For Father’s Day: Dodgers’ Andre Ethier reflects on fatherhood

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Andre Ethier knew it would change him. Knew it like every other budding father, which is to say he knew precious little of what to truly expect.

‘I thought I did, but you don’t know until you have your kid and you have a chance to hold them and interact with them and realize how much they rely on you on a daily basis,’ Ethier said.

Twenty-one months ago, Ethier became a father for the first time when his wife, Maggie, gave birth to son Dreson. Sunday is his second Father’s Day not just as a son, but as a father himself.

Ethier, 28, is convinced that fatherhood has brought a fresh perspective, a keen awareness of additional responsibility.

‘It’s changed me a lot,’’ he said. ‘It just puts things into perspective. It clears up things’ importance. You can be married and your wife is important, but when you start adding kids to the equation, that’s when things really get real.

:You realize there are people who definitely rely on you and look for you to be that support system, and a person who’s always there. There has to be a stable head of a family.’

And although it is not always obvious, he also believes it has affected him as a player. He still gets upset, and sometimes shows it, but more often he lets the moment wash over him.

‘There’s going to be calm that comes over it,’ he said. ‘I have to watch myself a little more. I can’t come in (the dugout) and be banging stuff around and getting too upset. He’s paying attention, and other people are paying attention too.

‘When you realize you have somebody you love and care about so much, who is paying attention and hanging onto everything you do, it really makes you check your ego, check everything at the door and realize what’s more important.

‘I’m still going out there playing with the same intensity, but I have to sometimes remind myself consciously to act a certain way. I’d have to say it’s helped me from the fact that I can brush things off a little quicker. You don’t steam as long and get worked up. It’s positive.’

It’s not uncommon for a professional athlete to say he’s a player, not a role model; they brush off responsibility, ignore the obvious, that children everywhere are watching them, looking up to them.

Fatherhood has taught Ethier different, leaving him one regret.

‘It’s something you wish you would have learned earlier,’ he said. ‘You are definitely a role model for your kid and he looks up to you, but then you start to realize some of those other kids who are general fans, and how they look up to you, and how you might not have always set a good example for them.’’

Fatherhood is, perhaps like baseball, an ongoing learning process.

-- Steve Dilbeck