MINNEAPOLIS — NOTE: This story originally aired on Sept. 20, 2011.
UPDATE:
Later this month, Rita Stoks will turn 93.
Her boys still dote on her, but sadly, Rita lost one of her nine sons, Bob, to a heart attack five years ago. Most of the others still live nearby and visit often.
Rita’s son Doug told us his mom watched the Twins' playoff run closely this season, and was especially excited to watch them play at Houston’s Minute Maid Park. The Stoks family business, SMI & Hydraulics, built the stadium’s retractable roof and the iconic train that rides the rails above the outfield.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Since mustached men batted balls in cow pastures, parents have been taking their children to see baseball.
In that regard, the white stretch limo pulling up in front of Target Field is a vehicle for change.
Out pops 80-year-old Rita Stoks and clown car’s worth of sons.
One by one, they introduce themselves.
“David.”
“Larry.”
“Jim.”
“Gary.”
“Chuck.”
“Joe.”
“Dean.”
“Bob.”
“Doug.
Nine sons — most of whom made the three-hour trek from Canby in far western Minnesota – to take their Twins-loving mother to her first ballgame at Target Field.
“I was too busy at home,” says Rita of the delay in getting to the ballpark.
The sons shuffle into their row, with Rita in the middle.
Their game day rotation has already been settled.
“Every inning we've got to switch, because there's nine of us,” David says. “You know we all want to sit by mom.”
Rita can't explain how she ended up with nine boys and no girls.
Son Larry shares a favorite family story. “She had the same nurse in the hospital for the last four kids when they were born and when the last one was born, that one, the nurse sat on the end of the bed and bawled with mom because it wasn't a girl, it was a boy,” Larry says with a grin.
Rita takes issue with Larry’s tale.
“I love all my boys very much,” she says. “They're so good to me.”
Good boys who learned from a good role model.
Rita is the kind of mom who worked overnights at a nursing home, then put sleep aside even longer to prepare a hot breakfast for her sons.
Now retired, she travels 50 miles day to visit her husband in a nursing home.
Don Stoks, the boy’s father, has Alzheimer’s. He’s been in the nursing home for more than eight years.
“I just wish he was here,” Rita says.
Before the seventh-inning stretch, Rita stands shoulder to elbow at the broadcast booth with Twins hall-of-famer Bert Blyleven.
The pitcher turned TV announcer not only poses for photos, but during the broadcast provides Rita with her own “Circle-Me-Bert” moment.
Rita may have taken longer than most to get to Target field.
But when she finally arrived, isn’t it nice that she did so with her own nine man roster.
Boyd Huppert is always looking for great stories to share in the Land of 10,000 Stories! Send us your suggestions by filling out this form.
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