Yea, I root for the Yankees, and, yea, the Boston Red Sox are the Evil Empire, but this story is just cool:
When Justin Allan Rollins learned that he was being deployed to Iraq last year, the soldier had a mission of his own: to see his beloved Boston Red Sox play at Fenway Park one last time.
Spec. Rollins saw more than just a game that summer day. He got to meet one of his heroes, Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. Ortiz signed a ball for him. Later, in the stands, Rollins turned to his father.
“He said, ‘If David Ortiz hits a home run, I can die a happy man in Iraq,’ ” recalled Kathryn Hanson, a close family friend. “His father thought it was the most eerie thing he had ever heard.”
The Red Sox won that June 24 game against the Phillies — with a home run by Ortiz. And this month, Rollins, 22, of Newport, N.H., died in Iraq. He was killed March 5 in Samarra, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit during combat.
But even as he was buried yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery, Rollins’s memory lived on for the player whose heart he had touched.
Ortiz was so broken up upon learning of Rollins’s death that he sent a white No. 34 jersey to the funeral Saturday in Rollins’s home town — with an inscribed baseball he wanted placed inside the coffin. The jersey, displayed at the funeral and wake, contained a dedication to the young soldier: “My deepest condolences to the Rollins family. It was an honor to meet Justin and I will keep him in my prayers. Sincerely, David Ortiz.”
Say what you will about the war, or about some sports rivalry that in the end doesn’t amount to a hill of beans, but that’s just cool.
March 21st, 2007 at 8:13 am
Very cool indeed. I am an O’s fan myself, and the Yankees and Red Sox are both evil empires to me, but my respect for Ortiz has jumped a thousand-fold.
March 21st, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I agree completely.