Undoubtedly we’ve all heard the story of the man who did the right thing. Last week Derek Jeter made history by becoming only the 28th baseball player ever to reach the 3,000 hit plateau. In typical Jeter fashion, hit number 3,000 was a 420-foot home run to the left field seats. I’m sure you’ve asked yourself what would you have done if you were the lucky fan who caught that ball? Would you auction the ball off? It was estimated to fetch a bid of over $250,000, not bad for a day’s work. Would you keep it for yourself? Luckily hit number 3,000 fell into the hands of Christian Lopez, a 23-year-old diehard Yankee fan who wanted nothing but to return the ball to its rightful owner, “Mr. Jeter.” Just to put how selfless this act was into perspective, Lopez has over $150,000 of outstanding student loans. He easily could have taken this opportunity to wipe that slate clean and take that enormous weight off of his shoulders by putting the ball up for auction.
So far Lopez has received four Champion Suite tickets for the rest of the season (including playoffs), tons of signed memorabilia, Mr. Modell’s 2009 Yankees World Series ring, appearances on YES network and ESPN, his own baseball card, and two companies pitching in over $25,000 each to help with his student loans. He’s met Derek Jeter, Jay-Z, and countless other stars that we only get to read about. So far it looks like it pays to be good. Of course Yankee haters are talking about how much taxes he will have to pay on the memorabilia, etc. Miller High Life has come out and said they would pay his tax bill since he exemplifies “living the high life’ (shut up Miller, way to plug yourself [but that’s pretty nice of you anyway])
Amidst all these good deeds there is still so much hatred for the Yankees. I am an avid Yankee fan and all I have to say is that Christian Lopez is proof that the Yankees can’t be an “evil empire”. If someone this pure of heart can love a team so much, to turn down the possibility of thousands of dollars they can’t be bad. And if they were bad, they would have patted him on the back and said, “Thanks for the ball” and sent him on his way. (Actually if they were evil I imagine they would have punched him in the face and took the ball) They wouldn’t have showered him with gifts and praise. Seriously, there is nothing less evil than a baseball card.
Everyone hates on the Yankees because they think they buy championships. I’m sorry, this is a business and they pay for the best players because they have the fan support to do it. I’ve gone to an Orioles game in Baltimore and they were literally giving tickets away. Seriously, there was a police officer giving out tickets, it was unreal. How can you expect to attract talent when O’s “fans” don’t even show up for games?
When all is said and done Christian’s action was a great example of someone who did the right thing and is getting rewarded for it … and that the Yankees Rule! Specifically Derek Jeter.
No comments:
Post a Comment