After we had taken a walk around the entire ballpark I decided to head down to the railing separating fans from the field to get some pictures of the outfielders stretching.  Carlos Gomez, the Brewers centerfielder (and also a favorite of mine) was about thirty feet in front of me so I started to snap some pictures.  As I snapped picture after picture of a grown man stretching, I felt like a member of the paparazzi! While I was contemplating whether this constituted stalking or not I noticed a small kid standing next me, I smiled at him and turned back to my thoughts and stalking.

“Carlos!”  The little boy yelled.  His voice was filled with excitement as he yelled again, louder this time, “Carlos!” I looked over at the kid as he began jumping up and down, his father was standing about a foot away, “His favorite player.”  The dad said to me.

“Mine, too.”  I replied as I watched the young boy screaming for his favorite player.

“One minute!”  Carlos’ thick Caribbean voice boomed back.  The little boy whipped around and put  his hand out in front of his dad within a blink of an eye a pen and a baseball were in the kids tiny hands, “He said, one minute! He’s coming over here!”  The kids voice was actually squeaking with excitement and my heart even began to race as the man I had just been taking pictures of started walking toward us.  The little boy looked at me as I knelt down to get some pictures of the big centerfielder as he made his approach and said, “Gomez is coming!”  I wish I could accurately depict how cute this kids voice was, he sounded like a chipmunk had sucked in some helium and it made the whole thing more memorable.  I nodded as Gomez reached the railing, “Gomez,” the kid whispered shyly, “could you sign this?”  I took this picture at that moment, look at the kids face.  He has just met his idol! He is literally inches from his favorite baseball player.  I went to get another picture but my hands were shaking too badly.  After he signed the kids ball Carlos also let the kid’s dad take a picture of them together.  I have never seen someone so happy and I was so glad that I was there to see it.  It isn’t everyday a young kid actually gets to meet his hero and I know that the little kid and his dad will never forget that moment either.  This picture is just another reason why I love baseball and photography, I always look for certain moments to capture so they can tell a story later but yet I think if I would have just posted this without any commentary you could have figured out how important that moment was for that little kid.  I was honored to be there to share it with them and it was also really cool to see a young kid so enthusiastic about baseball and even though the Brewers lost I will never forget that game, or this picture…….PEACE!!!!!!!