We’ll always have baseball.

There’s a great — and long-since viral — video of a young family parked in the upper reaches behind home plate at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia as the hometown Phillies take on the Washington Nationals during the 2009 MLB season. After Nationals slugger Jayson Werth fouls off a pitch high into the stands, the young father reaches over the railing and hauls in the foul ball — his first since he started coming to the ballpark to cheer on the Phillies at age three.

After turning around and fist-bumping a couple of his fellow fans, he high-fives his young daughter, places the ball in her outstretched hand, and then watches in shock as the three-year-old promptly turns and hurls the baseball over the railing and into the crowd below.

Dad’s brief moment of shock quickly gives way as he wraps his little girl in a hug, and that snapshot in time — thanks to the screen capture from the popular video — remains an endearing moment even for those who aren’t baseball fans. It’s a moment the young family can look back on as the kids head off in their own directions, it’s a moment most can relate to, and, on the eve of Father’s Day, it’s why MLB is getting such a great response from its #MLBThanksDad social-media photo campaign.

Most big-leaguers have their own stories. For Canadian catcher Russell Martin, the Ontario-born ballplayer who guards home plate for the Pittsburgh Pirates, his is unique and fairly well-known. His dad, Russell Sr., helped pay for Russell Jr.’s baseball training by playing saxophone in Montreal subway stations. It also offers a hint as to why one of Russell Jr.’s middle names is “Coltrane.”

For Calgary-born hurler Jim Henderson, who pitches out of the bullpen for the Milwaukee Brewers, the story is a little more tragic. His dad, Neil, never got to see his son’s road to the majors. Neil died after a battle with ALS — Lou Gehrig’s Disease — when Jim was in his early teens.

And he wasn’t much of a baseball fan.

“He watched a little bit of football, but sports wasn’t really his thing,” Henderson said over the phone from Milwaukee, where he continues to rehab his sore shoulder.

Neil worked as a mechanic at the University of Calgary, and although they didn’t share baseball as a passion, Jim recalls his dad taking pride in his son’s accomplishments.

And as his dad fought the disease, he set an example for Jim to follow.

“When he was battling ALS, he was never down or woe is me,” Jim said. “He was a fighter.”

Henderson won’t be back on the mound in time for Father’s Day, which is too bad, but he’s hoping he can be ready in time for the Brewers’ afternoon tilt with the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Canada Day — an emotional time in itself for Canadians in the majors.

Truth be known, for a lot of ballplayers — Henderson and Martin included — baseball is as much about Mom as it is Dad. But tomorrow is Father’s Day, and so we focus on the guys who so often get lost among the hotdogs, foul balls and “s-wing battahs” during a day at the ballpark, only to be remembered when we pull out a snapshot of that day years later.

Even for yours truly, whose relationship with his dad is somewhere more along the lines of Hank and Bobby Hill rather than Cecil and Prince Fielder or Felipe and Moises Alou, it’s never impossible to find at least a little bit of common ground. Even if he’s Blue Jays and I’m Expos.

Because we always have baseball.

Happy Father’s Day.

joe.langford@sunmedia.ca

On Twitter: SUNJoeLangford​​

3Up

1. Lonnie Chisenhall, 3B, Indians

Chisenhall’s game Monday was one for the ages — 5-for-5, 3 HRs & 9 RBI.

2. Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pirates

Star outfielder went 13-for-26 over the last week, with 4 HRs & 11 RBI.

3. Colby Rasmus, OF, Jays

He’s spent last month or so on the DL with a bad hamstring, but he’s nearly ready to return.

3Down

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B, Tigers

He’s gone 3-for-27 over the last week. He did have one long-ball, though.

2. Marco Estrada, SP, Brewers

His struggles this past week were merely an extension of a really tough month.

3. Hanley Ramirez, SS, Dodgers

Dodgers star is battling right shoulder soreness, which has kept him out of the lineup occasionally.

Around the Horn

“I’ve been in baseball a long time and when Sean was little, I knew there was one thing I had to teach him, because nowadays players are not taught it even at the big league level — that you earn everything in life,” — Johnson City Cardinals Manager Johnny Rodriguez, regarding son Sean, who’s now the Tampa Bay Rays left-fielder.

“Whenever I needed someone to catch me, he would say, ‘Let me get down for you. But he couldn’t stay down too long, so he would say, ‘Let me get the bucket.’ Then he would sit on that bucket and catch me all day long.” — Texas Rangers pitcher Robbie Ross Jr., regarding father Chuck.

“I have a lot of great memories with my son growing up and they don’t stop. Every day, there’s a new one when I get to watch him play,” Jack Janssen, of his son, Toronto Blue Jays closer Casey.

“Wow what a finish! #rallymonkey #slammit @Trouty20 is a pretty good player you guys should vote for him to be an all-star or something.” — Anaheim Angels P C.J. Wilson via Twitter (@str8edgeracer)

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. #MotivationalMonday” — Houston Astros OF Dexter Fowler via Twitter (@DexterFowler)

“@JohnAxford I just got an Axford jersey for Father’s Day. I couldn’t have been happier. #greatlastname.” Tim Axford via Twitter (@taxford)