LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- It's not quite real yet. It'll be real on Opening Day, when the boys take the field together in Atlanta. But that's not until April, and this is still February, and it's a parent's nature to be cautious. So Manny and Yvonne Upton are trying not to get too excited.
It's hard, though. Yvonne's steps quicken as she gets closer to where the boys are.
Manny and Yvonne have been wandering a while. The players are scattered across multiple fields. They finally come to the batting tunnels -- a big shed covering four narrow cages with pitching machines. It's open in the back and Manny spots his sons.
"Fellas," he says.
They come out separately. Justin, the new left fielder for the Braves, wearing No. 8. B.J., the new centerfielder, wearing No. 2. Each one bends down to Yvonne for a kiss on the cheek.
B.J. made it to the majors with Tampa Bay in 2004, and Justin with Arizona in 2007. Since then Manny and Yvonne have flown up and down and across the country from their home in Chesapeake, Va., hitting all but two major league parks, watching their boys play baseball.
This offseason, their sons became the big baseball story of the winter. In November, B.J. signed with Atlanta as a free agent. In January, Justin was traded to the Braves in a seven-player deal. Manny and Yvonne happened to be visiting Justin when he got the call. They partied in Arizona that night.
SportsonEarth 
Tim Marchman 
MLB 