Reds play autograph seekers from young fans at children's hospital

Reds outfielder TJ Friedl was joined by 13 other Reds players for a “reverse signing” for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center patients, where in this instance, the kids were the ones handing out autographs to the players.

The initiative, spearheaded by Friedl and his agency, had children from CCHMC’s Champions Program, which is a grateful patient program, receive their very own custom-made Topps card.

Friedl, who recalled staying in a room at San Francisco Children’s Hospital donated by Barry Bonds for two months as a kid, emphasized how important it is for him being able to give back to the community, especially the kids, with his event.

“This is the best part of my day,” Friedl said. “I think it just helps get a good perspective and step away and separate from baseball. You get into the season and its baseball day in and day out for 200 days. To step away from that and get involved in the community and be able to put something on like this and get their autographs and just talk with them and get to know them as humans… it means a lot to me and a lot of my teammates.”

Nick Martinez, Will Benson, Wade Miley, Spencer Steer, Matt McLain, Tyler Stephenson, Jose Trevino, Nick Lodolo, Austin Hays, Connor Joe, Brent Suter, Lyon Richardson and Santiago Espinal all received signatures from the 12 CCHMC kids in the Champions Club at Great American Ball Park.

The idea for flipping the script on an autograph session originated from other similar player initiatives around MLB.

For the kids, the day was incredibly special to them. Cole Baughman, one of the autograph signers, believed the event showed the humanity of the Reds players.

“It shows that these players are human,” Baughman said. “They’re not just on the screen playing for you. They’re real people. They show up in the community and give back to them.”

When Baughman found out about the reverse signing, he was over the moon, saying he was “so excited to meet every player in person.”

The kids’ families were also in attendance, watching their children give autographed cards to the players while the big leaguers signed Reds swag for them in return. The experience for the kids was no different for the parents, as the reverse signing was cause for excitement for them too.

Santina VanZant, whose son Luca signed cards and whose other son, Jackson, has lissencephaly, found the event touching for her and other CCHMC families.

“It’s so heartwarming and so nice to be recognized,” VanZant said. “It just really means a lot to be here today ... it’s just so touching that so many Reds players showed up. I didn’t expect so many to come. It’s just really nice for these kids to get to experience this because a lot of these families don’t get out too much. It’s just so special to us that these kinds of community events happen.”

The CCHMC’s Champions Program takes patient volunteers and gets them out into the community for a variety of events for representation. Sara Coyle, the Champions Program manager, found joy in the buzz of excitement created by the opportunity.

“It was really cool. We started by putting it out to everybody to see who would be interested and why they’d be interested,” Coyle said. “We wanted to make sure that they were really Reds fans or baseball fans and understand what was happening. They were constantly checking in with me to see if we got it or had been chosen. There was one that even found out today, her mom kept it a secret to make it a really cool surprise. It’s been such a cool reaction.”

With all the joy created by the reverse signing day, it’s no surprise that Friedl wishes to repeat the event “every single year” with the Reds’ organization.