Busch Stadium visitor inspired badly burned child

To look at him you might not know John O’Leary had once been severely burned over his entire body.

When he was just 9 years old O’Leary accidentally exploded a can of gasoline in his garage. Horribly burned from head to toe, he was not expected to make it through the night.

Somehow surviving five excruciating months in St. John’s Mercy Hospital, the little boy underwent countless surgeries and skin graphs.

While his blackened body was swelled to twice its normal size this traumatized, temporarily blinded nine year old received a visit from a kind stranger.

The man bent over John’s bed and softly offered some simple words of encouragement… something about getting better and coming to the ballpark.

The new friend returned regularly during the helpless child’s ordeal in the hospital.

Contrary to initial expectations, young John O’Leary survived and was finally discharged. Eventually he was indeed able to make it to the ballpark.

That day July 22, 1987 was declared “John O’Leary Day” at Busch Stadium. The little boy was there as the personal guest of his faithful visitor and now dear friend, Cardinal broadcaster and St. Louis legend Jack Buck.

During O’Leary’s rehabilitation Buck mailed him a baseball signed by eventual Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith. He told John that if he wrote a thank you note to Ozzie, he’d give him another autographed ball.

With the patient help of St. John’s therapists, O’Leary, who had lost all his fingers, managed to scratch out a thank you note.

Buck sent another autographed baseball. Another arduously scribbled note. Over time Buck mailed 60 autographed major league baseballs, helping to teach the determined child to write again.

Jack Buck’s devoted compassion depicts Jesus’ teaching regarding kindness shown to the most vulnerable among us. Referring to children, Jesus assured, “Whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water…he shall not lose his reward.”

The famed broadcaster reached out to that tortured child quietly, without fanfare or public display. Few knew of his visits. In this way he portrayed another of Jesus’ teachings, “Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired… Give your gifts in secret, and your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you”.

Eventually, having been inspired by his parents, the kindness of the hospital staff, and many others including his newfound famous friend, O’Leary became a hospital chaplain and founded “Rising-Above” a corporate motivational organization. He draws deeply from his experiences to powerfully inspire business leaders and employees in overcoming obstacles.

When he graduated college, O’Leary was astounded to receive his 61st and final gift ball from Mr. Buck. This one’s made of Waterford Crystal, not cowhide, and there’s only one like it in the world.

This “ball” is Jack Buck’s exquisite baseball-shaped trophy commemorating his admittance to the broadcasters’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

As the deeply treasured one-of-a-kind possession of that once traumatized little boy, it stands as a contemporary symbol of the kind of committed compassion Jesus taught.

Matthew 10:42; Matthew 6:1-4

Originally published by St. Louis Suburban Journals, 6/25/08

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Contact the author at bob_levin@sbcglobal.net

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