David Price signed a seven-year, $217 million contract with the Boston Red Sox earlier this offseason. The former Cy Young winner is already putting that money to a good cause back in his home state of Tennessee.
Price donated $300,000 to the construction of Miracle Field in Murfreesboro, TN, which will be a home for disabled baseball players. Price is a native of the city and the MLB star tremendously boosted the fundraising efforts for the project with his donation.
"One day of a couple of hours of baseball doesn't raise a lot of eyebrows for myself or a lot of other people, but for these kids it's something they look forward to every day of the week leading up till Saturday," Price told Scott Broden of The Tennesseean. "Just to be a part of that and help put one here in our hometown is very special."
One of the disabled children who will benefit from the field is 7-year-old Carlee Beam. She suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and she's never played on a sports team before.
Price's donation will soon help her dream come true.
"Thank you for helping people have an opportunity to at least play something, because some people who are in wheelchairs can't have the opportunity to play," Beam said, via Stephanie Langston of WKRN.com.
Murfreesboro City Manager Rob Lyons said Miracle Field should be opened by spring 2017.
Price's charitable organization, Project 14, focuses on "supporting community programs and organizations that promote growth in youth through learning life skills in a safe supportive environment."
Price founded the foundation in 2008 and its efforts are focused in the Middle Tennessee area.
"My parents always told me that if I ever got in a position to give back to the community, I should, which is why I started Project One Four," Price's statement reads on the foundation's website.
Miracle Field will be Project 14's next biggest achievement. The foundation has raised nearly $450,000 since its inception.
"The Miracle Field will include lights, scoreboard, covered bleachers and dugouts, a concession building, bathrooms with showers and a "boundless playground" with a rubberized surface that children with and without disabilities can share, according to an event video," adds Broden.
Price might be from a small city in Tennessee, but his efforts have an overarching impact. He'll be pitching for the Red Sox in 2016 as the MLB club hopes to rebound after a poor 2015 campaign.
