Braves Veteran Reflects Years After Father Killed Mom

This is a truly heartbreaking story from Major League Baseball that shows the impact that family violence can have on children:

While waiting for a friend to pick him up, [Greg] Norton walked upstairs to check on his mother. There he found Helen Norton bruised and motionless. Around her neck rested a tie that her husband, Jerry Norton, used as a murder weapon.

"She was strangled to death with one of his ties," Norton said. "She was on the floor wrapped up at the base of the bed. I unwrapped her and checked her pulse."

Through the eyes of a 16-year-old kid rested a mother, who had been dead long before he entered her bedroom. When the investigators arrived, they found a botched attempt to stage a robbery and quickly deduced that this murder was an act of domestic violence.

Later that evening, Jerry Norton was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. While still grieving the loss of his mother, Greg bailed his father out of jail and then resided with him during parts of the next two years, simply hoping that the man who had taught him baseball and many other life lessons was indeed innocent.

Two summers later, Jerry Norton, a former Minor League outfielder in the Pirates organization, was charged with first-degree murder. Still with heavy evidence pointing toward the fact that a just ruling had been reached, Greg continued to chase and realize the Major League dream while holding out some hope that his father didn't commit this crime.

Through his foundation, Phillies left-handed pitcher Jamie Moyer created Camp Erin, a bereavement camp created for children who have lost a loved one. Jaena helped raised funds for this charity over the course of the past three years and accompanied Braves pitcher Tim Hudson's wife, Kim, to a camp that was held in Hampton, Ga., earlier this year.

Emotionally moved by what they witnessed, both Kim and Jaena returned to tell their husbands about a 7-year-old boy who had watched his mother die at the other end of a gun held by her boyfriend.

Some time this summer, Norton will help create a video that will allow these kids to understand that he overcame some of the same adversity that they are currently facing.

"It's something that I want to get involved with," Norton said. "I just want to help somebody or at least make them feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel. I have a story that shows that things can work out."

Visit the MLB.com for the full article.