JOHNNY GOMES AND 'THE THROWBACK KID'

JOHNNY GOMES and BRADY WEIN

BILL LANNO
THE RED SOCKS BLOG
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

Jonny Gomes first met Brady Wein at the Athletes Performance Institute in Scottsdale,Arizona in 2012. He was getting ready to join the A's for the 2012 season.

"I thought he was real young, but he grabbed a lacrosse stick and we were playing lacrosse and then we had to go down to the batting cage and then he wanted to hit. Then he wanted to throw to me. Then he wanted to play hockey. This kid was just so excited to be outside. He was so excited to be in the sun. It's kind of different these days seeing that. All these kids with iPhones, iPads, video games and Xboxes, it was just so cool. He was 3 years old and already he was a 'throwback'. I played with him a long time and I remember right at the end, I was talking to his dad and he was also a super-cool guy, from Boston, but I didn't play for Boston."

The one thing Johnny Gomes remembers is that Brady's dad Mike Wein, thanked him for playing with his son.

"I really didn't get it. Why would he thank me for playing with him ?" As Johnny talked to the father he learned the whole story. 

Brady Wein was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia at 3 months old.

"We got a bone marrow transplant," said his dad. "Four months later, the stuff came back, he got another transplant. He had gotten two transplants before he was two and then it came back a third time and he got full-body radiation in his skin. Our family came to say good-bye to him two months before he was 2."

The good-bye was premature. Brady is now five years old.

Mike Wein has a relative who works at API, which is why he continually took Brady there.

During the 2012 season Brady become friends with Jonny Gomes. "Unbelievable, this kid's story. His energy and his life and just the way he was outside, it was so contagious that it hit me right away that he is a special little kid." Brady visited Fenway in 2012 when the Oakland A's came to town.

Then before the  2013 season Jonny Gomes signed with the Red Sox.

Brady was ecstatic. Johnny was coming to the team Brady's dad had rooted for his whole life. This summer, Brady got to go to Fenway many times and play 'wiffle ball' on the field and 'hang around' with the 'bearded bunch'.

In the first game back after the 'Marathon Bombings' the Red Sox wore their 'special' home jerseys that said BOSTON on the front.

On Brady's first trip to Fenway after that game he was hanging around the 'batting cage' during the warm-up. Jon Lester, who has had his dealings with cancer approached the batting cage. There he presented his jersey from that day to Brady. 

Gomes recalled, "He signed it to Brady and walked down to the batting cage where we were and he gave it to him. Brady's reaction almost made it like a tear-jerker, emotional moment because Brady at 5 years old knew how important that was to receive a gift from Jon Lester. Jon Lester hands him this game-worn, Boston Strong jersey to Brady, and you might see another kid who would be like, 'No, I want candy.' or, 'That jersey's not going to fit me.' He was just so touched that Jon Lester gave him that jersey. There were probably about ten people down in the batting cage at the time, everyone about fell down from Brady's reaction."

"I just can't believe that guy Jonny Gomes," said Brady's dad. "If my son could grow up to be a little bit like Johnny Games, that would be magical."

Gomes has had his own health issues having a heart attack at Christmas in 2002. "From my adversity, I can't hold a candle to him. I had a measly heart attack. You talk about the things that he's gone through in his childhood. We kind of live for the same thing. It's for the moment. We definitely put everything into perspective. We feed of each other's energy."

Then came Game 4 of the World Series.

Gomes held up a sign from Boston's dugout during the MLB 'Stand Up to Cancer' ceremony. It simply said 'Brady's Bunch.'

Brady's dad commented, "I've been around a lot of pro athletes. You never really know how they feel toward you. I used to say to people, "I'm friends with Jonny Gomes.', And they're like, 'You are ?' And I'd follow up with , 'I don't know if I'm friends with him.', you know what I mean ? How can you describe if you are friends with a pro athlete ? You don't know. But when he came out with the sign, that was it. I knew."

The next at bat Johnny Gomes hit the biggest home run the Red Sox had in the World Series. It snapped at 1-1 tie and the Red Sox went on to even the Series that night. They went on to win games 5 and 6 to win the Series.

GAME 4 HOME RUN FOR BRADY !

"People think he's just a short ten year old. He's not shy. He's a little bit like me, to where he just literally lives every day like it's his last. Spilling your milk or dropping your food is not going to ruin your day. Just,on to the next. Looking at life for what the big picture is, and not the little picture. Like I said, he's just - they call me a throwback ballplayer. He's a throwback kid."

Johnny Gomes just can't wait to show Brady his World Series ring !