Ken Griffey Jr is a class act

[Norbert]

and the Cincinnati Reds should be commended for doing the right thing.

CINCINNATI — Bill Summee has been a police officer since 1992, but nothing prepared him for the situation he encountered Wednesday night.

Summee, now a security officer for the Reds, responded to an emergency call to Section 143 at Great American Ball Park during the seventh inning. A man had collapsed, and paramedics were working on him.

As they tried to revive the man, who did not survive the apparent heart attack, an officer handed the man's 6-year-old grandson to Summee.


...


Once he had the boy, Summee's first order of business was to get Antonio out of the stands.

He wanted to get him away from where his grandfather was being treated.

"With all the commotion, I wanted to get him out of there," Summee said. "I took him down to the concourse. He laid his head on my shoulder and asked, 'Is my Pawpaw going to be all right?' "

Summee knew by then the boy's grandfather would not recover.

"We didn't think we should be the ones to tell him," Summee said. "We didn't lie to him, but we thought his parents should tell him."

At one point, the child asked: "How am I going to get home?"


...


Summee still wanted to get Antonio away from the stands, so he took him into the Reds' bullpen, where bullpen coach Tom Hume let him sit on the bench for the last two innings of the game.

Then Ken Griffey Jr. became aware of what was going on and took charge.

"Win or lose, he was coming in the clubhouse," Griffey said.

As the Reds wrapped up their 8-5 victory over the Braves, Griffey went to the bullpen and got the boy.

The players included Antonio in their high-five celebration. Then they took him into the clubhouse.

"We play a game," Griffey said later. "What he was going through doesn't compare.

"It was important that the little guy not be by himself."

...

"Ken Griffey Jr. was extraordinary," Summee said. "He went completely out of his way to do everything he could."

Said Griffey: "We just tried to make a bad situation a little better."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/reds/2005-08-05-kid-care_x.htm

[sasquatch]

1. Man, that should get him into the hall of fame by itself

[Pithlet]

2. What a guy.

:sniff: :cry: Everyone involved is a class act.

[blue neen]

3. Those baseball players really came through for the little guy.

It truly was a class act.