I went to St. Cloud on Tuesday for interviews involving St. Cloud State's No. 1-rated baseball team.
Coach Pat Dolan is from Cold Spring. When it comes to Minnesota, the famous Dolan clan comes from Milroy.
I asked Pat the same question he has been asked by Minnesota baseball people for 30 years: "Are you related to the Dolans from Milroy?''
Pat said that you would think he would be so related, in some fashion, but as far as he knew, he wasn't even a distant cousin.
The column and a few notes ran in the Star Tribune on Thursday. I received this e-mail from Jeanne Dolan Markell at 10:46 a.m. on Thursday:
"I read your piece today on the SCSU Huskies with pride, since coach Pat Dolan is my nephew. But I winced along with his dad Jim Dolan to read that Pat doesn't claim his shared Irish blood with the Milroy Dolans.
"I guess this auntie has to do a little family tree training with Pat … to let him know his grandpa Leo Dolan and the Milroy patriarchs were first cousins!
"Baseball is in our DNA.''
