When Dick Druckman of West Windsor bought an extra ticket to the All Star baseball game recently, he helped a dream come true for a teen from southeastern Illinois. Druckman, a sports photographer and owner of Gold Medal Impressions Gallery at 43 Princeton-Hightstown Road, West Windsor, had two front row seats behind home plate.##M:[more]##
“I chose those seats when I learned that President Barack Obama was going to throw the first pitch at the game,” Druckman says. “I wanted to be in the right location for the photo.”
“I called St. Louis Children’s Hospital and asked for a patient who would like to go to the game,” he says. They found the perfect person to go with him. Brandon Phillips, who has cystic fibrosis, got to go to his first baseball game — in style.
“I’ve had tickets three other times through my life and every time I’ve went in the hospital,” Phillips told reporters. “This time I actually got out of the hospital in time for the game. And this is my first basball game and being as it’s the All-Star game that’s pretty surreal.”
Druckman gave Phillips a full baseball experience — including souvenirs, snacks, and the great view.
Comments on the www.ksdk.com (a St. Louis television station) website included: “Mr. Druckman will have sweet dreams of this game because he made a difference in the life of a kid who needed to go out and have fun like a kid. Imagine the joy of living life as Mr. Druckman does, seeking happiness by offering it to others. Does anyone have a copy machine that can make about a million of this guy?”
“Yes, there are horrible people in the world. There are also loving, caring, considerate people in the world,” said another post.
Phillips and Druckman have corresponded since. “A magical evening worked out very well,” says Druckman.
