Randy Long became the internet’s
favorite grandfather after leaving a sweet note on a bucket of baseballs for
kids.

Long and his grandson,
Ethan Anderson used to go to batting cages together to play baseball. When
Anderson grew up, Long decided to take the bucket of old baseballs to the same
place so that other kids who come there could play with them. He left a sweet note
for the future kids along with the bucket of baseballs.

Source: Yahoo News 

Ethan’s grandmother
decided to take a photo of that note and send it to Ethan, and Ethan
subsequently posted it on Twitter, not knowing the impact it would have on
social media.  

The note reads:

Hope someone can use
some of these baseballs in the batting cages. I found them cleaning my garage.
I pitched them to my son and grandson for countless rounds. My son is now 46
y/o and my grandson is 23 y/o. I am 72 and what I won’t give to pitch a couple
of buckets to them. They have both moved away. If you are a father cherish
these times. You won’t believe how quickly they will be gone.

God bless

P.S. Give them a hug
and tell them you love them every chance you get.

Anderson lives two
hours away from his grandparents, and after reading the emotional note, he has
decided to visit them as much as he can. He says that he didn’t realize how
much he missed visiting the cages with his grandfather.

Anderson says that his
grandfather is excited but also slightly shocked, as he didn’t realize his note
would receive so much love and admiration. He simply wanted to give away free
baseballs.

According to Ethan, his
grandfather realized the impact only after he found out that ESPN had picked up the story.

Ethan said: “I’ve had a lot of kids younger than me
telling me they’ll cherish the times they have in the cages with their dads or
granddads. How they won’t take it for granted anymore.”

He added: “I was the same way when I was younger,
sometimes I didn’t really want to go to the cages but now looking back on it,
it was some really good memories. I just hope everyone can kind of take away
they need to cherish those moments while they have them.”

Grandparents are truly
precious!