A tip of the hat goes out to the Cleveland Indians; In particular, to Ubaldo Jimenez, who made my son’s 16th birthday something special.  Click the more tab to find out what I’m talking about.

So there I am with my two sons, Christopher and Nicholas, and we are sitting just behind the center field fence at Progressive Field.  It’s my son’s 16th birthday, Nicholas.  We got to the park early to watch the Tribe take some batting practice.  But wouldn’t you know it, there was a chance of rain and they had the tarp on the field, so no batting practice. Just my luck I’m thinking.

My older son, Christopher,  says he’s gonna go and watch Ubaldo Jimenez do some warming up in the bullpen.  So he walks over there and checks it out.  In the meantime Nick and I are checking out the ball park.  Then we hear an announcer say that the ballpark is now open and you can go to your seats.  So Nick and I get up to go and get Christopher and just as we go to get him, Ubaldo stops pitching.  I’m thinking wow, we really struck out on our chances to get a ball ya know?  But wait! All is not lost!  Just as they stop pitching, the catcher turns around and tosses a ball to my son Christopher!  Then I shout out to Ubaldo, “Hey Ubaldo! It’s my son’s 16th birthday! Can I get a picture?”  He walks over to us, stops, gives us a tip of the cap and smiles and tosses Nick the ball!  What a class act!  I can’t tell you how big the smiles were on my boy’s faces!  In this world of professional sports, and the millions of dollars that the players make, it is so refreshing to know that there are a few of them out there that remember what the game is all about.

Ubaldo Jimenez…THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh yeah, I was smiling too!