Robert Fent, baseball player in suburban leagues, dies at 48
Robert Fent
Provided
When Robert Fent moved from Ohio to Chicago, he was looking to join a recreational baseball team.
He rang up Vito Ruscio, who runs a team called the Chicago Giants.
“That was 11 years ago. He played with me since,” Ruscio, 68, said. “He was a real good teammate. The guys loved him.”
Ruscio runs three baseball teams, each for a different age group, all called the Chicago Giants: 18 and older; 38 and older; and 48 and older. Mr. Fent, who was 48, played on all three — that’s how much he loved the game, Ruscio said.
Mr. Fent, who lived in Aurora, died in a car accident in southwest suburban Crestwood on May 12.
His friends and family remember his love for baseball, whether watching it or playing it.
His brother, Roger Fent Jr., 54, said their father got them into the sport.
"Some people do gardening, pottery or something in their lives to [relax]; baseball was it for Rob," said teammate Doug Reibel, 63. "It was his outlet of just relaxing and having fun and being around the guys."
Mr. Fent was an outfielder and a pitcher, but he also was willing to play any position, according to Ruscio. He “wouldn’t say no to anything,” Ruscio said.
He recalled Mr. Fent’s big bat, which was the size of a table leg and was the topic of a lot of jokes.
“After he hit the ball, the umpire or catcher would pick up the bat [and go], ‘Holy crap! This thing is heavy,’” Ruscio said.
Mr. Fent’s favorite Major League Baseball team was the Cincinnati Reds, Ruscio said.
Growing up, they were “always outside,” riding bikes or playing baseball, his brother said. Mr. Fent played baseball for Northwestern High School in Springfield, Ohio.
“From Springfield to Fort Wayne to Chicago, he would find teams that he would play with. Whether they were younger or older, it didn't matter to him. He just loved playing the game,” his brother said.
When he wasn’t playing baseball, Mr. Fent worked for more than 25 years as a mechanical engineer at truck maker Navistar. Mr. Fent attended Clark State Community College in Ohio and the University of Dayton.
As an engineer, Mr. Fent was “detail-oriented,” Reibel said.
“Some people would say what time it is. Rob would be able to tell you how the watch was made,” Reibel said.
Reibel remembered Mr. Fent as a quiet man, but he was surprised to learn that Mr. Fent loved Rammstein, a German heavy metal rock band. “I almost fainted,” he said.
“I nicknamed a couple of songs after him: ‘Das Fent’ and ‘Du Hast,’” Reibel said. “He would smile and laugh.”
Mr. Fent met his wife, Amy, 47, through a mutual friend. One night, they spent hours talking on the phone and hit it off, she said. They dated for 10 years before getting married.
“My first thought when I saw him was, ‘He'll do,’” his wife said. “And he did. He'll do for the rest of our lives.”
His wife liked to watch his baseball games. She would read or listen to the radio.
“That's what he enjoyed, so I tried to support him,” his wife said.
Mr. Fent also had two pit bulls, Jester and Esa, that he took on walks and brought to games. "They’re spoiled rotten,” with plenty of treats and toys, his wife said.
“You name it, they get it,” she said. “They’re our children. We don’t have children.”
She said her husband was a “meat-and-potatoes kind of person,” with his go-to meal being pork chops. And he was a slow eater, she added.
“We’d get our meals, and then it would be we're still waiting on him to finish up his pork chops,” his brother said.
Mr. Fent also loved Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, his wife said. If a restaurant had peanut butter pie, she said, “we were getting peanut butter pie.”
When it came to milkshakes, Mr. Fent favored bubblegum flavor. His wife joked that she didn't understand his choice.
Friends and relatives said Mr. Fent always stepped up to support others — on and off the field.
During the winter, he shoveled sidewalks for a local ice cream shop and for his neighbors, his wife said.
“He quietly touched so many of our lives,” Reibel said. “He had his family and his baseball family. He loved them all.”
Services have been held. Mr. Fent is survived by his wife and his brother.