In a day and age where everything always seems to be ‘all about me,’ there are occasional moments and acts of kindness towards others that restore our faith in humanity, regardless of who it is and how many zeros are at the end of their paycheck; especially from the unexpected, say, like, multimillionaire sports figures.

There is no greater example of this than the late Kobe Bryant, who, along with his beautiful daughter Gigi, were honored on Monday afternoon in a Celebration of Life ceremony held at Staples Center in Los Angeles and attended by more than ten thousand family, friends and fans. As most people know, the ‘Black Mamba’, as Bryant was affectionally known, was also known for giving so much to so many, including many total strangers.

But while Kobe’s Celebration of Life ceremony was taking place in downtown Los Angeles, 364 miles to the east another act of kindness was occurring at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, AZ. This one, however, received little fanfare or attention and would have slipped completely under the radar were it not for the attentive eye of a SportsNet LA cameraman.

After collecting two hits on the day – both singles – recently acquired superstar outfielder Mookie Betts came out of Monday’s spring training Cactus League game against the Chicago White Sox in the bottom half of the sixth inning, as most regulars do during spring games.

As the 27-year-old Nashville, TN native and four-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner, three-time Silver Slugger, 2018 AL MVP, former MLB Player of the Year and World Series champion was walking down the third base line to return to the Dodgers clubhouse, he paused briefly and handed his game-used bat, the very same one he used to collect those two base hits, to a young girl sporting a blue Dodgers shirt.

The look of surprise – and joy – on this beautiful young girl’s face was absolutely priceless.

Although Betts may soon forget about his random act of kindness, you can bet that this young lady will carry and cherish this memory for the rest of her life.

Ya done good, Mookie … Ya done real good.

Play Ball!

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