A Beautiful Soul

 I love this story.

I was sitting the in stands with Buck.  As a fly ball came close, a fan jumped up and caught it.  There was a kid nearby who looked longingly at the man and the ball in his hand.  The man smiled, put the ball in his pocket and sat down.

“What a jerk,” I said.  “It would have meant so much to the kid to have the ball.” Buck thought  for a moment, “Maybe the man has a kid at home.”  “Well, he’s still a jerk then for not bringing his kid to the game.”  “Maybe the kid is home sick and the ball will be even more special.”

Buck is Buck O”Neil.  The star of the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League.  He’s 94 when he’s in the stands with the writer Joe Posnanski.

The book about Buck is The Soul of Baseball.  Buck is the perfect person for this.