At 9:05 Monday morning, a Premier charter bus filled with Howard Hustlin' Tigers baseball players pulled away from the high school's Market Street campus on its way to the Atlanta Braves' SunTrust Park.
Tigers coach Jon Johnson thought the Braves were merely treating his team to free tickets and food throughout Atlanta's doubleheader against the Miami Marlins, as well as a few minutes of interaction with some of their players.
And that certainly came to pass. Twenty-one Tigers were given $20 vouchers for both lunch and dinner, as well as quality seats. They met Braves front-office personnel who had grown up in economically depressed environments similar to so many of Howard's players. They got to play pitch and catch with Braves All-Stars Ozzie Albies and Freddie Freeman.
"Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," catcher Terrance Beamon said by cell phone between games. "Great experience. They asked me last week if I wanted to go on a field trip. I had no idea we'd get to do this, to meet major leaguers. This is unbelievable."
Mark WiedmerNo, this is unbelievable: The Atlanta Braves Foundation handed Johnson a check for $5,000 to continue to improve a baseball program that's literally gone from playing on a field of rocks to rockin' the Southside.
Or as Howard faculty member Chic Coleman said in a video prepared by the Braves that ran on their telecast prior to Monday's nightcap: "(Johnson) made a dream come true."
The story has become fairly well known in baseball circles, at least partly because this newspaper's David Cook has magnificently embraced it in multiple columns over the past 18 months. Inspired by Johnson's goal to lift the lives of as many Howard students as possible through baseball, the public already has donated more than $80,000 to the cause, thanks largely to Cook's words and the coach's hard work.
Now comes proof that the Hustlin' Tigers' baseball revival obviously has touched the Braves, who made Johnson the first of their five honorees during their Community Heroes Week.
Said former Brave and Atlanta Falcon Brian Jordan on Monday night's telecast: "I wanted to tear up. That's how great this story is."
The story was great from the beginning, when Howard assistant coach Hugh Crawford looked at Johnson when told of the plan to fix the field and asked, "You and me?"
Told the players would pitch in, Crawford groused, "They're not coming over here at 8 a.m. on a Saturday. No way."
Countered Johnson: "No, they'll come." And they did. Often for 10 hours or more on weekends and slightly lighter shifts on other days. This was their school, after all. Their team. Their dream.
Two baseball seasons later, Johnson stood in SunTrust Park and said by phone regarding what it's done for his players, if not Howard as a whole: "You see their chests out, their shoulders up. They've found something bigger than themselves. Coming to school has a purpose now. And having that has improved their schoolwork. Academics and athletics don't need to be a competition. They can be a collaboration, each one making the other better."
Like most great leaders, Johnson can rule with an iron fist or a velvet glove.
When this trip was first presented to him a week ago, his first thoughts were for young men such as Antonio Daniels, who graduated in 2017.
"The kids who first helped build the field have to come," he said early Monday as the bus began to fill. "This is their legacy. They laid the foundation for everything that will ever follow."
Yet two minutes earlier, upon finding a sales tag lying on the ground that had come off a Howard baseball T-shirt Johnson had bought for each of the Tigers to wear to SunTrust, he singled out the offender for littering and said, "You'll have to run this off later this week."
Oh, for more community heroes such as Johnson.
Still, most of Monday was pure magic. The Braves didn't stop with a $5,000 donation, tickets, meal money and quality time with their All-Stars. The equipment giant Mizuno gave the program baseball gloves, catcher's equipment, bats and more. Johnson was interviewed during Monday night's fourth inning.
Said Daniels during a break at SunTrust: "It's just amazing that these players, guys like Freddie Freeman, would make time for us. I'll never forget this."
Added Deunta Sailes: "Just listening to what the (Braves) players went through to be where they are right now. How hard they work. Definitely one of my favorite experiences ever."
It's an experience that should make everyone feel that there really is more good than bad in the world. As Johnson was quick to note, "One person can't do all that's happened for Howard baseball. It's the entire city of Chattanooga, so many people making a difference in these kids' lives."
It's also the power of all sports to move people, to make them feel better, if only for a short time.
Said young Beamon between games: "Baseball's always been my escape from life. Whenever something negative happens to me, I've always been able to count on baseball to cheer me up."
Or at least a story built around baseball.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com