The Time The Colorado Rockies Team President Gave Timothy a Foul Ball

by Drew Holmes

Previously I have written about taking my now six-year old, Timothy, to the Major League Baseball 2021 All-Star Game at Coors Field. I want to expand his world through superlative experiences and given his enthrallment with baseball this was the ideal way to do it. Due to some sensory processing challenges that he has, our All-Star experience was cut short when unexpected pyrotechnics were set off during the National Anthem and he was unable to rally back from the surprise.

I know I had high hopes for that night to be the defining event of his summer (at least as far as baseball was concerned) so though there were many, in the moment I had trouble finding the positives of the experience. I wrote the essay “You Will Find a Fortune, Though it Will Not Be the One You Seek” mostly as a way to work through my feeling of how the day turned out and find the positives to take away. I wanted the Rockies to know what had happened so that maybe steps could be taken in the future to mitigate this sort of less-than-ideal outcome, so I forwarded the story to their general fan feedback email address. It felt good to send it out into the ether, but I had no expectations of a response of any kind.

To my great surprise, I got a reply.

Kimberly Olson, assistant to Team President Greg Feasel, expressed her shared disappointment for what happened. She said Greg wanted to host us at a future game in his club-level box behind home plate if that would be okay. I was overwhelmed that they would give such attention to our situation and replied that we would love another chance at seeing a game this year. We went back and forth a bit and settled on Labor Day as the ideal game to see, since it was not only a holiday but a day game.

This is the rest of the story.

As Timothy and I walked past Gate B, I suddenly remembered the last time we had been there. That was the gate we exited Coors Field at the All-Star Game. The patio area was where I asked him one more time if he was certain he did not want to try to stay for more of the game and see his favorite players. I did not expect to feel so emotional about seeing that gate again, but it suddenly chilled me like a blast of cold air.

However, that was not our entry gate. We had been given instructions to enter through the main gate, Gate D, and call Kimberly on her cell phone once we were at the bank of elevators on our right, before the main concourse. We connected and she told me she was sending someone down to escort us to our seats for the game. Past two ushers, up the elevator, past another usher, through a swipe card-controlled door, and we were in a quiet hallway with three doors to three suites. The one on the right was labeled “Operations”, the middle “General Manager”. Our seats were in the small suite on the left, the McGregor Suite. We were in the suites where upper management views games, just above the broadcast booths and directly behind home plate.

In the hallway was a cold buffet with cheeses, fruits, vegetables, candy, popcorn, and the most amazing chocolate chip cookies (Timothy had three). The McGregor Suite has a mini fridge with Diet Coke (my favorite) and Dasani (Timothy’s favorite; yes, really!). The wall overlooking home plate had a window that was open, but as we found out would block out almost all the field noise when closed. In short, this was the best possible way to experience a game with my son.

Greg Feasel stopped in to greet us and make sure we had everything we needed. Once the game started, Timothy informed me that he was going to get snacks every inning, and he made good on that promise. He had never attended a full game before, but with the climate control (it was 93 degrees outside; much cooler inside) and the ability to close the window and block out the crowd, he was still going strong in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Elias Diaz was at bat for the Rockies and had fouled a few balls back to the second level, the level we were on. I had the window open in the hopes of maybe getting lucky enough to have one of the foul balls reach us, but no such luck. The closest one entered the Operations box off to our right.

Shortly after that, Greg came back into the room holding a baseball.

“This ball came into my box and almost hit me,” he said to Timothy, “would you like to have it?”

Beaming, Timothy grateful accepted this unique souvenir and managed to say, “Thank you, Mr. Feasel!” through his wide grin. A memorable day had instantly become an unforgettable day and I could not have imagined a better experience for Timothy.

Just then it occurred to me: we were sitting in Greg’s personal box. He had not only displaced himself to a different box to work during the game, but he also had the presence of mind to think of Timothy when a foul ball found him in that location.

What is my takeaway from this experience as it pertains to being the owner of a music store?

Doing the right thing is always the right thing. I tell my staff that I am not concerned about selling something today but building up the relationship with our community. Getting things right every time is impossible. Where we reveal our character is in how we fix things when they go wrong. If taking a temporary loss means we prove our commitment to our customers and community, then that is what we will do. Trust is not given but earned over time and we will always do the right thing to earn that trust, every day.

I have written before that I am a lifelong Red Sox fan by birth, but I will forever be a Rockies fan by choice. My heart is full of joy at the organization’s commitment to going above and beyond to assure one little boy had a good day at the ballpark.

Thank you to everyone who made it possible.