Albert Pujols funds annual Coolbaugh Memorial Dinner
November 18, 2009 by admin
Filed under baseball, the latest
A fundraising event has been held in former player and coach Mike Coolbaugh’s honor the past couple of years. Coolbaugh was struck and killed by a foul ball while coaching first base for the Tulsa Drillers, a double A baseball team, in 2007. In addition to raising money for Coolbaugh’s family, including a wife and three children, the event’s funds are partially distributed to other children who have lost family members.
Read how Albert Pujols helped rescue the event in Jonathan Mayo’s article in MLB.com:
“At the last minute, a sponsor to pay for the dinner at the event backed out. Enter Pujols to the rescue. When Josh Goldberg, the Director of Public Relations for Pujols’ agency, Beverly Hills Sports Council, approached the All-Star first baseman about the issue, he immediately remembered Coolbaugh — the two played together in St. Louis in 2002 — and donated well above what was needed to cover the cost of the dinner.
“Something from a Roberto Clemente Award winner shouldn’t surprise anyone,” Goldberg said. “But it still somehow does.”
Pujols won the Clemente Award in 2008, honored for the work he’s done with his foundation. Pujols puts on over 30 events a year for kids with Down Syndrome, including a golf tournament that raises over $350,000. He also makes annual trips to the Dominican Republic to help impoverished families and orphans with medical care and supplies.”
An 8-time all-star and multiple winner of the National League MVP award, Pujols doesn’t just focus on statistics. As he noted in an interview on MLB.com, “I don’t play for numbers. I play first of all to glorify God and to accomplish in this game what everybody wants to accomplish, which is getting to the World Series and coming up with a win at the end. Those are the things that I really try to focus on and try to make sure that I do every day for the rest of my career.”
What’s particularly impressive about this star slugger is that Pujols seems to find a way to do just as many great things off the field as on it. And, that’s no small feat!
Read article at StlCardinals.com
Enjoy this ESPN commercial poking fun at Pujols’ machine like ability to deliver on the field:
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This video clearly suggest the royalty of Roberto Clemente.Those are the things that I really try to focus on and try to make sure that I do every day for the rest of my career.”