This weekend on the MLB network they were showing my all-time favorite movie The Pride of the Yankees. The film’s star is Gary Cooper. I have a wonderful friendship with Cooper’s daughter Maria so ironically I was on the phone with her just talking about life in general when all of a sudden the film was coming on. I told Maria that I had to go because I had to see her daddy. She laughed because she knew how much I loved that movie.
This film means so much to me because it has inspired me in so many ways.
There is a scene when you see Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig at a hospital visiting a sick boy. They both promise the boy to hit home runs. In Gehrig’s case, he promises to hit two homers if the little boy promises to try extra hard at getting better and walking again.
Several years later the little boy grows up and waits for a sick Lou Gehrig outside Yankee Stadium to let him know that he really tried hard and he can walk.
Because of that scene, I used to hang out outside Yankee Stadium just to watch the players come in and out of the park. This would ironically lead to a chance encounter one day with the historic owner of the Yankee George Steinbrenner.
Because I let peer pressure get the best of me I would get caught doing graffiti by the boss himself. Instead of having me arrested as he had planned for whatever the reason he decided to take me into the Yanks locker room and make me a batboy.
Because of the magical ride that I have lived through the years, I would always ask Mr. Steinbrenner how I could pay him back for what he had done for me and he would always say to just take care of the kids that fall through the cracks, those less fortunate.
It was then that I started taking players to schools and hospitals.
One of those guys has been Darryl Strawberry. He has been a wonderful soul to so many of these kids. At school, he always encourages these kids to work harder at getting better grades. He tells them that without good grades they can’t play sports.
The fact that Strawberry has beat cancer twice he is the perfect person to tell the patients that they too can survive.
Strawberry is never afraid to hug and let the kids know that he loves them.
He is so natural in reaching all the people that he visits because he truly cares. Nothing phony about the man.
I always used to tell Mr. Steinbrenner that every spring we should make all our first-time minor league players watch the Pride of the Yankees so that they can learn the true Yankee way right from the start.
If you and your family have never seen the Pride of the Yankees please do them and yourself a favor and watch it.
