Patrick Brogan, Outfielder
California University of Pennsylvania
Today the team and I had an unforgettable experience as we got to play the St. Louis Cardinals Dominican Summer league squad. After driving through the streets of the Dominican Republic the past week it was night and day when we arrived to this facility. Pristine fields and pristine facilities is truly an understatement. The St. Louis Cardinals players and coaches were extremely welcoming when we arrived. Walking off the bus it was evident that these players only had one thing in mind, and that was to play ball. They live and breath baseball down here because unfortunately it is there only chance they have to get off the island. Once we started to play Coach Hudak our head coach had asked the coach of the opposing team for Cardinals hats. Of course our coach was willing to pay for them however, the other coach ran off and came back with enough Cardinals shirts for our entire team. The Cardinals coach had no desire to receive money either and said for us to keep them. This was an amazing act of kindness from this organization and the individuals here. This act touched me because even though it is a major league organization, these individuals come from nothing. So, for them to just give away 20 shirts was an amazing act that I will never forget. Looking back upon my experience here in the Dominican Republic so far, I have seen things that I never thought I would see. Good, bad, and indifferent however, it is truly remarkable how God touches each and every individual in this country. These people have nothing yet they act like they have everything. This is an experience that I will never forget and I just want to thank my family for all the support they gave me to make this possible. Without them I would not have grown as far in my faith and would not have had these once in a lifetime opportunities.
