Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Calling Balls, Strikes, and Heroism
I can’t do this story more justice by retelling it so I’ll just link to the original story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette here:
As a Major League Baseball umpire, John Tumpane often has to defuse tense situations at the ballpark.
None compared to the scene he came upon Wednesday as he walked across the Roberto Clemente Bridge around 3 p.m. on his way back from a run and lunch: A few hundred yards from PNC Park, he saw a woman climb over a railing and look toward the Allegheny River below.
“Obviously, that grabbed my attention,” Tumpane said prior to the Pirates game against the Tampa Bay Rays, in which the 34-year-old Chicago native was the home-plate umpire. “I asked a couple in front of me, ‘What’s this lady trying to do?’ and they said, ‘I don’t know.’ ”
Be sure to read the whole thing. Wednesday’s Rays-Pirates box score says John Tumpane was the home plate umpire. In the grander scheme, he just recorded the save.
Addendum: The Pirates and their fans gave Tumpane a standing ovation before Thursday night’s game.
https://twitter.com/sinow/status/880578206348324866
Published in Sports
Thanks, EJ! This is what it’s all about: one person at a time. TBTG.
Wow, this story brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for posting it!
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
I love a story that makes me smile. I hope she gets the help she needs.
Thanks for this.
Lovely story about a hero my adopted hometown, thanks. Shortly after I read this, I saw this story about another man who performed a good deed at a sporting event.
I can understand the parents’ instinctive reaction (yes, the parents who, apparently, did not take note of the fact that their two-year old daughter was no longer with them, and was wandering around the sports arena on her own), but it would appear that, as well as being oblivious, they are also impervious to facts and reason. And that the father, at least, is prone to violence and guilty of libel, slander, inciting mob hysteria through social media, inflicting grievous bodily harm, and causing the man he attacked, and his family, to leave their home fearing for their lives.
When I see stories like that one, I’m more than ever grateful for people like the hero of the OP, and amazed that, in this day and age, there are any good Samaritans left among us at all.
John Tumpane knows how to call more than just balls, strikes, and outs, great story.
Where is Casey when you need him? Leaving this to someone from Chicago? Shame.
A good man, a hero. G-d bless him. I hope she finds her way forward.
Great story. Thanks!
Now come on. There are millions of Good Samaritans in America alone, but the event rarely happens, and then it has to be noticed, and then the media has to bother getting around to reporting on it. Personally, I feel like we don’t hear about these stories much because the MSM just plain doesn’t care anymore. They think the only way to get eyeballs on the screen is to show cops beating people up, and car-crashes.
In the whole interview, I was taken by his gentleness and kindness. It was a wonderful story with, I hope, a good future for her.
Everything you say is probably true. The point of my comment, though, and of the link I provided, was to show how brave well-meaning folks have to be in our litigious world, when they undertake the Good Samaritan role at all. Fortunately, every state (I believe) has some form of “Good Samaritan” laws on the books to give those who offer reasonable assistance legal protection from prosecution, but I think the fact that that’s even necessary sorta makes my point, too.
God bless those who help others in need. There can never be too many of them.
Ah, sorry I missed your point. I thought you were grumbling that there aren’t any good people left. Your point is a good one. A man helping a little girl find her lost mother might end up in jail, and so on. Thanks for the clarification!
“He held on to her”.
By next week, she’ll be charging him with sexual assault..
This was a nice story. I’ve passed over that bridge a bunch of times.