John Pijanowski settled into a seat last Saturday next to his 12-year-old son, only a couple of rows behind the Tampa Bay Rays dugout. By the time the first few pitches had been thrown, John – in a way that was organic, almost automatic – was honoring what he knew his own father would have done.
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John Pijanowski, right, with his young son Jack, 12, and brother Mike outside Sahlen Field in Buffalo.
John Hickey / Buffalo News
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Hal Miller, 61, who has stage 4 cancer, had dreamed of seeing big-league baseball in Buffalo since childhood. His son, Ryan, helped him find a way.
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John Pijanowski, with no way of being at his dad’s hospital bedside in Buffalo, learned by text in Arkansas of the death of his father from Covid-19.
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John Pijanowski, right, and his son Jack, at Sahlen Field, re-creating a ballpark image John once took with his own dad.
Family image
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Don Pijanowski with his grandson, Jack.
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Their presence in Buffalo through this weekend's Toronto-Tampa Bay series is a kind of ultimate tribute to what is happening at Sahlen Field.
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The Pijanowski family, Don to left, Kate to right.
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Sean Kirst is a columnist with The Buffalo News. Email him at skirst@buffnews.com .
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