Matt Kemp’s Heartwarming Gesture for a Dodgers Fan Battling Cancer (Video)
By Josh Hill
Matt Kemp may be just an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he demonstrated how much a class act he was while in San Francisco for a series against the Giants. Before last week’s game, a Dodger fan — a father who was attending the game with his son who is battling cancer– asked Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach if he could have Matt Kemp come over and say a quick hello to his son. Wallach didn’t say no, but also didn’t say he could promise anything.
After watching the Dodgers battle the Giants, Wallach strode back over to the father and son sitting in the first row, and brought along a friend: Matt Kemp. As baseball players usually do, Kemp signed some balls and shook some hands but that’s where Kemp stopped being a normal baseball player and became an amazing human being.
Kemp signed the boy’s ball and handed it back to him. Then he handed the kid his hat. Then he unbuttoned his game-worn jersey and handed it to him as well. Just when you thought he was done, Kemp kicked off his cleats and handed those to the fan as well.
Baseball is a funny game, it plays with your emotions and it’s deep with tradition. One of those traditions is enjoying the game as a father and then passing that down to your son. This just about tops any father-son baseball story that has ever existed and likely won’t be topped ever. This was more than a kid battling cancer getting showered with gifts from an outstanding human being. This was a father and a son sharing a memory more valuable than any of the items handed away from Kemp.
What Matt Kemp did in San Francisco goes above and beyond what most of us do in our everyday life. There was nothing forcing him to go over to the fan, in fact it was clear across the diamond. But he did, and he gave a father and a son an invaluable memory they’ll both cherish for a long time.
“I didn’t plan on taking my jersey off. It was just something I felt would have probably cheered him up a little bit, helped him out a little bit. I just did it,” Kemp said. “I think life is so much bigger than baseball. We just got swept by the Giants, but that’s something I felt I needed to do and I’m glad I got to do that. Hopefully, that made the kid’s day.”
Try to not get goosebumps or a lump in your throat from watching that video, because it’s more than a cool viral clip — it was a moment of genuine human decency being displayed and we can all take a page out of Matt Kemp’s book.