Snapp Shots: Brothers raising funds for nephew with Alzheimer’s

When my nephew, Ben, was a little boy, his beloved mother died after a long illness. He was 10; his brother, Jon, was 6; and his other brother, Marc, was 12. And there was more bad news to come. They had three stepmothers in rapid succession, the first two of whom remind me of Cruella de Vil.

But they somehow got through it by sticking together and looking out for each other. And they all grew up to have interesting lives. Marc is an indie radio promoter who gets artists played on radio stations all over the world. Jon is the general manager of an international entertainment company with offices in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Japan.

But Ben has had the most interesting career of all. His entry-level job was at CNN as the “designated John 3:16 tackler.” Let me explain: Back in the 1970s and ’80s, there was a guy called the Rainbow Man who used to insert himself into the picture at televised sports events wearing a multicolored wig and holding a sign reading, “John 3:16” (the Bible passage that reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”). Ben’s job was to tackle him to get him out of the shot.

His next job was as private secretary for Zsa Zsa Gabor. His third job came when he heard that Vin Scully, the great Dodgers announcer, was having trouble setting up his computer. So Ben, a big baseball fan as well as a techno geek, offered to set it up for him.

That led to a friendship and working relationship that had Ben doing a lot of research and writing for Scully and eventually the whole Dodgers organization, for which he set up the first major league team website. And that led in turn to a career as an ace reporter and West Coast producer for Major League Baseball’s website, MLB.com.

He was a welcome visitor at every ballpark in the country. Let me put it this way: He’s on a first-name basis with Sandy Koufax! It doesn’t get any better than that.

But his home base was always Dodger Stadium, and that’s where Ben found a way to indulge his mischievous streak. In the late innings it’s common for fans in the nosebleed seats to move down to the more expensive seats near the field if they see they’re not being used. But it’s technically against the rules.

So Ben would wander through the stadium, and when he spotted a family doing it — usually a father and his kids — he’d tap the guy on the shoulder and say, “Sir, you and your family will have to come with me.”

By the time they got to the elevator, the guy would be sweating bullets. Ben would push the button, and the elevator would descend to the ground floor. When the door opened, they’d find that they were inside the Dodgers dugout — while the game was still going on! Then Ben would hand each kid a brand-new baseball and a sharpie and say, “OK, kids, go get those autographs!” And all the players would sign.

But it all came to a sudden halt five years ago when he and everyone else his age at MLB were laid off and replaced by people 25 years younger. It was more than the loss of a job; it was the loss of a career. And the lost income created strains on his marriage that led to divorce.

And now comes more bad news: Ben has been diagnosed with middle-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Naturally, his brothers are rallying around him (with considerable help from their significant others). They’re trying to provide not only for his medical treatment, but also his living expenses for the rest of his life.

“In the meantime, we’ve created a project for Ben to work on to keep him focused and energized,” says Jon. “He not only loves baseball; his other big passion is sports movies. We’re creating a sports movie website and database with Ben’s old boss for him to watch films, research and provide information that will be part of this website’s database. We shipped him about 40 sports movies last month, and there will be a lot more to come.”

The website is scheduled to go online in April. They’ve also set up a GoFundMe campaign (gofund.me/e5ff381f) to help pay his bills. I know their mom would be proud of all three of them. I sure am.

Martin Snapp can be reached at catman442@comcast.net.