Matt’s Day with the A’s

And what a day it was.  For Christmas, Matt’s Nana bought our family tickets to the A’s home opener and their second game on Wednesday.  We are so glad Matt felt well enough to attend and the weather was great.   A little cold Tuesday night, but we were at the game, so it didn’t matter.  Wednesday’s weather was perfect.

Matt was surprised Tuesday night when we showed up for the game.  His Nana’s High School friend, Wilona, works for the A’s.  Wilona gave Matt an Eric Chavez Jersey, signed by Eric and game hat, signed by Rich Harden.  This meant so much to Matt, since Eric and Rich are two of Matt’s favorite players.

Adam from the A’s also visited with us and gave Matt a 2008 Media Guide.  Although the A’s lost on Tuesday night, we all had a great time at the game.

Now for Wednesday, what a surprise Matt had.  We didn’t tell him we were working on something.  Thanks to Lew, Tina, Larry, Tom and everyone else involved, you guys made Matt’s day, a day he will never forget.  Wednesday morning about 11:00 AM, we met with one of the A’s owners, Lew Wolff, at his office.  Lew came out and handed our family Guest Passes.  He then proceeded to take us down to the field, to watch some of the A’s batting practice.

While down on the field, we got to meet Kurt Suzuki and Bobby Crosby.  Since these are another two of Matt’s favorite players, he was again in shock.
Kurt Suzuki took a picture with the kids and signed Michael’s jersey and Matthew’s and Hannah’s ball.  Matt had his Bobby Crosby ball with him, so Bobby signed the ball and took a picture with Matt.  Bobby then called over to Matt and when Matt walked over to him, Bobby handed Matt his bat, that he was hitting batting practice with.  What a smile that brought on !!

Lew then took Matthew and Michael down to locker room, where there were about 10 or so other players.  Kurt Suzuki signed one of his game bats for Michael and handed the boys both wristbands, with number 24 on them.  Matt’s favorite baseball number is 24, so he was excited about that.  The boys then met Jack Cust, who signed Matt’s ball and Mike’s hat.

Lew then handed the boys two more bats and they headed back to the field.  Lew then took all of us to the players batting cage and showed us the Raider’s locker room.

This was a great experience for all of us and a dream come true for the boys.  This is a day Matthew will never forget.

Thanks again for everyone involved and everything you did, it was above and beyond anything we expected.

The McCullough Family