Mike Nemchek was picking up a pizza last week when his cell phone rang. The caller on the other end said he was Brian Cashman.
“I thought someone was pulling my leg because it was my personal cell phone,” Nemchek said. “My first question was how Brian Cashman of the New York Yankees could acquire my phone number. As the conversation progressed it hit me this truly was the real deal.”
Little more than two weeks after inviting the Westhill High School softball team, after reading about how its season ended in The Advocate, for a day at Yankee Stadium that included standing on the field for the national anthem, Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, is going to make a dream come true for Justin Nemchek and his family.
Justin, 13, whose family is well-known in the Stamford sports world, and whose three older siblings all had distinguished high school athletic careers, suffers from arterio-venous malformation, an abnormal collection of blood vessels near the brain that has left him paralyzed on the left side and causes him seizures.
Cashman read about Justin in The Advocate and on Saturday, Justin along with his family will be seeing his favorite team play the Tigers in first-class style. Cashman has invited the Nemcheks to be guests in his personal box. The family will be on the field for batting practice and (this is a secret) Justin and his father will get to go into the Yankees’ clubhouse to meet players.
While Cashman would prefer not to attract publicity for his efforts, it is not unrealistic to think he could run for mayor of Stamford now if he wanted to relinquish his current job.
“The story just really popped, the way Justin loves baseball and loves life,” Cashman said. “I saw the photo of him and saw that he is a huge Yankees fan. I just wanted to get him out here and hopefully give him a wonderful experience. It is simple as that.”
The timing could not be better: Justin will be undergoing invasive surgery next week that hopefully will cure him of the seizures.
“I talked to Mike and I had no idea about the surgery he was facing,” Cashman said. “I hope he will have a great day.”
And how does Justin feel about this?
“He’s always in a good mood, but if it is humanly possible for him to be in a better mood he is,” Mike said. “He has been actively asking me since the season started to go to a game at the new stadium, and Brian Cashman and the Yankees are making that possible.”
