"Altadena Sandlot" helps dads stay connected after L.A. fires

A group chat and meetup dubbed “Altadena Sandlot” is giving men in suburban Los Angeles advice and support after the Eaton Fire destroyed many of their homes.

ARCADIA, Calif. — Only one of Brian Gardner’s baseball bats survived the Eaton Fire. But that was all he needed.

Gardner, 48, grabbed the bat and got ready for his turn to hit. Someone told him to expect a “heater.”

“I call it a fastball, not a ‘heater,’” he joked. “‘Heater’ is one of my new trigger words.” 

Brian Gardner and his family were displaced by the Eaton Fire, which ravaged Altadena last month. Alex Welsh for NBC NewsIt was a Sunday afternoon, with blue skies, and he and eight other guys had gathered to bat around at a park in Arcadia. For a couple of hours, they were doing what had been a weekly ritual before the Eaton Fire tore through their neighborhood in Altadena three weeks earlier, displacing them all from their close-knit community in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Gardner’s house was reduced to ashes, including a home bar with more than 1,000 bottles of whiskey. He also lost a Cadillac Eldorado with cattle horns on the front grill that he used to drive his kids to school on Fridays as a special treat. He’s now living in a rental house with his wife, two children and 13-year-old terrier.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/los-angeles-fires-eaton-altadena-sandlot-baseball-rcna190232

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