By Todd E. Brady
Vice president for university ministries at Union University, Jackson
In the movie, A League of their Own, after making a bad throw, Evelyn (Bitty Shram) is yelled at by her coach and begins crying. Coach Jimmy Duggan (Tom Hanks), the brash and loud coach of the all-ladies baseball team, the Rockford Peaches screams “There’s no crying in baseball!”
The umpire steps in and tells Hanks, “Perhaps you chastise her too vehemently. A good rule of thumb—treat each of these girls as you would treat your mother.” Some might resist such kindness and say that there is no crying in baseball, but at least there should be compassion. Albert Almora Jr. of the Chicago Cubs showed us recently what compassion looks like.
In a game against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park during the top of the fourth inning, outfielder Albert Almora Jr. ripped a line drive foul ball which struck a young child in the stands. Almora kept his eyes on the ball as it went foul and hit the child. He immediately clasped his head with both hands. He then fell to his knees near home plate, buried his head in his arms and appeared to be crying. Teammate Jason Heyward and manager Joe Maddon went out to console him.
Todd Brady
Fans said that Minute Maid Park went quiet and that it was an “awful scene.” Nearby fan, David LeVasseur told the Houston Chronicle that as soon as the ball hit the girl, “All we heard was screaming” and “We saw this dad pick up his child and run up the stairs. He took off running.”
Almora struggled to finish his at bat and play through the inning. After the third out, he walked over to the stands where the girl and her family had been sitting to ask about the situation. After checking things out, cameras captured the big tough baseball player embracing the blond-haired security guard and sobbing on her shoulder. All this was played out in front of 30,000 fans and millions more at home.
At our house, you’ll often hear, “You’ve got to see this play” as we rush to the flat screen to watch a particular replay. While seeing a well-executed double play or a diving outfield catch or a long shot home run with my sons is something we all love to do together, I really wanted them to see this foul ball incident and how Almora reacted.
Some will undoubtedly use the event as an opportunity to debate about the extension of netting at baseball games. However, there is a more important thing for us to discuss here — and that is manhood.
While some believe that boys shouldn’t cry, and while Twitter was filled with disparaging comments about Almora’s show of emotion, it was indeed a good evidence of true masculinity — a man’s healthy and balanced compassionate strength — something our society, and particularly the boys in our society need to experience.
We see too many negative things among today’s athletes — rude cockiness, prideful showboating, ostentatious self-centeredness, immoral activity. Kids today hear of star players arrested for domestic violence and other illegal activity. In the midst of all this, Almora’s compassion (and his show of emotion) for a hurting child is a breath of fresh air.
Our family never roots for the Cubs, but Almora is my new hero. Sure he’s a great player who often does mind-bending acrobatics in centerfield, and he is someone who should be celebrated. As Christine Organ said, the beauty of his situation lies not in his “fancy catches or his superhuman athletic abilities,” but rather in his humanity. “Because regardless of whether he wins a gold glove or how many highlight reels he makes, his heart of gold is what makes him the real MVP.” B&R
