Professional Sports and their Athletes are really good when it comes to charity. There are plenty of reasons for this: it helps keep public image good, it works towards dispelling the (often true) notion of the rich and greedy athlete, and probaby most common, Athletes are people too, just people with more money and more ability to make a difference.

Major League Baseball seems to have a tendency to focus on children. America has made no bones about its athlete hero worship, and it rings especially true about Baseball. Luckily, MLB has been great with charity. It goes all the way back to those storys of Babe Ruth showing up just in time to the Polo Grounds because he’d been signing autographs at a children’s hospital, to now, with programs like Wakefields Warriors, The Gabe Kapler Foundation, and especially MLB’s partnership with the Make-A-Wish program.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Make-A-Wish. For those of you who don’t know, Make-A-Wish selects very ill (almost ALWAYS terminal cases) and helps give them the experiance of a lifetime. A lot of these dreams are trips to Disney World, or to “Own a Pony.” It just seems right. Instead of buying these kids toys, and other mundane things, you’re giving them memories, and very few diseases can take those away. Recently, ESPN has been running Make-A-Wish segments on SportsCenter, where they they show you the Kid behind the disease, and take you through their life, showing you what that person has to go through. Then, they literally make the kid’s dream come true. Being ESPN, it’s all sports related, and for the most part, it’s really touching. These world class, millionare superstars willingly took time out of their life to be with these unfortunte kids. Some were great with the kids, like Philadelphia Eagles Coach Andy Reid, Running Back Bryan Westbrook, Quarterback Donovan McNabb and Wide Reciever Greg Lewis, and Pats Linebacker Tedy Bruschi. Some were slightly uncomfortable but more than willing, such as Jeff Gordan, and the whole of the Seatle Mariners, but the one I really want to talk about is Todd Helton.

Helton is a 9 year Major League veteran, with a career .334 batting average, 1612 hits, 281 Home Runs, 958 RBI’s, and 3 Gold Gloves, all for the largely pathetic Colorado Rockies. He was Peyton Manning’s back-up at the University Of Tennessee, and with a few more good seasons, the guy’s a Hall Of Famer.

On top of all of this, he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever seen.

The kid in the segment, Andrew Pointer, had a series of ailments, including vision problems, uncontrollable weight issues, and kidney failure. His favorite team? The Rockies. His favorite player? Todd Helton. The Rockies rolled out the red carpet for this kid, holding a “Press Conference” to announce his “Signing.” They let him into the locker-room before a game (with his very own locker with his name above it), they gave him his very own uniform, from the hat to the warm-up jacket, to the pants, and then they took him out to the home dugout. Other members of the Rockies came over to see Andrew, and honestly seemed comfortable despite his slighty off-setting appearance. Finally, his family took him, in his wheelchair, right out onto Coors Field, and he got to meet his idol, Todd Helton.

Here’s where I was amazed. Because of his conditions, Andrew Pointer is short, and very heavy, as well as quiet and mostly unexpressive. Helton came out and treated him, not just like the person he his, he was genuinely, and I mean GENUINELY kind. The kid really reacted well, smiling almost awestruck, like it was (and I REALLY think it was) the happiest day of his life. Helton coached Andrew while the boy hit balls off of a tee, encouraging him and giving him advice. At one point, Andrew asked Todd “Am I hitting the ball hard enough,” and, on camera, you could see this full-grown man, a superstar, world class, athlete choke up. Barely missing a beat, Helton told Andrew, enthusiastically, that he WAS hitting the ball hard enough. Finally, he took Andrew off to the side and, in age old baseball charity tradition, told the sick child that he would try his hardest to get a hit for the boy. Then Helton told him, simply, honestly, “You did good.” To sum it all up, in his his first at-bat of the game, Helton ripped a line-drive down the left field line, with Andrew watching from a luxury box above the field.

I have no clue of knowing, but Todd Helton just seems like the kind of guy who’s gonna think about that kid, and check up on him, because honestly, there aren’t that many Rockies fans to begin with, and Helton seemed to really connect with this introverted, seriously-ill child. Also, Todd has publicly stated his dedicated Christianity (scores some serious points in my book), and I’m sure he’s praying for Andrew Pointer. Now that I’ve heard his story, I am too.

My point is, the next time you want to dig at a Professional Athlete for holding out for more money, or for beating his wife right outside of a downtown Boston bar, or for crashing his motorcycle which he was driving without a license even though his contract says not to, remember, for every bonehead, there are a couple of honestly good guys making up for him.

And to you Todd Helton, God bless you, although I’m sure you don’t need ME to say it.