exciting than a ride at an amusement park. It can be scarier than a horror movie. You really can’t believe it the first time you see them on TV or in the newspaper. It’s like that t-shirt that says, ‘who’s your favorite player? I raised mine’; that’s completely true. You’re always trying to preach academics too, because you don’t want that to be their total balance.”

“I always told Tyler if he ever wanted a break to just say the word,” Daughtry said. “I never wanted to force him to play or push him for our own egos. As it turned out, he pushed himself because he loved the game so much. My piece of advice would be to make all the sacrifices you can if your son or daughter wants to pursue their dream to play at the collegiate level or even in the pros. Whether it’s crazy amounts of time or money or hours in the car, make those sacrifices for your kids if you are able to. You may not think they appreciate it at the time but when they get older, they will understand and realize all you did for them. And whatever you do, don’t blink, because they go from running the bases backwards in t-ball to donning a Florida State uniform in the blink of an eye.”

Busby still recalls Dylan carrying a bat that was taller than him and too heavy to hold, but finding a way to knock a ball off a tee and run to his mailbox, which served as first base. In being able to devote so much time with her sons and baseball, Busby said she was fortunate enough to have a good employer when her sons were younger and isn’t sure how often she would be able to make trips from Sarasota to Tallahassee now had she not started her own business. For the games she’s unable to make, she has to rely on apps like WatchESPN and radio broadcasts.

“It is very relaxing to watch Dylan play and not have to rush home and scrub pants and wash cleats and cook dinner and manage a household,” she said. “For the past three years, my job was to support Dylan and simply drive five hours up on Friday, watch a couple games, run to the grocery store a couple times and drive five hours back on Sunday and unpack my car. I am very thankful for everyone and the opportunities Dylan has received and his hard work and accomplishments over the past three years. I am one very proud mom.”

Dylan Busby will likely have a decision to make after the season on whether to go pro or return for a senior season. Though things can change with a strong finish or a NCAA Tournament regional upset in another bracket, Sunday’s tilt with the Demon Deacons is likely to be Alec Byrd’s last at Dick Howser Stadium as he is one of six seniors for the Seminoles. For players, that final home game is always tough; for the mothers, the same is true. Byrd’s last home game just happens to fall on Mother’s Day.

“It’s going to be really bittersweet like all beginnings and endings are,” Ana Byrd said. “We’ve made friends in that stadium — strangers that when they realize you’re a player’s parent, they suffer with you. I made one woman a Seminole spoon necklace. I made it because it’s probably the last time I’ll ever see her. The fans there are just incredible. They’re so hospitable and they cheer your boys on. When you’re not there, you know these people are cheering them on for you. I know ‘Ms. Sarah’ is there cheering on Alec and she says ‘I’ll never let anyone say anything bad about him’. It’s hard to leave all the nice people we’ve met up there.”

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson