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Borders met his future wife in a pizza restaurant in Knoxville, Tenn., where the Jays had a farm club. When they married, he and Kathy knew they wanted “several” kids, he recalls.

“We didn’t think nine,” he said. “But more than two, for sure.

“I guess you have to enjoy doing things with your kids, and not feel, ‘Oh, I have to take them here or there.’ Both of us really enjoyed watching them in their different activities. It was important to them and it was fun for us. And this is not a cliché, it’s not a line – everything else was secondary after that. We enjoyed it. And it was very beneficial to them.

“They’re all very confident kids, they’re all structured, good kids. Every one of them, because of the way my wife structured it and the way we put responsibility on them to do things for themselves, they all made really good grades. Four of them have entered college so far and all have done well.”

It is almost time for Borders to change into his uniform, but he is on a roll now. During a half-hour interview, his most expansive comments are about his kids, and his remarkable wife.

“She’s solid,” he says. “She’s fine if I’m there helping or not. You have to have a really good person to support you as a baseball wife. It’s really a lot of responsibility, stress and no help at certain points from me, because I’m gone.

“She’s good at it. She’s very regimented and focused on the things that matter, and super with the kids in getting their school work done and making sure they’re prepared from year to year with their work ethics and study habits. She’s a very, very diligent person. As a matter of fact, she’s been going to school to become a nurse in her spare time, and she’s probably halfway through that. She’s a very good student. If she doesn’t make an A, she’s very upset.”