Pujols and James

James threw out the first pitch at the St. Louis Cardinals - Springfield Cardinals game. Dream come true not only for James but also for the family, James threw the pitch to Albert Pujols.

We all kind of wondered how he would do. He was in his "play to the crowd" mood. When he was asked to walk out to meet Albert Pujols, I asked James if he needed me to go or was he ok to go by himself. He turned to me and said, "go sit down". And with that he walked off with the Cardinals officials to meet Albert Pujols. We could see him talking up a storm and pointing to his family all standing up against the fence. Albert waved to us a couple of times and then James was asked to go and "fire away". He ran all the way to the pitchers mound and with great confidence wound up and threw the ball. The ball did not quite make it to home plate, but Mr. Pujols ran and scooped it up off the grass and went to congratulate James. He then signed the ball and handed it to James.

As we walked up the stairs to find our seats he was greeted by many of the fans in their chairs. James was smiling ear to ear. He felt like a rock star for the moment.

I had offered to buy him a hot dog after he pitched just to keep him from lingering on the field. He was glad to stand in line and claim the snack. He was loving the snacks, the pop and the whole baseball experience. When the vendor came walking by offering cold beer, his hand went up, just as it did for peanuts, kettle corn, cotton candy and any other snack offered. Needless to say we contented ourselves with the peanuts and said no to the rest of the snack buffet.

Special thanks to Lynn Neidigh, President of the Down Syndrome Support Group of the Ozarks, who made it all happen. We also want to thank Becky Morgan, Down Syndrome Support Group board member, who accompanied us as the official representative of the support group.