James Copp loves both his Cubs and his cubs – as in the Chicago Cubs and his two sons, Taylor and Jordan.

The Copp family’s life is like a ballgame – with baseball, basketball and soccer the games of choice.

So James secretly put together the ultimate father-son road trip to Chicago this week for he and Taylor as a graduation present for his eldest son who finished Grade 12 at Windsor in June.

Think of these big days all rolled into one big ball and you have a capsule of the Copps’ life: Opening day of the baseball season, birthdays, the first time you get a ball after it’s been hit into the stands at a pro baseball game, Fathers’ Day, high school graduation night, and July 4th anywhere in the U.S.A. Especially, in this case, Wrigley Field in the Windy City.

And it all really got started when J.T. Snow came to town.

If you’re a baseball fan like James, you’d recall Snow as the gold-glove first baseman who played 16 big-league seasons, mainly with California Angels and San Francisco, but who is mostly remembered for the time he swooped the three-year-old batboy (and son of Giants’ manager Dusty Baker) away from home plate and out of harms way during a play at home in the 2002 World Series when the youngster was unwisely trying to retrieve a bat.

Snow was a hitting sensation for California early in his 1993 rookie season before going cold as his name and being sent down to the Vancouver Canadians who were then playing in the “AAA” Pacific Coast League.

Taylor Copp was 18 days shy of his own third birthday when his dad took him to the Canadians’ opening game the following season at Nat Bailey Stadium on April 9, 1994. That’s them pictured on the day of the game in the photo above.

Snow was still with Vancouver then. In the first game of that Saturday opening doubleheader, Snow hit a towering foul ball into the grandstand down the third-base line where the Copps were sitting. The ball crashed among the aluminum benches and a scramble between fans ensued.

Frightened by the whole commotion, Taylor began crying inconsolably. The man who recovered the ball gave it to Taylor to cheer him up.

Before the game ended, James got a call on his cell phone from his wife, Ann, who was pregnant at the time. Unexpectedly, their second son was apparently anxious to enter the world ahead of schedule. James and Taylor rushed home.

Jordon Thomas Copp was born at Lions Gate Hospital at 7:14 that evening (hey, the kid must have known Babe Ruth had 714 big-league homers). It was not long afterwards that James realized the significance of his new son’s name (and therefore the initials J.T.) which had been chosen well before the day he was born.

Growing up, James had played Little League, Pony and Colt baseball in the Highlands area, soccer with the MacSween club and basketball at Delbrook (Grad of ’76) where his senior years were under coach Bill Parnell.

Like-father, like-son, James’ two boys have followed him into the same three sports. In fact James – who taught for four years at Argyle, Carson Graham and as a teacher-on-call in the mid-1980s before switching careers (he’s now a mobile mortgage specialist with TD Canada Trust) – has coached both sons at various times in basketball at Windsor over the past five years.

Last season it was with Taylor, the Dukes’ point guard, as Windsor finished ninth in the B.C. “AA” championships in Kamloops in March. Next season he’ll switch back to be with Jordon and the school’s junior team.

The father’s first connection with Chicago came two years after high school graduation when he attended a small Bible school in the Illinois metropolis for a year. And while he’s always been a baseball fan, it was in 1984 during a trip back to Chicago that he really became a staunch Cubs’ rooter.

Last summer the Copp family – wife and mom Ann has been a teacher in North Van since 1982 and is currently also based out of Windsor in her role with the school district’s student services department – travelled to New York to see a ballgame during the final season of old Yankee Stadium.

They also drove upstate to Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. While looking for souvenirs there, Ann spotted a Cubs’ lunchbox which they bought.

When Taylor graduated last month, James handed the lunch bucket to Taylor. Inside were two tickets for box seats right behind the Cubs’ dugout for the July 4th Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago game.

They also have tickets for a behind-the-scenes tour of “the friendly confines of Wrigley Field” (as Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, was known to call the city’s north-side stadium). It’s the second-oldest major league park (built in 1914) after Boston’s Fenway Park (1912). Next to Fenway’s fascinating Green Monster, Wrigley’s trademark ivy-covered, brick outfield wall is the most famous home-run barrier in all of baseball.

The Copps plan to attend another game as well, sitting out in the bleachers.

With all those big days providing the ingredients for lasting memories – from that 1994 opening day, 15 years ago now, through to Windsor’s grad night – the July 4th game will provide some icing on the cake.

Now if only Ryan Dempster, the former North Shore Twins’ right-hander, would take the hill for the Cubs and pitch a victory that afternoon, the U.S. holiday could become Canada Day too.

Which would be just fine for the father and son from back home.

This is episode 339 from Len Corben’s treasure chest of stories – the great events and the quirky – that bring to life the North Shore’s rich sports history.