web1_Venesky-1.jpg

Outdoors with Tom Venesky: A murky future for the Delaware River

web1_The-Heirs.jpg

On the Books: ‘The Heirs’ not overly dramatic, but filled with charm, humor

<p>MOOSIC &#8212; Matt Wotherspoon probably couldn&#8217;t have given his father, Matt, a better Father&#8217;s Day present.</p><p>The 25-year-old Crestwood grad is back at home &#8212; it&#8217;s every parent&#8217;s dream.</p><p> The reliever was recently promoted from Double-A Trenton to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Wotherspoon has already pitched with the New York Yankees&#8217; Triple-A affiliate twice this season, and sports a 1.93 ERA in 4.2 innings pitched.</p><p>&#8220;I know my folks are happy to have me back and it&#8217;s exciting for them. I think they enjoy having me around,&#8221; Wotherspoon said. &#8220;It&#8217;s good to be back home and sleeping in your own bed.&#8221;</p><p>Though Wotherspoon will miss most of Father&#8217;s Day &#8212; he&#8217;ll be finishing up a four-game series in Buffalo on Sunday &#8212; the elder Wotherspoon is just happy to see his son moving up the ranks again after starting the season with the Thunder.</p><p>&#8220;To have him home especially with his family and, more importantly, on Father&#8217;s Day, I hate to use that coin phrase &#8216;it&#8217;s priceless,&#8217; but it really is,&#8221; the senior Wotherspoon said. &#8220;It&#8217;s one of those things were most young people are well on there way to their careers and they&#8217;re long gone and he&#8217;s in a very unique situation.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s on his way to his career, which obviously could end any day. But by good fortune it brought him back home again, which is a positive thing for the family because the last seven years we&#8217;ve seen very little of him between Pitt and three prior years of pro ball.&#8221;</p><p>Finding the perfect gift for dad can be difficult. But Wotherspoon came pretty close last year. In a 1-0 game on June 19, Wotherspoon entered in the top of the ninth inning to close the game out.</p><p>After giving up a lead-off single to Gwinnett&#8217;s Ozzie Albies, Wotherspoon retired the side, including striking out Anthony Recker to record the final out for his first Triple-A save.</p><p>And the Crestwood grad knew exactly what to do with the game ball.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s right on my dresser to this day,&#8221; the proud father said. &#8220;It meant everything because of that bond and because he&#8217;s my son. He couldn&#8217;t have bought me a Maserati and given it to me that had more significance than that one baseball.&#8221;</p><p>The bond between the RailRiders reliever and his dad has always been strong. The two fish, hunt and golf together.</p><p>Although finding time to golf is tough with younger Wotherspoon&#8217;s schedule. But now that he&#8217;s back in town, Wotherspoon hopes he and his dad will be able to hit the links much more frequently.</p><p>As a youngster, the right-hander would go up to St. Jude Parish, in Mountain Top, with his dad to take grounders &#8220;for hours.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I always loved the game, but he was always kind of like (there for me),&#8221; the reliever said. &#8220;He&#8217;d get home from work and whether I wanted to go and play catch or go take ground balls, whether he had a long day at work or whatever, he was always, &#8216;Yeah, sure. Let&#8217;s go.&#8217; He was never like, &#8216;Oh, I&#8217;m tired today.&#8217; It was always, &#8216;Let&#8217;s go.&#8217; &#8221;</p><p>As Wotherspoon began showing sparks of potential as a teenager, it was the lessons off the field that became the focus for his dad.</p><p>&#8220;Baseball&#8217;s going to end sooner or later,&#8221; the father of two said. &#8220;I told him one thing, even when he was a high school quarterback and etc., I said, &#8216;Look, people aren&#8217;t going to remember that you can throw a baseball five years from now. They&#8217;re going to remember one of two things, either you were a credit to your family, school, your church or your community or you were a knucklehead, and that&#8217;s all they&#8217;re going to remember.&#8217;</p><p>&#8220;We basically took a very simplistic approach to things. We didn&#8217;t get to philosophical with him, laid it out in black and white.&#8221;</p><p>As the reliever has moved throughout the Yankees farm system the last few years, the elder Wotherspoon&#8217;s message to his son has always remained the same.</p><p>&#8220;Whether he&#8217;s been moved up, down or in between, I just tell him that the only thing he can control is what he does on the mound,&#8221; the elder Wotherspoon said. &#8220;Those are all management decisions made by the organization, which he has no control over. I just tell him, &#8216;Work hard every day, get your work done because that&#8217;s the only thing you can control. Period.&#8217; &#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TTL061517Wotherspoon3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Appearing in Thursday night's game against the Rochester Red Wings, Crestwood grad Matt Wotherspoon was able to pitch in front of his family for the first time at PNC Field this season. Aimee Dilger file photo | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TTL061517Wotherspoon3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Appearing in Thursday night's game against the Rochester Red Wings, Crestwood grad Matt Wotherspoon was able to pitch in front of his family for the first time at PNC Field this season. Aimee Dilger file photo | Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TTL061517Wotherspoon4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">When he was with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders last season, Crestwood grad Matt Wotherspoon gave his dad the game ball after securing the save on Father's Day. Aimee Dilger file photo | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TTL061517Wotherspoon4.jpg</photo1><caption1>When he was with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders last season, Crestwood grad Matt Wotherspoon gave his dad the game ball after securing the save on Father's Day. Aimee Dilger file photo | Times Leader</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_BMT_MTOP_ALL_STAR_2.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">The elder Matt Wotherspoon said his son Matt, left, showed potential in baseball when he was 14 or 15 years old. Charlotte Bartizek file photo | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_BMT_MTOP_ALL_STAR_2.jpeg</photo2><caption2>The elder Matt Wotherspoon said his son Matt, left, showed potential in baseball when he was 14 or 15 years old. Charlotte Bartizek file photo | For Times Leader</caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_Matt-Wotherspoon2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">When he's not at the baseball field, Crestwood grad Matt Wotherspoon and his dad bond over hunting, fishing and golfing. Submitted photo</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_Matt-Wotherspoon2.jpg</photo3><caption3>When he's not at the baseball field, Crestwood grad Matt Wotherspoon and his dad bond over hunting, fishing and golfing. Submitted photo</caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_Matt-Wotherspoon201761516415371.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The Wotherspoon family hasn't seen Matt much these last seven years, due to his tenure at Pitt and the start of his professional baseball career, but they are happy to have him home for Father's Day, especially his dad. Submitted photo</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_Matt-Wotherspoon201761516415371.jpg</photo4><caption4>The Wotherspoon family hasn't seen Matt much these last seven years, due to his tenure at Pitt and the start of his professional baseball career, but they are happy to have him home for Father's Day, especially his dad. Submitted photo</caption4><photoCredit4></photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Wotherspoon&#8217;s return to RailRiders a gift for dad</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

web1_Matt-Wotherspoon201761516415371.jpg

web1_TTL061517Wotherspoon3.jpg

web1_TTL061517Wotherspoon4.jpg

web1_BMT_MTOP_ALL_STAR_2.jpeg

web1_Matt-Wotherspoon2.jpg

Matt Wotherspoon’s SWB RailRiders return a perfect gift for dad