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Mike
Sweeney, starting first baseman
for the Kansas City Royals, is a
big man. Alan “Scooter”
Williams, three-year veteran of
the Miracle League of Michigan
Dodgers, is a little boy.
This
not-as-odd-as-you’d-think couple
met a few months back at a
charity event in Las Vegas,
alongside folks who included Jay
Leno and Garth Brooks.
What
happened in Vegas didn’t
stay in Vegas, and the world is
better for it.
The
big man and the little boy hit
it off like gangbusters. The
relationship has brought their
families closer to one another.
They are in regular contact; I’m
told that Mike calls Scooter
every day when the Royals come
to town.
Mike
promised Scooter that if the
Royals were ever in Detroit on a
day the Dodgers had a game, he
would visit Wal-Mart Field, be
Alan’s “buddy” and help him play
Miracle League baseball. That’s
a mighty important promise to
make around these parts.
July
15 found the Royals in Detroit,
halfway through a four-game
series with the Detroit Tigers,
who were almost as hot as the
weather at Wal-Mart Field. The
Dodgers were there, with the
Miracle League Angels, ready for
their 1 p.m. game.
I
was all set to announce the
starting lineups when Steve Peck
got a message to the announcer
booth. He told me to announce
that the game was going to be
delayed for a few minutes, but
asked me to hold off on
announcing the reason why just
yet. Steve, you see, had just
gotten a phone call from an
important guest on his way to
the field in a taxi – Mike
Sweeney.
The
cab showed up a few minutes
later; out stepped the slugging
Sweeney and another man whose
name I never got and whose
reason for being there is
unknown to me.
Sweeney then spent the next
hour, in a fabulous example of
interleague play, as Alan’s
“buddy,” all while seeing his
first Miracle League game. He
signed all the autographs, shook
all the hands, posed for all the
pictures. He was gentle,
gracious and every inch a
gentleman. Scooter looked like
it might have been the best day
of his life – and so did
Sweeney.
Sweeney did it without fanfare.
There was no phalanx of PR
people; no photographer to make
sure that there’d be proof that
the five-time All-Star had
stopped by. He just came out
because he thought it was the
right thing to do.
As
he was leaving, and in
conversations with Steve Peck
the next day at Comerica Park, I
learned a few more things:
1.
Sweeney had a wonderful time and
wants to come back at his next
opportunity.
2.
He
wants to become involved with
the Miracle League in a much
greater fashion.
3.
He
would like to start a Miracle
League program in Kansas City.
I’ve
been part of more special
Miracle League moments than
almost anybody has. But nothing
can top what I saw the day a big
man kept a promise to a little
boy.
Contact Vic Doucette:
Vic@MichiganMiracle.org |
