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BUBBA MAKES IT FUND FOR ALL
By MARK
HALE
"It
really wasn't something I had to weigh. It seemed like it was a pretty easy
decision."
Bubba
Crosby on spending extra time at telethon.
This past
Sunday in Albany, Bubba Crosby was
helping out at a telethon for the Center for Disability Services. After
signing autographs for several hours, the Yankee outfielder was supposed to
fly to Newark, where he had a
connecting flight back home to Houston.
But when he
got to the airport, Crosby found that weather
was holding up his flight to Newark. And at that point,
since flying home that night wasn't going to happen, Crosby — who had
already given more to the telethon that day than was required of him —
opted to give even more than that.
Crosby headed back to the
telethon, just to help out further.
Crosby said he had enjoyed
his time there so much and believed it was such a worthy cause,
it was a no-brainer.
"It
really wasn't something I had to weigh," Crosby said in a phone
interview this week. "It seemed like it was a pretty easy
decision."
After his
return, according to Anne Schneider Costigan,
deputy executive director of the Foundation at the Center for Disability
Services, Crosby did interviews, pitched for the charity and also spent
between 11/2 and two hours answering phones, as people called in to donate
money.
If you want
an idea of how much Crosby was committed to
helping out, try the fact that according to Costigan,
an 8-year-old boy called a few times, but Crosby didn't happen to
take his call. Crosby then used someone else's cell phone to call
the boy himself.
"He is
an incredible human being," said Costigan of
Crosby.
Crosby, who
hit .276 in 98 at-bats with the Yankees last year, also put in overtime
during the first half of his day at the telethon. He was scheduled to sign
autographs for three hours, according to Costigan,
but she said Crosby ended up helping out for 20 or 30 minutes
past his scheduled time, taking photos and talking to fans as well as
signing.
It was the
46th year that the Center for Disability Services held the telethon and the
fourth year in which a former or current Yankee helped out, with big names
like Goose Gossage, Jorge Posada and Joe Girardi doing the honors recently. But with the
29-year-old Crosby's help on Sunday, this year's fund-raiser resulted in
$1,684,418, a figure that according to Costigan, ranks as the
telethon's best total.
Said Crosby, "[It was]
just a great experience overall."
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