Adventures in babysitting: Weiss recalls watching youngster McCullough in 1980s

ATLANTA -- Braves manager Walt Weiss laughed when asked what he remembers about babysitting Marlins manager Clayton McCullough more than 40 years ago.

Weiss and his longtime friend B.J. Surhoff played together for the University of North Carolina. Before both were taken in the first round of the 1985 MLB Draft, they would often visit the home of Tar Heels pitching coach Howard McCullough, a highly regarded baseball man who is now best known as the proud father of the Marlins’ manager.

“We’d go over to their house and Clayton's mom would fix us dinner,” Weiss said. “We'd run around the yard with Clayton and slap him around and rough him up a little bit.”

This week’s three-game series in Atlanta marked the first time Weiss and McCullough opposed each other as big league managers. They were reunited when the latter became the Dodgers’ first-base coach in 2021.

“I hadn't seen him since he was probably 5 or 6 years old at that point,” Weiss said. “So, it was kind of a reunion. We took a picture and sent it to his parents. It was a really good moment for all of us. I'm really proud of Clayton. He’s a good baseball man. His dad is a great baseball man.”