Valentine’s Day on The Diamond

One West University Little League coach made Valentine’s Day a whole lot sweeter for his entire team last night. After noticing that the team’s first preseason game was scheduled for Feb. 14, Tadpole Varsity “Toros” Manager Dr. Patrick Garvey realized that the players’ parents were going to have to be seated in the bleachers at Bullard Field instead of at romantic dinners. And, to make matters worse, they were going to be cold, with Houston getting an unseasonable dip in temperatures on Tuesday.

Knowing that the parents were excited about the game but also potentially disappointed about missing out on a night on the town, Garvey decided to do something to help make Valentine’s Day on the diamond a winner no matter the game’s final score.

At the end of the game, Garvey, who's a plastic reconstructive surgeon at MD Anderson Cancer Center, gave each player a long-stemmed red rose to give their moms. The children then ran to the stands to present each of their mothers with a rose. It was a sweet way to close out Valentine’s Day, for parents and players alike.

"It was really cute to see the joy on the kids' faces when they brought us the roses,” says Morgan Garvey, who was also surprised by her husband’s Valentine’s gifts. “And there's nowhere I would have rather eaten than at that concession stand with those muddy kids."

Members of the WULL Toros include Charlie Garvey, Andrew Hanson, Oliver Moore, Ella Neff, Will Nelson, Owen Ott, Costas Palandjoglou, Evan Patterson, Henry Popp, Ford Prescott, Cici Sanders, Charlie Stasney and Lex Webster.