Brother’s keeper

ERATH — Mason Granger still thinks about the ‘what ifs’ when it comes to his big brother, Ross. 

What if Ross would have been able to play baseball at LSU-Eunice? What if Ross could still be sitting in the dugout cheering on Mason and his teammates? What if cancer hadn’t had happened, and more importantly what if Ross hadn’t died?

“You learn as time goes by how to deal with it,” Mason said. “I will never get to the point where I don’t think about him every day. He is my brother and I miss him every day. But you learn how to deal with it because my brother wouldn’t want me to dwell on it. He would want me to play.”

Tagging along

Mason Granger, one of five children born to Nathan and Dana Granger, is on the cusp of realizing his dream of playing college baseball.

The 18-year-old senior is wrapping up his final season with the Erath High Bobcats. As the team begins a state playoff run starting this coming week, a run that, hopefully, ends with a trip to Sulphur for the Class 3A title game, Granger is looking to continue his career at the next level.

The versatile infielder-pitcher and two-time all-state honoree has already been named to the West Team for the LHSCA All-Star Game, has received the Coca-Cola Scholarship from the LHSAA, has received an offer to be a preferred walk-on at LSU-Eunice, and this past Friday took a recruiting visit to Centenary College.

“It’s been bittersweet for sure,” Mason said. “As a player you are going through all your lasts. I have been playing with most of these guys since we were 6 years old. So like I said it is bittersweet because it will be the last season together but it gives me something to play for besides myself and besides Ross.”

Mason learned how to play the game, and competition, from his older brother.

Mason’s earliest memories of his brother is following him into the backyard to play tag when he was only 4, and of course being the youngest and smallest he would be the one on the losing end of the children’s game. 

“Him and his friends definitely did a great job of making me a tough kid,” Mason said with a laugh as he remembered. “They were never easy on me and I didn’t want them to be. It helped me a lot as an athlete since I was always pushing myself to play on their level.”

“A large part why he does so well is because he always played with the older kids,” Mason’s father, Nathan, said. “Earlier on, I think it intimidated Ross a little bit because things came easier athletically for Mason than it did for Ross.”

Mason spent the rest of this childhood tagging along with his big brother, and his brother’s friends, usually to the baseball diamond or batting cages.

“I am sure he got frustrated with me a bunch of times,” Mason said. “I remember a couple of times he would be like ‘I am going to so-so’s house to sleepover and his friend would say ‘Mason can come too if he wants.’ Ross would sometimes say no but he always tried to include me.”

Brothers become teammates

Even if Ross may have gotten annoyed by his little brother, that didn’t stop him from spending countless hours with him on the diamond or in the batting cages.

“I once overhead Ross talking on the phone to one of his teammates and he said, ‘You realize how good we are going to be next year because we are going to have Mason on the team,’ “ Nathan said. “That spoke highly of Ross’s character, too. He was looking forward to playing with his little brother.”

The two finally got to play on the same time in 2015 when Mason was a freshman and Ross was a senior for the Bobcats.

Mason was talented enough to start in the infield but a thumb injury while trying to lay down a bunt during a West Monroe Tournament jeopardized the dream season for the brothers. Mason needed to have pins inserted and even though he was cleared to play, the coaching staff didn’t want him back in the infield, fearing a misplayed ground ball could do further damage. 

So Mason would play primarily that season as a relief pitcher — and would routinely come in to relive the team’s starting pitcher — his older brother. 

“That was fun,” Mason said. “Ross was a tall and long lefty and I was this short freshman that just came in and threw strikes. It really did keep people off-balance.”

Nathan still remembers that first game when Mason came in for Ross.

“It was against Catholic High,” Nathan said. “Ross had pitched a gem of game but the bases were loaded and they brought in the freshman, Mason. I nearly had a heart attack.”

That season the two brothers helped lead Erath to 17 regular season wins and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

Mason, though, said he didn’t realize at the time how special that season would be until after the playoff loss to top seed Evangel Christian.

“I remember it didn’t hit me until the final game of that season because that’s when I realized that we wouldn’t ever play together again,” Mason said.

Mason may have realized  he wouldn’t play with his brother again but no one could have realized the tragedy that was on the horizon.

The loss of a brother

Right before the fall, Ross became sick and after testing doctors discovered that he had cancer. To be exact, Ross had a brain tumor.

“I was at home and I could tell something was wrong,” Mason said. “Our babysitter told me to just go to football practice and your parents will talk to you later. So I came home afterwards and my mom pulled me into their bathroom and that’s when she told me.

“I remember still being dirty from practice but I just sat there on the floor and stared at the wall,” Mason said. “I just sat there. I couldn’t say anything. It was just surreal.”

Despite having terminal cancer, Ross stayed positive about his recovery as he spent the majority of his time, while not receiving treatment, in the dugout cheering on and coaching his alma mater — in particular his little brother.

“Ross was definitely one for encouragement but he was also one to get on people,” Mason said. “He was a good balance of both.”

Even though his brother was weakened by the treatment, being forced to use a cane, just having him there on game days that 2016 season was something special, especially considering the Bobcats advanced to the state quarterfinals for the first time in program history.

“It was really fun having him back,” Mason said. “You know it gave us a little more energy in the dugout. Everybody was always talking to him. It was a good feeling having him around.”

“The first year I took over the job but it was no coincidence that he was here nearly every day in our dugout and we had the winningest season in program history,” Erath coach Jeremy Picard said.

That 2016 season proved to be the last one Mason shared with his brother, as Ross’s condition continued to worsen as he would ultimately pass away on Nov. 19, 2016.

That day, Mason was preparing for a pep rally as the football team was set to travel to play Eunice High in the state playoffs. The coaching staff allowed them to get their phones during seventh period and Mason soon realized that something was amiss.

“That day was pretty crazy for me,” Mason said. “When I picked up my phone I had a couple missed calls. It was one of Ross’ best friends and he said he thought ‘today was the day.’ So I ran back into coach’s office and told him that I had to go see him. I didn’t even check out from school. I just left and went home and saw him.”

Mason would get the chance to say goodbye to his big brother.

“They said he had kept eyes closed all day and that he had struggled to breathe that day,” Mason said. “I walked up and everybody left the room. I just sat there and talked to him for a little bit. He opened up his eyes and looked up at me. I told him that I loved him and that I was good if he was ready to go. He closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.”

After taking the moment to say goodbye to his brother, Mason, though, went back to school.

“I didn’t want anybody to know what was going on back at home,” Mason said. “I wanted everyone to be focused on the game. I remember a lot of my teammates asking how Ross was and just told them that he was good. I was trying to keep everyone upbeat.”

As Mason helped lead Erath to a victory that night, his brother Ross Granger died at the age of 19.

“Right after we buried Ross, I really checked on Mason a lot,” Nathan said. “He told me ‘Dad I didn’t lose not only my brother, I lost my best friend.’ I told him to never to forget that and you cherish that.”

Erath High School officials did their part to make sure that no one would forget Ross when they retired his No. 11 jersey two seasons ago, and then this past fall renamed the field at the ballpark Ross Granger Field.

“Ross was and always will be an inspiration to our program,” Picard said. “I wanted to make sure that every kid from now until after I am gone that they remember No. 11 and what he brought to this career.”

Becoming his own man

Mason, who has three younger siblings, Hannah, Reganand John Eric, lost his brother but instead of retreating into himself, cutting himself off from people and abandon his athletic pursuits — Mason went the other direction. He embraced honoring his brother, by drawing a cross and the initials RG on the bill of his cap, while also sharpening his skills on the diamond. 

Mason earned both all-state honors as a sophomore and junior for the baseball team. He holds a 4.0 GPA, scored a 34 on his ACT (one point better than Ross), is a member of the BETA Club, Math Club and Student Council and was named Erath High Student of the Year in December.

“To see him thrive, at times it truly amazes me,” Nathan said. “There are days for his mom and I that it is hard to get out of bed. Yet, he thrives and excels.”

“After what Mason has been through, I would have to say he is the most mentally tough man I have ever been around,” Picard said. “Even after his (brother’s) passing, he still showed up at the park every day and was leader to the young guys. 

“Maybe getting out on the field was his way of kind of getting away from everything but the way he went about his business was truly remarkable,” Picard added.

It is always challenging for a younger sibling to follow in the footsteps of the older one but it was made even more difficult when that sibling who passed away was beloved by so many.

“That has been his mom and I’s biggest worry,” Nathan said. “It is one thing to follow in your older brother’s footsteps but it is another thing to follow in the footsteps of a legacy. If Ross was here it would be easier. 

“That is the what I have been the most proud is the way he has handled himself because all eyes are on him. Everyone thinks Ross did everything right but that wasn’t he case. He was teenage boy like everyone else. Mason is following a myth and that is tough.”

Mason admits  it has been a challenge knowing that every time people see him that they think about his brother. But for him, he feels he can keep honoring his late brother while also still making his own path in life.

“At first it was pretty difficult especially when he had first passed away,” said Mason, who wants to study biology and go to medical school. “I have tried to embrace the fact that I am like Ross but at the same time I know that I am not Ross. I am my own person.”

That is why Mason has no problem talking about his big brother.

“You know the first thing people wanted to talk about when they see me is Ross,” Mason said. “I am all about talking about Ross. I never shied away from that because it wasn’t the worst thing in the world to be compared to my big brother.”