LOWER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - David MacDonald, 13, didn’t know what to expect when he was called from his eighth-grade class to the vice principal’s office last month.
His teacher was waiting for him with a box shipped from Chicago. Inside was a game-used baseball bat signed by Cubs outfielder Matt Szczur, a Lower Cape May Regional High School graduate.
“Most of my homeroom class, we always talk about him and the team going to the World Series,” he told The Press of Atlantic City (https://bit.ly/2dIuKTg). “And the teachers talk about it.”
Szczur was left off the Cubs’ 25-man postseason roster Friday, but he may reappear in later playoff rounds as the Cubs look to break a 107-year World Series drought.
MacDonald looks up to Szczur for what he does off the field.
That was the subject of a school essay he wrote last month about Szczur that ended up in the professional ballplayer’s hands.
MacDonald said he watched a video in fifth grade about Szczur’s decision to donate bone marrow to a 15-month-old Ukrainian girl. The extensive procedure caused him to miss 10 games at Villanova University.
“He is just really inspiring to me,” said MacDonald, of North Cape May, who plays baseball himself for Richard M. Teitelman Middle School and the South Shore Nor’easters travel team.
The donation brought national attention to Szczur, and the toddler’s condition improved after the transplant.
MacDonald said he’s not exactly sure how Szczur caught wind of the essay, but he thought one of the teachers who knew the Cubs outfielder passed it along.
On the bat, Szczur wrote: “David - thanks for the kind words! Nothing worth having comes easy! Work hard and stay humble!”
“When I opened it and saw the message, I was amazed,” said MacDonald. “I didn’t expect anything to come from the essay.”
Szczur could not be reached for comment.
Lower Township residents say Szczur hasn’t forgotten South Jersey and still lives in the township during baseball’s offseason.
“You can see Matt walking around the area any time in the offseason,” said Lawrence Ziemba, principal of Lower Cape May Regional High School. “He visited the school, shook hands with students (and) visited teachers.”
Kim MacDonald, 51, David’s mother, said Szczur visited the local Little League team last October.
“It meant the world to the kids,” said MacDonald, who recently went with David’s baseball team to Philadelphia for Phillies star Ryan Howard’s last game for the team. “It makes it feel like you’re not that far from the big leagues.”
David MacDonald took part in a baseball clinic with Szczur in Middle Township in January. MacDonald said he admires the way Szczur plays.
He’s not alone.
“Whenever he’s in the Philly area or New York, kids go up to see him play,” Ziemba said.
Szczur finished the regular season with a .259 batting average, 5 home runs and 24 runs batted in.
Though he’s not one of the league-leading Cubs’ biggest names, it’s fair to say he’ll have a rather large crowd rooting for him in Lower Township should he come up to bat in the playoffs.
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Information from: The Press of Atlantic City (N.J.), https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com
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