Cyclones fans in the know realize that their starting catcher, Aaron Hathaway, is back from an injury to the ligaments in his left thumb, and he’s ready to flex his superior throwing arm as their team enters the playoffs.
But what does a cheese omelet have to do with him helping his Cyclones win another championship? To put it simply, everything.
It was in the late 1970s at a restaurant in the state of Washington, when Aaron’s mom, Jeannette Beverly — just off her overnight shift at a different restaurant — sat down to breakfast with some co-workers.
She ordered a cheese omelet, and while she received just that, it might as well have been a fortune cookie.
“The chef wrote out in cheese on the omelet, ‘How about a date, Foxy?’,” Jeannette told me. “He must have been peeking out from the kitchen. Later, wearing his chef’s hat, he came over to our table, and he said, ‘So, how about a date?’
“And I said, ‘OK, but you can’t wear that hat’.”
Bill Hathaway took off the hat, and thus began their courtship. Twenty-six years ago this month, they were married.
Aaron, the younger of two brothers, came along in 1981 and, while growing up, mom and dad coached him and his brother Jason, now 24, in Little League.
Eventually, Aaron advanced to secondary school play at Columbia River High School, in the Hathaways’ hometown of Vancouver, Wash.
“Aaron primarily caught and pitched, but he played all over,” said his mom — a quality softball player in her own right, having helped a women’s American Softball Association team to a championship 25 years.
At Columbia High, Aaron played varsity baseball, football, and basketball. In baseball, he batted .485 as a senior and was all-state and named MVP of the all-state games.
A aron also excelled in football. During his senior year, he made all-state as a quarterback, defensive back, punter and kicker. As a quarterback he threw for 2,363 yards to help his team to the state quarterfinals.
He attended the University of Washington, where he hit .317 and threw out 20 of 41 attempted base stealers and helped his team to a 39-20-1 record.
After the June 2004 baseball draft, Aaron was chosen in the fourth round and signed by the Mets, who assigned him to Brooklyn. In early July, his parents visited New York to spend some time with him — and see the city.
“I had never been to New York, and we spent time visiting Manhattan, and we went to Aaron’s dorm (at Downtown Brooklyn’s Polytechnic University).
“In Brooklyn, we went to Sheepshead Bay and Brighton Beach, and we walked around Coney Island,” she said, noting that she avoided the Cyclone. “I’m not a roller coaster girl, but we walked on the boardwalk, and we loved the stadium. We loved the passionate fans. Aaron told us that they support their team and get on the other team.”
Back home, the Hathaway’s and Aaron’s fiancee, Lindsey Pratt, listen to the Cyclones’ games every day on the Internet, “even when Aaron was out with an injury,” said Jeannette.
So one familiar voice she was able to put a face on while visiting Brooklyn was that of the Cyclones’ announcer, Warner Fusselle.
“I told him that what you do is so important to us because he just explains things so well and gives a real visual of what is happening,” said Jeannette. “I said when I came here I felt that when I saw the other players that I already knew them from listening to the games on the Internet.”
Jeanette also keeps in touch with Aaron via letters and phone calls, including calls from Aaron from when he is injured, and with good reason — Aaron has had six concussions in his athletic career, three each in baseball and football.
“The last time he was injured [a month ago], he called me when he was on his way to the hospital, and he said, ‘Mom, I know you were listening. I’m OK’. ”
But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t worry — or make suggestions on the type of equipment her son should wear.
“There was a more serious concussion when he was hit in the back of the head by a baseball when he was 16,” explained Jeanette. “Aaron may switch to a hockey-style helmet in the future because it seems to provide better protection than the standard catcher’s helmet.”
When he goes back to his dorm room in Brooklyn or his hotel room on the road, Aaron spends about an hour writing notes in a book he keeps on the hitting, base running abilities and tendencies of each night’s opponent.
His mom explains that this studying of opponents is not a new development.
“When he was in high school, as a quarterback, every day at lunch he would get his meal and take it to the coaches’ office and study film so that he would know his own offense and the opponent’s defense.
“He was the leader of both the defensive backs and the quarterbacks, and I think he has carried that tendency into his baseball career. He always wants to know what he can do to defeat the other team.”
Aaron isn’t the only competitor in the family. His brother, Jason was a college baseball player at Concordia, and he is a volunteer fireman who is working to become a professional firefighter.
“When we went to New York, we visited a firehouse and Jason wasn’t able to make the trip. He wanted to see Aaron, and talk to some of the New York firefighters.”
Now, you may be saying “Hathaway is a famous name,” and it is.
It’s the surname of Anne Hathaway (no, not the movie actress of “The Princess Diaries,” who is from Brooklyn), the wife of William Shakespeare.
In fact, Bill Hathaway has told his son that they are related to Shakespeare’s wife.
Since my great-great grandfather is said to trace his ancestry to William Shakespeare, I realize that I’m interviewing some in-laws.
But that doesn’t mean that they’ll be shown favoritism in this column.
So we’ll just end with some wisdom from my side of the family.
“Words, words, words,” said Hamlet by way of the Bard.
Bill Hathaway’s cheesy words on an omelet may not have been as eloquent as those of his distant relative’s husband, but when it came to fitting the words to the situation, thankfully, Bill was an outright genius.
