When Rave leaves the on-deck circle to hit, he draws a cross in the dirt with his spikes in the corner of the batter’s box. He steps back, touches his forehead, then his heart, and his shoulders from left to right. He glances towards the left-field foul pole, then a brief prayer, and says, “Let’s go.’
Rave, 27, does this every single game, and will do so again Sunday afternoon against the Athletics at Kauffman Stadium.
Only this time, it will be much more emotional.
You see, today is Father’s Day.
This is Rave’s first Father’s Day as a Major League baseball player.
It will also be his first Father’s Day as a major leaguer without his father.
“I can’t begin to tell you how much I miss him,’ Rave says. “I think of him every single day, every time I put on my uniform, every time I step to the plate. He meant everything to me.
“He was my biggest fan.’
Mike Rave was John’s coach growing up. He and his wife, Sue, were the ones who were always at his games growing up, from T-ball to Little League to Central Catholic High School in Bloomington, Illinois, to Illinois State. They were there, of course, when he was selected in the fifth round of the 2019 draft by the Royals.
Mike Rave, who spend his entire career as a proud insurance agent for State Farm, passed away less than a year later on Feb. 18, 2020. He was feeling ill at work, went home, fell down a flight of stairs, died from internal bleeding.
John, who had just arrived into town a night earlier for a quick visit before returning to the Royals’ complex in Surprise, Arizona, never got a chance to say good-bye.
“It still hurts, it always will,’ Rave says. “We would talk after all every game. He always believed I could make it. He always gave me that confidence. Now, not to share this with him, it hurts.’’
Rave wasn’t even sure he wanted to keep playing baseball after his father passed, and certainly wasn’t ready to immediately report to the Royals’ minor-league camp. His big brother, Matt, assured him that he needed to leave. It was natural to grieve, but he couldn’t discard his dreams.
“He didn’t want to go back right away,’ says Matt Rave, 30, a commodity broker in the Bloomington, Illinois area. “I told him, ‘You have to go play ball. That’s what you need to do. This is what Dad would want.”
Rave went back to the Royals’ camp, kept grinding through the minor leagues for seven years, and two weeks before the callup of his buddy, prized outfield prospect Jac Caglianone, got the call he waited his whole life for.
He was going to the big leagues.
The trouble was letting everyone know.
He called his wife, Amy, but the cell phone reception was so spotty she wasn’t sure what was happening.
“It was probably the weirdest call-up ever,’ says Amy. “I knew the game was starting, and I knew he wasn’t playing, but I was confused why he was calling me. I’m in the middle of nowhere and he says he’s going to Kansa City, but wasn’t sure he was going to be activated. I didn’t even know what he meant.’
He twice called his mom, Sue, but she was having lunch with friends and never picked up. She finally called back, but the service was so bad, she didn’t know what was happening until calling Amy.
“I was so excited, I couldn’t even function,’ Sue Rave says. “I left my friends, gave them money, and headed home to pack. I kept saying, ‘Oh my God, my son made it. My kid is a big-leaguer. That’s John Rave. I’m his mother. I’m the mother of a major-league baseball player.’ It’s so surreal.’
There were calls to his big brother, Matt, and his sister, Sarah, 31. The next thing they all knew, they were driving six hours to Kansas City, renting an Airbnb, sitting in a suite at Kauffman Stadium, and screaming and hugging when Rave got his first hit on a bunt against the Cincinnati Reds. Only for the call to be painfully overturned. The first hit became only a sacrifice bunt.
It wasn’t until two days later when he made sure his first hit couldn’t be overturned with a double to right field off ace Hunter Greene.
“Mike would have just been over the moon to see this,’ says Sue, who was married 23 years to Mike. “When John got called up, Mike probably would have taken out a billboard to let everyone know. It’s so sad he’s not here, but he is here. We feel him.’’
John feels his presence too, and constantly finds himself talking to him, whether it’s in the dugout, standing in the outfield, or in the batter’s box. When he hits a home run, he’ll point to the sky looking up to his dad, pump his fist, as if his Mike could feel the strength of those knuckles.
“It’s almost like a sense of calmness talking to him,’ says Rave, who’s hitting .240 with a .606 OPS as the Royals’ speedy reserve outfielder. “I know my dad’s still here. He’s watching. He’s got the best seat in the house. I know he’s there every game with me.
“And I know he always will be.’
Father’s Day, and every day.
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