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Congressman Robert Matsui, U.S. Congressman
by Randy Snook Robert Matsui: Brian was a really great kid, and has matured into a sensitive, yet determined individual. He was our only child, so he was, to a great degree, the focus of our lives. For my parents, he was the only grandchild. I was very close to my father. In fact, I had to pull out of the Senate race because I wanted to spend time with him before he died. Brian was a great help to me during that time. During June and July of 1991, he stayed with his grandfather. My father died on August 1, 1991. I don't think Brian realized how important his being there was. He and my father bonded by nature. They were so close.  Brian was a big collector of baseball cards. When I was a kid I collected them as well. One day a couple of lobbyists came in to see me. One of the lobbyists (Evan Tisdale) saw that I had some of Brian's baseball cards in my cabinet. They weren't worth very much, five dollars each or something of that nature. Well, he saw those baseball cards, and asked if I collected them. I told him no, but my son did and that he had given them to me, so I had decided to put them up. A few days later Evan came by and gave me an envelope with about 15 baseball cards. The cards went all the way back to 1953 or 1954, with names like Jackie Robinson and Duke Snyder. I said, "My God, these cards are fantastic!" So I brought them home and gave them to Brian, who was in high school at the time. He took them up to his room and came back in a little while and said, "Dad, do you want to go to jail?" I said, "What do you mean?" "Dad, these cards are worth a lot of money. Don't you have a gift limit?" "Sure I do. I think it's around $200." "Well," he said, "You can't take these cards, or you might go to jail!" The next day, I called Evan and asked him to come by the office. I said, "Evan, I'm sorry, but I have to give those baseball cards back to you." Evan said, "Bob, but those were just for fun." "I know Evan, but my son and I just had a little lesson in morality." Well, Evan took the cards back, but the funny thing was, that he told a couple of folks about what happened and CNN and ABC picked up the story and the next thing we knew they wanted to interview Brian and me. They did this interview at our house with Brian and me looking at the baseball cards with the voice-over talking about limitations on members of Congress accepting gifts. Later that night, during dinner, Brian said, "You know, I should have never done that interview. Dad, can you imagine when I go to school tomorrow? I mean, only nerds who are my age collect baseball cards." I'll never forget that. This wonderful photography and essay is an excerpt from the book, Fathers & Sons: Photographs, Quotes and Essays with permission of the author. The book can be purchased by clicking the title above or going to : www.amazon.com and doing a search for the author Randy Snook. |
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