The Incredible Gift of Buddy Baseball

Last year, I wrote an article for the Buffalo Grove Patch about the Blessing of Buddy Baseball. I wrote about the athletes who get to play baseball on this very special team designed especially for extra special kids with special needs. At Buddy Baseball, they are ALL athletes. They are superstars and get wild cheers from the crowd. It is incredible.

But yesterday, my husband and I were part of "the other side" of the incredible gift of Buddy Baseball... It's incredible not just for the athletes, but for the Buddies as well. 

Our boys are both Buddies this year. For one of our sons, it comes very naturally. He doesn't have to think twice about being there and being a part of the game. There is no place on a Saturday morning in spring where he would rather be. Yesterday after the game, he brought the White Sox player he was paired with to us and said, "I want you to meet my new friend Alec!" Awesome.

But our other son was a little less enthused about spending his Saturday mornings at Buddy Baseball games. Being a teenager, he'd rather spend his Saturday mornings in bed, playing video games, and eating. But after some coaxing yesterday, we were able to get him dressed in his red Buddy jersey and to Kendrigan Field on time. And that was where the magic happened. 

Within minutes, he was paired with the sweetest little guy on the Cubs, Nicholas. Nicholas immediately took our son's hand and didn't let go of it for the next 90 minutes. They were fast friends, and our "less-enthusiastic" son smiled from ear to ear the entire game. At one point, he was holding Nicholas' hand with one hand, and high-fiving everyone else on the team with the other. He was having a ball.

During the car ride home, this son-who-didn't-want-to-participate told us that after the game, Nicholas' teacher-aide from school came up to him and told him that Nicholas doesn't usually bond that well with boys (usually only girls-- who can blame him?!) and they were hoping that our son would be there to be his Buddy throughout the summer. He was beaming as he told us that he didn't want to miss any games- he had an incredible day.

So, that's the other side of the incredible gift of Buddy Baseball. We feel so blessed to have been introduced by our good friends, the Parkers, to Buddy Baseball last year. It truly is a blessing for ALL- the athletes, the Buddies, the families… everyone who is at Kendrigan Field on Saturday mornings at 9:30am and Wednesday evenings.

If you haven't been to a game yet, it is not to be missed. (But as I mentioned last year, just make sure you get there early enough to get a clapper!)
To get involved in Buddy Baseball, please contact Buddy Ball League Director Allen Katz   buddy@bgrabaseball.org