I admired Mark Teixeira long before he joined the New York Yankees, respecting his baseball skills and his great attitude. But my admiration for him just grew by leaps and bounds.
Attending today's home opener between the Yanks and the Los Angeles Angels will be the family of Brian Ernst, a teenager who died of cancer in March. Teix spent time with the youngster shortly before he died, bringing joy to a young man who worshipped him and to his grateful family.
Professional athletes touch so many lives. For a teenager dying too young, it was a wonderful but temporary break from reality, an opportunity for him to spend time with his hero. For Teix, it was two hours out of one day of his life that ended up having a tremendous impact on him, to the point that, inspired by the young man, he scribbled a reminder of Ernst's message of faith into his Yankees cap.
Attending today's home opener between the Yanks and the Los Angeles Angels will be the family of Brian Ernst, a teenager who died of cancer in March. Teix spent time with the youngster shortly before he died, bringing joy to a young man who worshipped him and to his grateful family.
Professional athletes touch so many lives. For a teenager dying too young, it was a wonderful but temporary break from reality, an opportunity for him to spend time with his hero. For Teix, it was two hours out of one day of his life that ended up having a tremendous impact on him, to the point that, inspired by the young man, he scribbled a reminder of Ernst's message of faith into his Yankees cap.
Too often we hear the stories about athletes behaving badly, like Ben Roethlisberger. It's nice to be reminded every so often that those guys are the minority, that for every guy like Roethlisberger, there are guys like Mark Teixeira doing good things for people, not because they have to, but because they want to.
Thanks to chris.ptacek via Wikipedia for the photo.
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