THE JOY OF THE FAN & ATHLETE CONNECTION

As I was going perusing the Internet today, I came upon a post by Pittsburgh Pirates star Andrew McCutchen on Facebook. McCutchen had visited the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and made himself a fan. The best part of the story is that the young man, Matt Graeber, gained a fan as well... Andrew McCutchen.

Matt wrote a letter to McCutchen thanking him for visiting the hospital where he was recovering from a brain abscess he suffered over the summer. He states in his letter how he was unsure about whether he would be able to play again, but luckily he is able to.

The weekend of September 26-27, Matt played baseball again and hit three home runs in what I'm assuming was a little league game. Along with the letter, Matt sent an autographed baseball to Andrew with the date Sept 26 and 230 ft. to center field. How awesome is that?!?

McCutchen's post on Facebook says:

Matt - thank you for the HR ball... and the autograph! More importantly, I'm so glad you're doing better and healing....
Posted by Andrew Mccutchen on Monday, November 2, 2015

What a fantastic letter by young Matt and an even better gesture by the superstar who did not have to go out of his way to respond to him. It just shows the kind of man Andrew McCutchen is.

McCutchen isn't the only athlete to do great things for people and/or the community. Just this past August, Alex Rodriguez, Brett Gardner and Dellin Betances, along with WWE superstar John Cena, surprised college baseball player, and son of one of the victims of the senseless victims in the June 17 shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, Chris Singleton on The Today Show in NYC, Read HERE.

Privileged to take part in @Yankees #HOPEWeek and to meet @csingleton__2 on the @TodayShow pic.twitter.com/fqpYziw3r6

— Alex Rodriguez (@AROD) August 17, 2015

Many of you may remember that the Yankees organization offered the young man the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at that night's Yankees game.

Feel good stories like this even date back to Babe Ruth's playing days. If you've ever seen the movie "The Babe" you would be familiar with Ruth visiting Johnny Sylvester in 1926 while Johnny was recovering from being kicked by a horse. He was suffering from swelling in his brain when The Babe caught wind of his story during the 1926 World Series. Babe signed a ball for him and it stated "I'll knock a homer for you in Wednesday's game."

He not only hit a home run, he hit three. Ruth also wrote a letter to Johnny following the World Series. The ball was sold at auction in 2014 for $250,000, while the letter was sold for $76,747 by Johnny Sylvester Jr.

Athletes and entertainers do not have to do things like this. It's not in their job description, but in their hearts. It's what good people do and when you have the fan base and influence to make a lasting impact on someone, in particular a young person, it shows who you really are and that you genuinely care.

It doesn't matter if I like the player or entertainer, whenever I see something like this, they have my respect forever.

Do you like this? Read this:
CONNECTION ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE


  
--Dan Lucia
BYB Writer
Twitter: @DManLucia

 



 

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