Ace’s Home Run Hangout: where a love for baseball can carry on forever

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — “Heroes will be remembered but legends never die,” said Hagan Gibby, Ace Mason’s bestfriend and cousin.

That line is from “The Sandlot,” Ace Mason’s favorite movie. The movie tells the tale of how friends make life better, all while playing baseball.

However in this story, that friend is Ace.

“Bigger than life, it really was and it means so much life in an eight year old…It’s just unexplainable when you meet Ace you ever forget him he leaves an imprint on our heart for sure,” said family friend Tiffany Collins.

Eight-year-old Ace passed away in January.

“We wanted to do something to honor Ace. It’s a small town and so a big tragedy like this happens, everyone knows what happens and everyone wants to come together and do something,” said Caleb Norwood, Sweetwater Athletic Director.

Ace loved baseball, and he was pretty good at it to.

“We liked to hit home runs,” said Gibby.

So when the idea for a viewing deck at the Sweetwater High School baseball field came about, “It just seemed fitting to name it after him,” said Norwood, “Cause you know that was something that he loved and something that was a big part of his life.”

The deck is named “Ace’s Home Run Hangout,” a place to remember Ace, and most importantly, “of celebration and laughter and to be able to pair that with the game that he loved most,” said Collins.

Where Ace’s love for baseball can carry on forever, “One day his teammates will play out here and he’ll still be able to be a part of it because of this deck right here,” Norwood said.

In the corner of the sign sits John 3:16, because every morning Ace and his family recited the verse:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosever believeth in him, shall not perish but have eternal life.”

“Everyone needs a piece of Ace in their life,” said Collins.

And with the deck, everyone does. Because as an angel in the outfield, Ace can pick up right where he left off the day before, an endless dream game.

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