June 18, 2020

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

“Hey dad, you wanna have a catch?”

Those magical words uttered by Ray Kinsella to his father, John, in the classic 1989 film Field of Dreams have been known to bring men and women to tears.

For many children tossing a ball with their dad was how they bonded with him.

That was certainly the case for Jason Shipley, the Canadian business unit manager for Rawlings Sporting Goods.

“I grew up playing catch with my dad [Kevin],” recalled Shipley in a recent phone interview. “But when I was growing up my dad worked. He was gone all hours of the day. He was a long-haul truck driver. So when he came back, playing catch was my opportunity to be with him, and that was in between jobs and that was in between meals while he was home for an hour or whatever.”

These memories, in part, have inspired Shipley to take a lead role in co-founding and organizing National Play Catch Week, which will take place from June 21 to June 27.

Shipley says the idea to hold this event was hatched at a Baseball Canada meeting two years ago when he was part of a discussion that was focused on how to keep kids playing the game and how to introduce new Canadians to it.

With his vast connections through Rawlings, Shipley agreed to spearhead the initiative and his first plan was to hold a “National Play Catch Day.”

“One of the things that I did was I applied to the national day calendar, and these are the people online that develop days like National Puppy Day and National Pickle Day,” he said. “They never got back to me, so I kind of thought it was dead in the water and then two weeks ago [late May], they emailed me and said that my request had been denied because there was somebody else with a similar request and they’d like us to partner.”

That somebody else was Rhett Grametbauer of the Play Catch Foundation based in Hutto, Texas. Shipley got in contact with him and the two of them quickly came up with the concept of “National Play Catch Week.” Shipley then got the idea approved by the national day calendar organization and has been tirelessly working the phones and promoting the event in Canada ever since.

By mid-June, he estimated that he had made close to 150 phone calls and had numerous companies and organizations on board, including everyone from Baseball Canada to Home Run Sports to pro players.

“The primary goal is to get more people out playing catch,” he explained. “We’re also encouraging those playing catch to film a short video or take a photo and post it on social media using the hashtag #PLAYCATCH.”

When talking to Shipley, you can tell this is more than just another work project for him. He believes strongly that playing catch can have a positive impact on people’s lives and he talks passionately about the social, mental and physical benefits that tossing a ball back and forth can have.

“Any age, any size, any skill level, any race, any colour, it doesn’t matter, everyone can play catch,” said Shipley. “I’ve talked to a lot of people throughout this process and they have told me that some of their best childhood memories are playing catch with their dad or their uncle or their friend.”

Shipley also points out that playing catch can boost a kid’s confidence.

“When you’re a kid and you’ve got your dad or mom throwing you the ball, generally you don’t catch it on the first try,” he said. “You try and try and try and try and by the time you do catch it, you feel like you just climbed Mount Everest.”

And Shipley believes that playing catch can also teach important social skills.

“The main thing about playing catch is that you’re making eye contact with somebody,” he added. “So eye contact mentally builds self confidence and it makes you stronger.”

Though he works for Rawlings, Shipley emphasizes that this isn’t strictly a company initiative.

“I’ve brought every other manufacturer in on this. So Mizuno is involved, Louisville is involved, everybody that I can talk to, I’m trying to bring into this,” he said. “Because the more people in the pool, the better the party.”

And Shipley points out that people don’t have to play catch with a baseball to participate. He has been in touch with the CFL about encouraging people to throw a football.

“The only parameter of this campaign is the #PLAYCATCH hashtag,” said Shipley. “Outside of that, it’s everybody’s interpretation of what ‘play catch’ means to them.”

“National Play Catch Week,” which begins on Father’s Day, is also being promoted in the U.S. and Shipley says it will be an annual event.

“The end goal is if 10 people are playing catch that weren’t a week ago, maybe one of them gets hooked on the sport and stays long-term,” he said. “But the goal really is just to get people out there and playing catch and having fun and being included in such a great activity.”