Please Pass Me a Tissue

Before I explain why I need a tissue, let me make a couple of things clear. The first is that I love sports. I am a sports zealot. I am obsessed with sports. Any way that you want to put it, I am a sports fanatic. Most of you either knew that or had a very strong idea. The second thing that I want to make clear is that I am a big softy. Whether it is a heartbreaking situation or a joyous moment, it doesn’t take much to make me tear up. I bet a lot of you didn’t know that, or even expected it.

It’s true. Given certain situations, I am a real crybaby. For instance, you know that sappy video of that crazy choreographed wedding entrance that was making the rounds on the Internet last week? I watched it four or five times and I got misty each time the bride made her way down the aisle. Come on! Did you see how happy she was?

Another example is the movie Bang the Drum Slowly. It is the story of the friendship between a star pitcher (Michael Moriarty) and a half-wit catcher (Robert De Niro) as they cope with the catcher's terminal illness through a baseball season. The first time I saw this movie was in 1982 on Christmas day. I cried when I saw it then and each of the dozen times since then.

Heck, I read Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie in one afternoon. The only hard part was finishing the last forty pages because my vision was blurred with tears and was I was having trouble breathing because I was sobbing.

Okay, so you know I have a passion for sports and that it doesn’t take much to get my waterworks going. So why do I need a tissue now?

Once again it involves sports and this time it includes a little boy with cerebral palsy.

The sport is baseball and the little boy is Mackail McGehee, the 2-½ -year-old son of Milwaukee Brewer infielder Casey McGehee.

On Saturday, July 11, the Brewers Players Wives hosted a special event, Jerseys Off Their Backs, to benefit United Cerebral Palsy of Southeastern Wisconsin. The event was very successful and the $50,000 it raised was presented last night before the Brewers’ game with the Nationals.

Little Mackail was honored as the guest of honor and he threw out the ceremonial first pitch with Prince Fielder's help. Dad Casey squatted and caught his son's toss as it rolled across the plate. Mackail received a loud standing ovation before his dad took him from Fielder's arms and held him during the national anthem.

The special night continued when Casey McGehee came on as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning and drove the ball into the Brewers' bullpen for a pinch-hit two-run home run that gave the team the lead and pushed it to an eventual 7-5 victory.

Pretty magical stuff, huh? Wait, there is more.

McGehee spoke to Mackail on the phone right after the game, and the toddler just had one thing to say: "Good hit, Daddy."

McGehee was quoted as saying, "That was about as good a congratulations as I could have got."

Now, could someone please pass me that tissue? Until next time…from the booth.