Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park in Philly was Autism Awareness Night and the ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by a young man with autism named Joseph Dever. Joseph took the opportunity to have a blast, and we loved every second of it. Everyone can learn a lesson from the amount of fun Joseph squeezed out of 30 seconds.
The 700 Level did a perfect job in describing the goodness:
First, he does the old glove to the face trick to communicate with someone about pitch selection (we assume), then he gets into a serious pitching position before balking to get the crowd pumped up. What a showman! Finally, after delivering a pretty decent pitch to the Phillie Phanatic, the kid makes your heart melt by imitating Brad Lidge’s legendary fall-to-his-knees celebration following the Phillies winning the World Series in Game 5 in 2008. But the cuteness doesn’t stop there, as one of his little lady friends runs out and tackles him to the ground. Amazing.
Pretty awesome, huh?