Drew Bonner had one of the more memorable walks you will ever see in any baseball game, no matter the level of skill. Drew was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and by the age of 11 the disease had taken over his body, which made sports impossible to play.
Drew has done everything he can to stay near the sport of baseball that he can, and has been a team manager at Fairfax High School in Virginia for the past four years. During that time he has done everything within his power to help the squad, including ‘keeping statistics, advising the coaches on pinch-hitting moves and even corralling balls with the wheels of his chair during practice’
This past Monday night, the school held “Drew Bonner Night” to honor the young man with a huge heart and as part of the special evening Fairfax Coach Rick Freeman thought up a special way to honor Bonner. Freeman arranged for Bonner to get a ceremonial at-bat, and the moment was as special as it gets. Words don’t do it justice, so just enjoy the video.
The Washington Post has the full write-up on the special day which you should read HERE.
“It was a lot of fun and brought back some good memories from when I used to play,” Bonner said Tuesday afternoon. “I wasn’t nervous, but I was pretty excited. I can remember playing baseball all my life and it’s just one of the things that I really love to do.”
“It was perfection,” Bonner’s mother, Jan, said. “It captured the sportsmanship, the love, the whole team, the school and even [Fairfax County]. The other team as well was just fabulous. It epitomizes what great sportsmanship is all about.”
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