Story still finds dad's early advice useful

DENVER -- The roots of everything you see from Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, batting or fielding, came from the words of his father.

Ken Story, an Irving (Texas) Fire Department firefighter who retired last year, coached him during his youth with the quiet intensity that happens to be a trait of the Story men.

“He’s not very outspoken,” Story said. “He’s very intense, though. That’s how I am. You can’t really tell on the outside, but when you get him mad, he gets pretty fired up.

“I definitely miss those times with him.”

Ken Story, however, did the responsible and advisable thing and let others do the coaching once his son reached high school and travel ball.

But even with the roar of the crowd, and all the knowledge and experience he has accumulated, Trevor Story says his dad’s voice comes through at certain times.

“I remember him teaching me about always being aware and anticipating what’s coming next -- that and balance,” Story said. “He always said to stay balanced wherever you are, on defense or offense. I can make tough plays defensively just by practicing staying balanced.

“It’s a reminder. If I was hitting or was off balance a little bit, he was like, ‘Just stay balanced.’ It was one of those little things to get me back to where I need to be. I hear it in the box sometimes, for sure.”

Story talked about his father on Thursday. He had been in a slump until his second at-bat against the Padres on Thursday night. Then, even on a pitch from Padres lefty Matt Strahm that forced him to go the other way, Story stayed balanced and scorched a two-run homer over the right-field wall in a 9-6 Rockies victory

During Father’s Day games, for the fourth consecutive year, players wore specially designed New Era caps to raise awareness and funds for the fight against prostate cancer. Players also had the option to wear Stance multi-pattern blue-dyed socks. MLB will again donate 100% of its royalties from the sales of specialty caps and apparel emblazoned with the symbolic blue ribbon -- a minimum $300,000 collective donation -- to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer.

This effort also includes the annual Prostate Cancer Foundation “Home Run Challenge,” which has given fans the chance to make a one-time monetary donation or pledge for every home run hit by their favorite MLB Clubs during the time period of Saturday, June 1 through Father’s Day, Sunday, June 16, all the while tracking where their team stacks up in a “Team vs. Team” competition. Every dollar donated through the Home Run Challenge goes to PCF to fund critical research to defeat prostate cancer. As of June 13, more than $1.26 million has been pledged via the Home Run Challenge in 2019. Since inception, the Home Run Challenge has raised more than $51 million for PCF, the world’s leading philanthropic organization funding and accelerating prostate cancer research.

Founded in 1993, Prostate Cancer Foundation has funded nearly $800 million of cutting-edge research by 2,200 scientists at 220 leading cancer centers in 22 countries around the world. Because of PCF’s commitment to ending death and suffering from prostate cancer, the death rate is down more than 52 percent and 1.5 million men are alive today as a result. PCF research now impacts 67 forms of human cancer by focusing on immunotherapy, the microbiome, and food as medicine. Learn more at pcf.org.