We all miss someone. Mexican culture has a wonderful holiday centered on remembering and honoring the dead. Here is a brief primer via Wikipedia if you are unfamiliar with the tradition:

The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico developed from ancient traditions among its pre-Columbian cultures. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors had been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2,500–3,000 years. The festival that developed into the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month. The festivities were dedicated to the goddess known as the “Lady of the Dead”, corresponding to the modern La Calavera Catrina.

By the late 20th century in most regions of Mexico, practices had developed to honor dead children and infants on November 1, and to honor deceased adults on November 2. November 1 is generally referred to as Día de los Inocentes (“Day of the Innocents”) but also as Día de los Angelitos (“Day of the Little Angels”); November 2 is referred to as Día de los Muertos or Día de los Difuntos (“Day of the Dead”).

Here’s a editorial from today’s LA Times on how universal the themes of this distinctly Mexican tradition can be, which I highly recommend reading.

In light of the holiday going on right now and the recent passing of Mariners announcer Ron Fairly, this seemed like an apt topic for today’s FanPost Friday. It’s a reminder that grieving the loss of a loved one or friend never ends, it just goes through waves and stages. Sometimes having a designated time to think about grief, something that we as humans tend to avoid thinking about, helps coax the process along as we further process our feelings.

So, part of the Día los Muertos tradition is to create an ofrenda in your home, which is like a small altar of tribute to your departed loved ones. It involves creating a two to three tiered structure with photos of the deceased above and offerings of some of their favorite things below, whether they be food items, a favorite drink, a trinket that belonged to them, and so on. There are many specific traditional ways to make an ofrenda, but those are the basics, it seems.

I don’t want to limit this to Mariners players or employees that we miss because often times, baseball memories are specifically tied to our own family members. And I don’t want to limit it to just the Mariners. Any and all baseball affiliated folks are welcome here.

So, it is with the utmost respect to the Mexican cultural traditions that inspired this post....

Prompt: Who is a part of your baseball ofrenda?

You can be as brief or as verbose as you’d like. Photos and visuals are encouraged, but not required. Take your time and reflect on who you miss and what about them brought you into the noble game of baseball. We’ll front page the best FanPost submissions over the weekend.