Boy Who Played Catch With Willson Contreras Cherishes Memory

Many would see the above article as a heartwarming story of a professional athlete taking time out for a young fan, just as people would like to see professional athletes treat the children who idolize them.

As a Family Law attorney, I noticed something else even more touching to me. The Father texted the boy’s Mother, his ex-wife with this exciting news right away. This tells me that this family continues to enjoy co-parenting their child despite their divorce.

This is how all divorces should conclude- with parents texting each other about those moments in their lives that they can continue to share with pride together.

I know I will use this example in my divorce consultations, mediations and collaborative divorces. These parents got it right!

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By David Haugh  Contact Reporter   Chicago Tribune

May 25, 2017

On the way to a Wrigley Field parking lot after the best day of his life, 11-year-old Brodie Case stopped smiling last Friday only long enough to focus on the screen of a smartphone his stunned father asked him to read.

“On the ESPN App, the headline said ‘Young Cubs fan plays catch with Willson Contreras,'” Brodie recalled Thursday. “I was like, ‘Oh, wow, that’s cool, Dad. That’s me!'”

That was the kid whose innocent interaction with Contreras during a rain delay in the Cubs’ 6-3 loss the Brewers attracted 2.1 million views on the Cubs’ Facebook page — and counting. The kid who just finished the fifth grade at Somonauk Middle School in this small village of 1,884, about 65 miles west of Chicago, but will remember the moment if he ever takes his own children to the old ballpark. The kid who couldn’t believe it when Contreras made eye contact with him just before play resumed in the Brewers sixth inning.

“Contreras was just sitting there talking to the grounds crew and everybody was calling his name but he looked right at me and pointed,” Brodie said.

Naturally, the boy obeyed the gesture. An usher tried to stop Brodie from going to a spot about four rows behind the Cubs dugout, no more than 30 feet from where Contreras stood on the field in full gear. The usher relented after realizing the Cubs catcher had requested a game of catch with Brodie, who was wearing his Louisville Slugger glove.

“He threw it to me first and motioned for me to throw it back so I was like, ‘Oh, he wants to play catch,’ and we played catch,” Brodie said. “My first throw was pretty bad because I had a glove on and the ball kind of slipped. I got better. I was just concentrating on catching the ball so I wouldn’t embarrass myself. … I didn’t even pay attention to any cameras. I just kept thinking, ‘Don’t drop it.'”

Brodie flashed a good glove, his smile growing wider after each one of Contreras’ five tosses. Contreras told the Tribune’s Paul Sullivan his “spur of the moment” decision to start throwing to Brodie resulted from the enthusiastic 25-year-old “just trying to have fun before the game started again.”

A home crowd thinned considerably by blustery 46-degree conditions watched with amusement as Sean Case looked on with such amazement he forgot to videotape one of the nicest gestures anyone ever will see from a professional athlete.

“It was surreal, my son playing catch with a major-leaguer,” Brodie’s dad said.

Sean grew up on Addison Street in Wrigleyville, the kind of die-hard Cubs fan who sobbed calling Brodie after Game 7. He had seen hundreds of games at Clark and Addison but none affected him like this one, a Cubs’ loss lasting 5 hours, 26 minutes but worth staying for every second. When Sean picked up Brodie in the morning, he fibbed by telling him they were going to a museum in Chicago only to produce Cubs tickets upon hitting city limits. And yet that wasn’t even the biggest surprise of the day.

“Willson Contreras has a fan for life, my new favorite Cub,” said Sean, 40, who works at a car dealership in Bloomington, Ill. “I was like, ‘Brodie, where’d that day rate?’ He jumped up and reached his hand as high as it would go and said, ‘Way up here, Dad.’ It feels like he became an overnight internet sensation.”

Brodie flashed a good glove, his smile growing wider after each one of Contreras’ five tosses. Contreras told the Tribune’s Paul Sullivan his “spur of the moment” decision to start throwing to Brodie resulted from the enthusiastic 25-year-old “just trying to have fun before the game started again.”

A home crowd thinned considerably by blustery 46-degree conditions watched with amusement as Sean Case looked on with such amazement he forgot to videotape one of the nicest gestures anyone ever will see from a professional athlete.

“It was surreal, my son playing catch with a major-leaguer,” Brodie’s dad said.

Sean grew up on Addison Street in Wrigleyville, the kind of die-hard Cubs fan who sobbed calling Brodie after Game 7. He had seen hundreds of games at Clark and Addison but none affected him like this one, a Cubs’ loss lasting 5 hours, 26 minutes but worth staying for every second. When Sean picked up Brodie in the morning, he fibbed by telling him they were going to a museum in Chicago only to produce Cubs tickets upon hitting city limits. And yet that wasn’t even the biggest surprise of the day.

“Willson Contreras has a fan for life, my new favorite Cub,” said Sean, 40, who works at a car dealership in Bloomington, Ill. “I was like, ‘Brodie, where’d that day rate?’ He jumped up and reached his hand as high as it would go and said, ‘Way up here, Dad.’ It feels like he became an overnight internet sensation.”