O'FALLON, Mo. — O'FALLON, Mo. – Like every boy his age, 13-year-old Tommy Kramer enjoys playing all sports, but it’s baseball that’s his favorite. He takes a lot of pride in being the catcher for his select team, the St. Charles Capitals.
“You just always have that intense feeling when you’re back there," said Tommy. "Feeling like you have to catch everything and there’s a lot of energy that goes into it. It’s fun.”
It’s the perfect position for him because he’s full of energy, but he never imagined that playing the game he loved would cause him so much pain.
“We’re in my coach’s gym and he has this curtain that comes down," said Tommy. "One of my friends pulled the ball and it went straight at me and hit me right in the side and broke my nose, pretty much.”
Tommy didn’t just break his nose, he also fractured the orbital socket around his eye. It’s an injury that could have resulted in him losing his sight, but it didn’t. He did, however, lose one thing, being able to be out on the field with his teammates.
“It’s not very fun just sitting on the side just watching.”
The catcher is essentially the eyes of the team and no one knows how important the eyes are to the game of baseball than Cardinals’ outfielder Tommy Pham who was diagnosed in 2008 with a degenerative eye condition, keratoconus.
“Tommy! What a wonderful name my man," said Pham in a video he sent to the young Tommy. "I heard about your accident and I’m truly sorry for you and I wish you a speedy recovery. Just know that this minor setback is only giving way to a major comeback my man.”
It was only right, that Tommy reached out to Tommy.
“I felt like I had to you know?" Pham added when we sat down with him. "When you’re on our kind of platform and you can reach out like that to make a difference in a young kids life like that you have to do something.”
“He’s a person I look up to and it was really cool to see him do it," added Tommy Kramer.
Pham didn’t stop there. He personalized a photo, a bat, and a ball, and what was even better, his teammates got to deliver the goods.
Cardinals catcher Carson Kelly, as well as former Cardinal Jermaine Curtis also sent videos of encouragement, to make sure Tommy remains positive and stays confident. Which he has after talking with his Mom Christy Kramer. The two Tommy's will also get to meet on May 17th when the Cardinals host the Phillies.
This was made possible by a non-profit organization called STL Youth Sports Outreach. You can find them on Facebook here.