Over the years, I have had to say goodbyes that I didn’t want to when it came to minor league baseball players. The first goodbye that really hit me was Mike Trout.

I have been a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes fan for as long as I have been alive, which meant that I was during the Mike Trout era when the Quakes were the Advanced Single-A affiliate for the Angels of Anaheim. Although his time there was brief, he was fun to watch.

That was in 2010, the year before the Quakes became the Dodgers Advanced Single-A affiliate. Even though I didn’t fully understand how it all worked back then, I knew it meant that Trout would no longer be on the team. I was bummed out because he was my favorite Quake, in spite of his short time there. But I soon realized that he wouldn’t be the last favorite Quake I would have to say goodbye to.

Over the years, I’ve bid farewell to Nick Buss, Casio Grider, Chris Jacobs, O’Koyea Dickson, Darnell Sweeney, Scott Wingo, Adam Law and Lindsey Caughel. These guys were not only great ballplayers, but always took the time to interact with fans off the field as well.

I could talk to them about the sport and learn from them in a way I couldn’t necessarily do just by watching. Some of them were even like family to me, letting me talk to them about life in general and showing me that they’re human, just like everyone else.

Because things often happen at lightening speed in our beloved national pastime, I never really got to say a true goodbye or thank you to these players for their kindness and for including me in their lives, so I’d like to do that now with my most recent favorite Dodger to leave the organization – Kyle Farmer.

There is no argument that Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, and Alex Wood have all had their moments and will always have a special place in my heart, but I never had the opportunity to chat with them the way I did with Kyle Farmer.

Following his very first game with the Quakes, we got him to sign our copy of The Blind Side. He’s a little hard to spot, but he is actually in that Academy Award-winning film starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw and Quinton Aaron. Every time I happen across it while channel surfing, I always take a close look for him as a quarterback in the movie. 

Farmer played with Rancho Cucamonga in 2014 and 2015, and quickly becoming a favorite of my family and I. In his 80 games with the Quakes, he recorded 86 hits, including 19 doubles, and drove in 42 runs. He also threw out 27 would-be base stealers.

After games, Farmer would always take the time to talk with us and take photos, even on his own birthday.

It was during the 2015 season that Farmer began seeing time at third base, albeit for only five games. The transition went well for him and caught the eye of the Dodgers front office. The rest, as they say, is history.

After a spring training game in 2016, he continued this trend and took a picture with me to celebrate my 21st birthday. We talked for a few minutes as he graciously shared his time instead of rushing back to the locker room to leave. I will never forget that and will appreciate and cherish the memory.  

From there, Farmer continued his way up through the Dodgers minor league system, eventually making his major league debut on July 30, 2017.

In his very first MLB at bat, Kyle hit a walk-off RBI double against the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the eleventh inning at Dodger Stadium, thereby etching his name in Dodgers lore forever. I had to watch the game on my cellphone and vividly recall turning up the volume for his at bat and going crazy when he drove in the game winner. It was a moment that no true Dodger fan will ever forget … especially this one.

Once the 2018 season rolled around, I got to see Farmer play third base while Chase Utley played second. That was the best combination I could have asked for and was the only time I got to see them play together in person. 

The Dodgers may have lost that game, but seeing two of my favorites on the field at the same time is what I remember most about that game. It was also the last time I saw either of them play in person. To this day it still ranks as one of my favorite Dodger games of all time.

I wish Puig, Kemp, and Wood nothing but the best with the Cincinnati Reds. But most of all, I wish the very best to Kyle Farmer at Great American Ball Park … or wherever he may eventually end up. Regardless of who he plays for, Kyle Farmer will always be one of my all-time favorites – on and off the field.