The script was pure Disney, all except for the lack of a Diamondbacks’ victory.
The scene: Chase Field on Wednesday night, a showdown between the surprising D-backs and defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants.
The central character: D-backs outfielder Willie Bloomquist, a day removed from miraculously walking away from a major traffic accident with only minor bumps and bruises.
The payoff: A night at the ballpark that 11-year old Abe Speck will never forget.
It was a twist on the Babe.
Speck called the shot.
Bloomquist hit it.
Bloomquist has 15 major league home runs in nine major league seasons, but none was more meaningful than the one he had in the third inning Wednesday in front of Abe, some family members and his friend Max Siegel.
Every home stand, Bloomquist invites a patient from Phoenix Children’s Hospital to attend a game. He gives his guests an inside look at the D-backs’ clubhouse and brings them onto the field for batting practice. Bloomquist signed a bat for Abe and Max and had other players sign, too.
Of course they talked baseball, and during the course of the day Speck asked Bloomquist where players point when they hit home runs. Bloomquist said he did not hit enough homers to have a routine down pat.
Abe, contacted Thursday, took it from here: “So I said, ‘If you hit a home run today, will you point to me? I have a feeling you will hit one tonight.’
“He was really bombing them in batting practice.”
Sure enough, Bloomquist hit one in the first row of the left-field bleachers in the third inning to tie the game at one.
“As I was rounding the bases, I thought, ‘No way this is happening,’” Bloomquist said.
“That’s the secret — I have to have him come out to more games, I guess.”
As Bloomquist touched the plate, he turned to Section 129 and pointed.
“The boys were going crazy, screaming and jumping up and down. His lucky patient. It was a magical moment,” said Abe’s mother, Lisa.
“He came home last night and said it was the best night of his life.”
Bloomquist established a foundation after signing as a free agent with the D-backs this winter. He played at Arizona State and has lived here for years, the place he calls home, and said he wants to become more active in the community.
“It’s my turn to give back,” he said.
Incidentally, the special moment for Abe came a day after Bloomquist’s car was totaled in a traffic accident when he was rear-ended. The force of the collision threw his head around, and he said the driver’s-side air bag “hit me like a Mike Tyson left hook.”
“I’m very fortunate in a lot of ways. To be playing the game was something that maybe I shouldn’t be. I’m just trying to be thankful for the opportunity to play and thankful that I’m here right now,” Bloomquist said.
“Having a guy like that out to the game certainly brightens my spirits. I enjoy it. It’s more for me than it is for them. It puts things in perspective.”
Speck, who is recovering from intestinal issues he has had since he was 2, is a big baseball fan and an All-Star in the Arcadia Little League. He will turn 12 in three weeks.
“It was like five birthday presents,” he said of his day at the park.
“Number one by a mile.”
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