Diamondbacks giving back to society
I was reading an article on espn.com and I could not help but realize that there are still good people in the sporting world. My original article was to be about star athletes and their power over officials and sporting franchises, but that is an article that I can save for another time, this story needs to be told and right now would be no better time.
I have criticized baseball for not being able to keep players in check and allowing them to use steroids. In fact if I remember correctly, I said that baseball was not the same great game that I enjoyed as a child.
This archived article was written by: David Osborne Jr.
I was reading an article on espn.com and I could not help but realize that there are still good people in the sporting world. My original article was to be about star athletes and their power over officials and sporting franchises, but that is an article that I can save for another time, this story needs to be told and right now would be no better time.
I have criticized baseball for not being able to keep players in check and allowing them to use steroids. In fact if I remember correctly, I said that baseball was not the same great game that I enjoyed as a child.
The Arizona Diamondbacks for the last two years have been putting families on “ticket” scholarships allowing them to come to the games. Apparently this started when a woman who had season tickets lost everything, and one of the other fans that sat in the same section as her bought season tickets for her and even picked her up and took her to the game and back home.
Derrick Hall, CEO of the Diamondbacks franchise, decided that the team could do something like this, so he announced that applicants would be taken and pretty soon his e-mail was filled.
Stories of children that were made fun of because of their family’s financial situation were just a few of the stories that Hall received. Other stories included fathers getting laid off, and families going through terrible divorces with a huge effect on the children, and even a story about a firefighter who has been going through a rough stretch with a lot of injuries.
In all, Hall decided that 18 lucky families would receive this small gift from the franchise. The total number of tickets given away was 41, and has a value worth almost $100,000.
The saddest story out of all though is that of Beth Godfrey who was battling leukemia. Godfrey won the tickets and then died afterward. As for the tickets that she won, they are being donated to a charity in her name.
I realize that I shouldn’t judge the whole sport based on a couple of miscues by players, trainers and managers. This story should be recognized as one of the positive events in the history of baseball, and hopefully other ball clubs will follow in suit of the Diamondbacks.
