A father, a son and Mike Sweeney

There’s no better time to get close to the players than spring training. Imagine going to your local high school field and watching major leaguers practicing on the other side of a chain-link fence.

This morning, one 11-year-old wound up on the field with Mike Sweeney in one of those precious moments that the boy and his dad will never forget.

Sweeney had jogged from one practice field to another to prepare for batting practice when he saw the boy and his dad playing catch. Sweeney picked up a baseball, walked to the open gate to the field and called for the boy to come over.

“Hey Buddy,” Sweeney said. “If you’re going to playcatch with our dad, you need a big-league ball.”

The boy walked onto the warning track near the dugout and Sweeney plopped the baseball in his glove. Sweeney said a few more words to the boy and posed for a photo before patting him on the head and leading him off the field.

“And do your homework!” Sweeney yelled to the boy as he went back to the field.

A few minutes later, a father and son admired that baseball and couldn’t stop smiling.

Brendan McKibbin of Lincroft, N.J., and his son, Brian, spent the morning at the Mariners’ facility in Peoria on the first of a five-day father-son trip to Arizona spring training camps.

“This is the sixth year we’ve done this,” Brendan McKibbin said. “Just me and him. It’s a special time.”