Rock Hill Boy Has Make-A-Wish Dream Come True
A Rock Hill Boy’s Make-A-Wish dream has come true. I’ve been around a lot of professional athletes over the years. Most of which are really good guys and gals. However, the actions of some have a tendency to cast a dark shadow over the whole group. Stories like this, should do as much to restore your faith in them as they do me.
What’s The Story Behind This Rock Hill Boy’s Make-A-Wish?
On the surface, Gunnar Gonzales is not unlike millions of 11-year-old boys this time a year. He loves baseball. The joy of his life is playing on his baseball travel team. And his favorite professional baseball player is Los Angeles Dodgers’ star first baseman, Freddie Freeman. There’s a catch, though. At birth, Gunnar was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis causes those afflicted to develop mucus thicker and stickier than the average person. It’s a genetic disorder and Gunnar’s 1 of about 40,000 across the nation with this issue. There’s no cure. That being said, he’s SO fortunate that the disease has not kept him from his baseball passion, but there’s not a day that he doesn’t struggle with the condition. His mother tells the Rock Hill Post and Courier, “He just wants to be a kid, but he has to take probably 30 pills a day. Gunnar had been really struggling a year ago. He just was very irritated of doing these treatments. He has to take a pill before he even puts anything in his mouth. And it’s very hard for a child to remember that.”
What’s This Rock Hill Boy’s Make-A-Wish?
So, what could bring some deep, meaningful relief to a boy battling like Gunnar Gonzales? How about making his dream a reality? The staff at Levine Children’s Hospital (where Gunnar is treated) suggested to the family that they apply to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to arrange a meeting between this brave boy and his hero, Freddie Freeman.
When Did This Rock Hill Boy’s Make-A-Wish Come True?
On July 1, the call came in from the Make-A-Wish folks and that weekend, Gunnar Gonzales and his family traveled to Los Angeles for a game of catch with Freddie Freeman. Shout out to ESPN for helping the Make-A-Wish folks facilitate this meeting (and arranging air travel and lodging near Dodger Stadium). And again, a HUGE shoutout to Freddie Freeman for being one of the good guys and making Gunnar Gonzales’ Make-A-Wish dream come true.
Top Five Country Stars Who Also Played Baseball
5 - Eric Church
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Eric played many sports in high school. He played baseball, basketball, football, and golf until a knee injury during his sophomore year in high school derailed his dreams of going pro. He told Greensboro.com a few years back, “I even played golf because, in my junior and senior years of high school, I realized that if you were a golfer, you got to leave at 10 a.m. to go to matches. You didn’t have to be at school all day, and, well, that’s me right there (laughs). So I picked up golf real quick when I realized you got to get out of class.”
4 - Kenny Chesney
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Kenny played baseball at Corryton, Tennessee’s Gibbs High School. He told ESPN several years ago why he was a die-hard Red Sox fan. He said, “It’s a product of, oddly enough, where I grew up. I didn’t grow up in the Northeast or New England at all. But when I was a kid, growing up, we didn’t have cable.The only access to baseball I had was ‘This Week in Baseball,’ and I looked forward to that as a kid. The only games they had on Saturdays always seemed like the Red Sox or Cincinnati Reds.” He added, “I loved those two teams growing up. Even playing Little League, I wanted to be on either the Reds or the Sox as a kid, so that’s where it started.”
3 - Scotty McCreery
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Scotty was his high school’s baseball team pitcher. Scotty was still pitching for his Garner Magnet high school in North Carolina while be competed on Americal Idol in 2011. At the time, the right-handed junior compiled a 6-1 record with a superb 1.07 earned run average.
2 - Brett Young
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Young played baseball in College. Brett was a pitcher on his high school baseball team and led the squad to a CIF championship. He went to Ole Miss on a baseball scholarship in 1999 after turning down the pre-draft selection by both Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Minnesota Twins. His pursuit of a professional baseball career was cut short by an elbow injury while at Fresno in 2003.
1 - Garth Brooks
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Garth played in the spring training camps of two MLB teams in the late 1990s. In 1998, Brooks launched his Touch ’em All Foundation with Major League Baseball. He also began with a short career in baseball when he signed with the San Diego Padres for spring training in 1998 and 1999. The following season, Garth signed with the New York Mets. In 2004, Brooks returned to baseball with the Kansas City Royals. He got his first and only hit off Mike Myers during his final spring training game with the Royals.
