For the second straight Friday, we had a great baseball adventure! Back in the spring, old friend Brian Hendrickson reached out to the Cleveland Indians to see if they would do something for Jack. They very generously sent him a nice gift package including an autographed picture of manager Terry Francona in addition to a couple Indians t-shirts.
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| Jack and his new signed Carlos Carrasco jersey |
We thought that this was very nice of them, but much to my surprise, Curtis Danburg, who is the team's Senior Director of Communications and (as best we can tell) one of the nicest folks you could hope to find, followed that up with a phone call inviting Jack and our family to come to a game of our choosing. This Friday's game fit perfectly between chemo treatments, family travels, and heading off to college. It was also of great interest to Jack because it was an opportunity to see Albert Pujols, Jack's favorite player dating back to the days when Pujols played for the Cardinals and we were in St. Louis. In fact, it was in emulation of Pujols that Jack played first base and has always selected uniform number five when given a choice!
We arrived at the ballpark about 4:00, and Curtis met us with four Indians caps and a bag with two baseballs in it for Jack to get autographed. He then took us down to the field, where the Indians pitchers were tossing. Once they got done, he brought over Carlos Carrasco. "Cookie" (as he's known) has been one of the top pitchers in the American League the last five years, with an ERA of 3.27, averaging over ten strikeouts per nine innings pitched. Earlier this season though, he was feeling lethargic before ultimately being diagnosed with leukemia, just like Jack.
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| Cookie and Jack |
It was a great encouragement for Jack to meet a big leaguer battling with leukemia, and working hard to get back on the field. As Carrasco put it, "I like to say that I may have cancer, but cancer doesn't have me."
Carrasco gave Jack a signed jersey, and autographed both a baseball and a card that we brought to the game.
After meeting with Carrasco, we stayed down on the field while the
visiting Los Angeles Angels took batting practice. This was a real treat
not only because we got to see Pujols, but also becasue we got to see Mike Trout, who is generally considered
the best baseball player in the world. The ball did indeed jump off his
bat in a way that was different than other players!
After batting practice, we were able to get Jack a couple more autographs: Angels outfielder Justin Upton signed a card we brought and Caroline got Trout to sign a baseball.
After batting practice, we were able to get Jack a couple more autographs: Angels outfielder Justin Upton signed a card we brought and Caroline got Trout to sign a baseball.
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| Carrasco wearing Jack's bracelet for the ceremonial "first pitch" |
The Indians provided us with wonderful seats and we thoroughly enjoyed the game as the home team won handily, but we also got to see the great Trout hit a home run in his first at bat.
After the game, they had a fireworks show scheduled celebrating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock. As the game was winding down, we were commenting to one another as to how we were going do need to move because the overhang above us was going to obstruct our view. No sooner had we begun to discuss this than we received a text from Curtis asking if we were staying for the fireworks, and if we were, would we like to watch them from the visitors' dugout? Of course we were thrilled to take him up on the offer! It was a great show and a fabulous we to top off an unbelievable experience at the ballpark!
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| In the dugout post-game for fireworks |
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| Fireworks at Progressive Field |
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| Mike Trout and Albert Pujols stride to the batting cage pre-game |
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| Trout signs for Caroline |
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| Carlos Carrasco 59 |
