227.4 - Hero Award: 11-year-old Will Smith

Hero Award: 11-year-old Will Smith

So a quick Hero Award, which is something we give out here on occasion to recognize someone who just does the right thing on a matter big or small.

Our hero this time is a young one: 11-year-old Will Smith of Long Island City, NY.

Will is a devoted fan of the NY Mets - and particularly a fan of infielder Daniel Murphy.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Murphy, not after he declared last March that he is "100% against" the "homosexual lifestyle" but that's actually neither here not there right now.

What is here and there right now is that Will used $175 of his own birthday money to purchase a signed Daniel Murphy bat from Topps. When he ordered it, the bat was in stock online and he was even promised a delivery date.

But in the postseason, Murphy got real hot. He broke a record by hitting home runs in six consecutive postseason games, set a Mets franchise record for most homers in postseason, and became only the second person - Lou Gehrig being the other - to have a hit, a run, and an RBI in seven consecutive Major League postseason games.

Will Smith

Suddenly, the bat was unavailable. Topps cancelled the order, claiming it had run out of bats, and said it was processing a refund.

Will's father, suspecting as I did and do that Topps intended to raise the price of the bat because of Murphy's increased profile, told the story to the New York Daily News. Which published it.

And guess that, presto, the bat was not out of stock. Not only did Topps have a bat to send to Will, it also sent a refund.

Okay, so it's a cute story of a corporation getting shamed by some bad publicity into doing what it should have done in the first place. So why is Will a hero?

Because he took the $175 refund and donated it to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a national, non-profit organization which gives scholarships to minority youths for higher education. Maybe it will remind Topps that there are more important things than its bottom line - but in any event, in my eyes it makes Will Smith a hero.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/exclusive-sale-daniel-murphy-bat-nixed-historic-hr-article-1.2410947
http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2015/10/28/11-year-old-mets-fan-duped-by-topps-gives-refund-to-jackie-robinson-foundation/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Murphy_%28baseball%29
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/billy-bean-mlb-inclusion-ambassador-visits-mets-article-1.2135840
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/young-mets-fan-signed-daniel-murphy-bat-article-1.2411779
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/jackie-robinson
http://www.jackierobinson.org/