ORLANDO, Fla.  Proximity is important for Howie McCann. He lives in Duluth, Ga., six miles from his son Brian’s home. He lives 28 miles from Turner Field, where Brian is the catcher for the Atlanta Braves. Most nights, he arrives in time to wave hello while Brian warms up the pitcher in the bullpen.

Howie has tickets behind the screen, yet most nights, he never sits there. He coaches baseball and knows the best place to study a left-handed hitter is facing him from a distance. So while his wife, Sherry, enjoys the game from down low, Howie bounds up the stairs to the concourse, past the concession stands, and finds a section between third base and left field. He looks for an open seat in the last row of the lower deck, under the overhang, and watches from there.

He did this for Brian’s second major league game, in 2005, when he ripped his first home run and caught John Smoltz for nine innings. The years to follow have given him no reason to move. “I’m superstitious, and I’m not changing,” Howie McCann said. “He’s a five-time All-Star and a four-time Silver Slugger.”

If he sounds like a proud father, he is entitled to be. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the most similar player in baseball history to Yogi Berra, through age 26, is Brian McCann. Others have made five All-Star teams before turning 27, like Johnny Bench and Ivan Rodriguez. But Berra did not do it, and neither did Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins.