Maddie and Flo: Field of Dreams for a Day
Former WooSox bench coach remembers the life of Maddie Schmidt with his 2024 WooSox baseball card
By Ryan Sheahan
If you’re a baseball fan, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve watched Field of Dreams a time or two. An old ballfield is a safe haven for those in search of the simplicity that playing catch with a loved one embodies. Though the memory lives on, some don’t have the opportunity to share in their nostalgia with that original partner––until they meet again. Maddie Schmidt and her family were invited to Polar Park on May 1, 2022 for a day they would never forget. Maddie, 7, was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer that develops in the brainstem of children. Due to her tumor’s inoperability and fast-growing nature, Maddie’s prognosis was terminal. Hoping for a special day to spend with Maddie, the Schmidt family received memories that money can’t buy during that early-spring day. Surrounded by her parents and two brothers, Maddie threw out the Ceremonial First Pitch––a perfect strike––to former Red Sox pitcher and 2004 World Series champion Bronson Arroyo. Afterwards, Maddie presented
the WooSox lineup card to the umpires.
But before the pregame ceremonies began, Maddie had the time to make a few friends in the WooSox clubhouse. One of them was Worcester bench coach Jose David Flores. “She came in with her family that day, and I was supposed to just get to meet them and make her feel good at least for that one day,” Flores said. “We knew that she was going through a lot of pain––pretty much throughout the course of the last year that she was able to live.”
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