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At their best, sport stars allow us a respite from our daily worries and personal tumult. Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp was just the latest to lift the spirits of one particular fan while giving the rest of us a reason to smile—or get a little misty. 

Kemp—currently mired in a lackluster season—was apparently informed by Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach that there was a young man who wanted to meet him. 

Kemp did much more than that. 

The video below was spotted by blogger Roberto Baly of Vin Scully is My Homeboy and features Kemp giving everything from a signed ball to the shirt off his back to a fan. 

As of this writing, there isn’t a great deal known about the fan who received a treasure trove of Kemp paraphernalia after a recent Dodgers vs. Giants game at AT&T Park. 

We simply have to go with what we can find in the description and comments from the original YouTube post. Here is what the uploader had to offer: 

Matt Kemp is such a great person. He came over after the game and made one of my best friend’s night 🙂 He’s fighting a tough battle and this was such a great gift by Matt Kemp ! I’ll never forget this.

In the comments, the uploader gives a bit more information: 

Was very fortunate to have my friend take me. He was the one meeting Matt 🙂 My friends family put money together for those seats. So happy I was able to go.

The third base coach told his Dad he would see if he would come over after the game and he ends up doing all this!

A sentiment that has been echoed across the web is that Kemp hardly needed to go that far to make the fan’s night. Instead, after a Dodgers loss during a season wherein Kemp is batting .265 with a single home run, the sports star decided to make it all about the fan. 

This, however, is just the latest class act from a league of gentlemen. 

Some of you might remember the home run Todd Frazier hit for the Reds’ beloved bat boy. If not, I have absolutely no problem reminding you. 

Yahoo! Sports reported on a home run hit by Frazier back in April that was requested by Ted Kremer, a 29-year-old guest bat boy with Down syndrome. 

The team asked him back and Kramer wasted no time delivering his infectious joy. Frazier recalls, “He’s so funny, he said, ‘C’mon, hit me a home run, I love you.’ I said, ‘I love you too, I’ll hit you one.'”

The Reds slugger made good on the promise, hitting a dinger off Miami Marlins pitcher John Maine. Video footage of the moment is viewable at MLB.com. 

A similar story went down over the weekend. Yahoo! Sports reports that the Philadelphia Phillies held a Teacher Appreciation Night at Citizens Bank Park on Friday. That’s when slugger Ryan Howard met A.J., a seven-year-old boy who had nominated his braille teacher. 

The young Phillies fan with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) gave the star a wristband to raise awareness for his condition and then offered the following request: “I want you to hit a home run for me tonight.”

Sure enough, the star first baseman delivered, going yard into the right-field seats. 

Yahoo! Sports fills us in on the best part: “Oh my gosh! That was probably for me,” was A.J.’s reaction to the home run when interviewed on the Phillies broadcast.

I am sure there are other fine tales from the diamond I may be forgetting, and I certainly welcome you to remedy that in the comments section below. 

Every once in a while, we are reminded how truly wonderful sports and the athletes who play them can be. Forget the box scores, contracts and tiresome debates.

Sometimes, it’s just about the fans. 

Hit me up on Twitter for more beautiful moments: Follow @gabezal

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Matt Kemp is set to make his first start of the spring today in Glendale, Arizona.  

And though he’s already had five spring at-bats with no hits, Kemp is focused on having a monster year in 2013 for the Dodgers.  

In an injury shortened 2012 season, Kemp still put up great numbers for the Dodgers, hitting .303/.367/.538 with 23 home runs, 69 RBI, nine stolen bases and 74 runs scored in 403 at-bats.

Not quite on pace for record breaking numbers, but a great shortened season nonetheless.

But this also brings up a question that many asked before the start of the 2012 season: Does Matt Kemp have what it takes to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season?

Health will be the first factor in his quest, and according to an interview with Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, Kemp is healthy and ready to play everyday:   

Um, me, I’m not worried about numbers…As long as I’m on the field, the numbers probably will be – or should be – there. I just want to stay healthy, that’s it. Everything’s strong. I’ve been working on my legs. Hamstrings feeling good. Shoulder’s feeling good. I’m just working on staying healthy this whole year, playing 162 games.

Well, at least he sounds healthy, but can he—or anyone for that matter—hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bags in a single season?

If anyone can do it, Kemp is definitely the guy that could reach that plateau first.  

In 2011, he was one home run shy of a 40-40 season.  He also led the league in home runs (39), RBI (126) and runs scored (115).  

A great season, definitely, but Kemp wanted more.  During the 2012 offseason, he told Tony Jackson of ESPN.com:

I’m going to go 50-50 next year, I’m telling you, y’all created a monster. I’m about to get back in the weight room super tough so I can be as strong as I was last year.  Forty-forty is tough, so 50-50 will be even tougher, but anything can happen. I have to set my limits high so I can try to get to them as much as I can. I’m going to try for 50-50, which has never been done.

Lofty goals, but you have to admire him for setting the bar so high for himself.  

So what will 2013 bring for Matt Kemp and the Dodgers?  

They sure made a lot of big moves, took the honor of having the highest payroll in baseball and according to many experts, are the favorites to win the National League West.  

But will all this help Kemp achieve his record-breaking goal?

“Heh, what a question…” Kemp told Brown, but “I’m not making no predictions.”

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Here’s my early top-60 listing of outfielders heading into exhibition play, with an emphasis on 5×5 roto leagues.

This position will likely produce baseball’s largest number of four- and five-category studs by season’s end.

But that star power still cannot obscure the uncertainty of taking inexperienced young players or injury-riddled veterans later in the draft, or household names that will invariably fall short of last year’s amped-up stats.

Hopefully, this listing will eliminate some of the draft-day doubt and consternation that come with the territory.

Especially with leagues that require five starters at the position.

Enjoy the show!

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have one of Major League Baseball’s best five-tool players in center fielder Matt Kemp.

But what if we could make him even better? How good would Kemp be if we could borrow the best skills from his Dodgers teammates to create the perfect baseball player?

Given Kemp’s prodigious talents, it would not take much to make him the best player in the game.

He was well on his way to earning that title last April before hamstring and shoulder injuries derailed his exceptional season.

As he recovers from offseason surgery, Kemp plans to be in full health by Opening Day. That would put him in position to take another shot at becoming MLB’s best all-around player.

In a recent SI.com poll, 305 fellow major leaguers recognized Kemp as having one of the game’s most dangerous outfield arms. In addition to that lethal right-arm strength, even fewer hitters can match his power at the plate.   

It would seem that there is little left for Kemp to improve on, but here are three attributes that would better prepare him for MLB domination in 2013.

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Banged-up Los Angeles Dodgers star Matt Kemp will be out of the lineup weekend and miss the rest of L.A.’s series against its NL West rival San Francisco Giants. 

UPDATE: Saturday, September 8 at 8:39 p.m. ET by Ian Hanford

Major League Baseball’s official Twitter feed gave an update on the Dodgers’ star on Saturday:

INJURY UPDATE: @dodgers OF @therealmattkemp out until at least Tuesday with frayed labrum and inflammation in bruised left shoulder.

— MLB (@MLB) September 9, 2012

This confirms that Kemp will miss the entire weekend. Following their current series against the Giants, they play NL West rival Arizona in a two-game series starting Monday. After that, they will host the St. Louis Cardinals.

Losing a player like Kemp hurts anytime, but losing him in the heart of a playoff race could cause a crucial slip-up.

These next two series could be critical for the Dodgers’ postseason hopes.

—End of Update—

According to the Los Angeles Times‘ Dylan Hernandez via Twitter on Saturday, Kemp is undergoing an MRI on his injured shoulder:

Matt Kemp will miss the remainder of the #SFGiants series. Undergoing contrast MRI on shoulder today.

— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) September 8, 2012

The Dodgers will certainly miss Kemp in the lineup this weekend at San Francisco.

L.A. is currently 5.5 games back of the NL West-leading Giants and 1.5 games out of the NL Wild Card. Kemp’s superb batting could have given the Dodgers a much-needed boost this weekend. 

The 27-year-old outfielder is batting .315 this season in 85 games played. Kemp has homered 18 times and added 56 RBI.

Kemp’s injury-plagued season caught many in L.A. by surprise, considering that he had missed only 11 games total over the past four seasons with the Dodgers.

L.A. has lost three games in a row after falling to San Francisco 5-2 on Friday night in the series opener. The Dodgers have lost eight of their last 12 overall. 

If Kemp winds up missing a significant amount of time this fall, the Dodgers will have a slim chance of earning a NL Wild Card berth this October. 

L.A. needs his production at the plate more than anything else. If Kemp can return to the lineup healthy and soon, he will have three more games to perform against the Giants. 

L.A. and San Francisco end the regular season with a three-game series on the first three days of October. 

Stay tuned for more information on Kemp’s status and his shoulder injury. 

Follow Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Patrick Clarke on Twitter.

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As I followed the Dodgers game against the Padres last night, there was something slightly different about things, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

Was I glad that baseball was finally back after a brief hiatus? Possibly, but that seemed unlikely.

And then, everything clicked.

As Mark Ellis, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier stepped to the plate in succession, my feelings were clarified: it wasn’t that I hadn’t seen baseball in a few days, it was that I hadn’t seen these guys play baseball in so long.

It always seems cliche to talk about off-the-field intangibles or thoughts and feelings that can’t be quantified with an average or a number, but the feeling of knowing the Dodgers were healthy, finally, was almost tangible.

The confidence I lacked with Adam Kennedy patrolling the middle of the order (or even playing at all) and Jerry Hairston as our best hitter had become borderline difficult to bear. In fact, when things finally caught up with the “miracle team” and the losses started piling up, I wondered if this day would ever come.

Would the Dodgers hold Ethier out for an extended period of time wanting to play it safe? Would Kemp’s hamstring cooperate with and respond to the treatment they were giving him?

Well, on a beautiful Friday night at Chavez Ravine, Friday the 13th no less, both of those questions were answered in a way that sent chills and goosebumps down the spine of anyone who claims to bleed Dodger Blue.

As Kemp stepped to the plate and promptly smashed a ball into the left-center field gap, fans throughout the stadium held their breath to see how his legs looked powering into second.

No problem.

So as Kemp jogged into second, a universal sigh of relief was taken and the game continued.

While two runs are hardly enough to make fans believe the offense has returned from its six-week hiatus, the positives were there.

For starters, one of the team’s true unsung heroes (and least-appreciated acquisitions of the off-season), Mark Ellis, was right in the middle of things. Now with 29 runs in just 42 games, Ellis raised his on-base percentage to just under .370 with a monumental two-run homer that got the second half of the season off on the right foot.

While many will remember this as the time when Kemp and Ethier returned from injury, Ellis wanted to remind them that he had been gone for a good chunk of time prior to returning before the All-Star break. Don’t think the celebration of the return of the two Dodger stars Friday night didn’t light a fire under him a little bit.

Regardless of what it looked like, and it wasn’t pretty, I couldn’t describe Friday night’s game as anything less than perfect.

The stars returned, the Dodgers won and hope in Dodgertown was restored. The dominant first-place team we remember from a couple months ago is back—and, man, it feels good to have the band back together.

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The Home Run Derby is arguably the most exciting part of All-Star weekend. There are eight players participating in the derby this year which pits team Kemp against team Cano. 2011 Home Run Derby champion Robinson Cano will be looking to repeat this season.

Each of the players participating in the Home Run Derby has shown off their power stroke this season, but not all of them have gotten a chance to play a game at Kauffman Stadium this year.

All of the players have their own strengths and power alleys that have worked for them this year, but that might just lead to some long outs in the Home Run Derby this year. Each graph of home runs hit by Home Run Derby participants from this year will also show an overlay of Kauffman Stadium to show if the ball would have left the park there as well.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are in a tailspin, and they must do something to stop the bleeding soon.

After dropping the series opener to the San Francisco Giants 8-0 last night, Los Angeles is now in jeopardy of falling into a tie for first place in the NL West by the time the series ends on Wednesday night. The Dodgers are now 11-12 in June and are in danger of having their first losing month since July of 2011.

While injuries to All-Star center fielder Matt Kemp—who’s missed 38 games across two DL stints with an injured hamstring—and starting pitcher Ted Lilly have certainly hurt, it’s more apparent than ever that the Dodgers need to make a trade or two soon if they want to maintain their grip on the division and have a shot at an extended playoff run.

Both the San Francisco Giants—who are now within two games of the first-place Dodgers following Monday night’s win—and the Arizona Diamondbacks—the defending NL West champions—are starting to play like most predicted they would at the start of the 2012 season.

Neither team should be expected to take steps backward during the second half, injuries notwithstanding.

Yesterday I wrote a column outlining eight deadline possibilities for the Dodgers, but now it’s clear that general manager Ned Colletti cannot wait that long before making moves to improve the roster.

The Dodgers hope to have Kemp back after the All-Star break, but there is no definitive timetable for his return. Lilly’s return is not imminent, either, and Nate Eovaldi may not be the long-term solution, as he continues to struggle with his command despite looking good in five of his six starts this year.

Los Angeles knew that it had questions in both the rotation and in the lineup entering the 2012 season, and while their strong start helped to mask some of those deficiencies, it is now time to start plugging those holes in preparation for a second-half playoff run.

The addition of the second Wild Card spot in each league has narrowed the field of teams that are clearly out of contention heading into the July 31st trade deadline. This will create greater competition for the few players that are available via trade, so Colletti would be wise to start working the phones now.

The Dodgers can expect some improvement to occur organically once Kemp and Lilly eventually return. But that likely won’t be enough to hold off second-half surges from the Giants and Diamondbacks, as well as other National League teams that may make moves to improve their postseason chances.

Contact Geoff at geoff@popflyboys.com, follow him on Twitter @snglemarriedguy and read more about sports and pop culture at popflyboys.com.

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As the summer continues to heat up, so will talk of trade potentials and teams looking to make adjustments for a late-season push.

Although it is still fairly early, injury, slumps and poor records have already began to plague major league clubs.

Some teams like the Chicago Cubs, the Houston Astros and, perpetually, the Oakland Athletics will enter rebuilding mode and begin to sell off contracts for prospects.

Others, such as the San Fransisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and Miami Marlins, who are in the hunt for October, will take on loaner veterans to help get their teams over the hump.

Here is a look at some possible trade talks before the All-Star Break.

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With several surprises and disappointments, the 2012 MLB season has been a compelling one to watch thus far. 

However, something that has made the game less fun to follow is the number of superstar players that have suffered significant injuries. Yes, sometimes new players can emerge when established veterans go on the disabled list. Look at Bryce Harper with the Nationals or Freddy Galvis for the Phillies. (Unfortunately, Galvis has joined the ranks of the injured.) 

Sure, we watch baseball because we love the game, but a big reason we love the game is because we get to see top players perform at an elite level. Superstars provide the game with its flash and sizzle. They compel us to watch. Without its marquee talent on the field, baseball is just a little less exciting.

But the game will be far more exciting to watch in the weeks and months to come once some injured stars get back on the field. Here are 10 excellent players whose return we’re eagerly anticipating.

Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers

He’s the National League’s best player. Why wouldn’t we want to see him back on the field? The Dodgers have maintained their first-place lead while he’s been out with a strained hamstring. But how good could they be once Kemp returns, along with whatever midseason additions the Dodgers might make?

Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies

Losing Utley in spring training was a devastating blow to a Phillies team that was already short-handed. Would the Phillies be in last place if he was in the lineup all season? It doesn’t seem likely, but maybe age and lack of depth has just caught up with this team. Where would this Phillies team be at full strength?

Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies

Ty Wigginton has done well at first base for the Phils, but he’s not the power bat Howard is. As with Utley, how much better would the lineup be with Howard providing some thunder in the middle? Again, we want to see the Phillies at full strength. It’s fun to see the Washington Nationals on top in the NL East. New blood is always exciting. But wouldn’t it be more fun to see the Nats beat the Phillies at their best?

Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies

There are few pitchers in baseball who can shut down a lineup and possibly do something historic every time he takes the mound. Halladay may not have the dazzle factor of Justin Verlander or Clayton Kershaw, but he is definitely one of those pitchers. Taken down by a shoulder injury, baseball isn’t as fun to watch without getting to see Halladay every five days.

Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays are tied for first in the AL East and consistently play some of the best baseball in the majors. But how much better would they be with their best player in their lineup? Without Longoria, the Rays are 20-17. But they’re also hitting just .228 as a team. Their defense at third base is among the lower third in the majors. 

Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox

As with the Phillies, the Red Sox haven’t been able to field their intended roster all season long. That became especially true when Ellsbury, who had an MVP-caliber 201, dislocated his right shoulder in mid-April. Do we want to see a Red Sox team with Marlon Byrd or Scott Podsednik in center field? Or do we want to see Boston win, or be beaten while at full strength?

Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals

Though the Cardinals would obviously be a better team with Carpenter in their starting rotation, the Redbirds seemed to be OK without him in the early stages of the season. Carpenter’s replacement, Lance Lynn, is pitching like a Cy Young Award candidate, but the Cards are slipping in the NL Central. Getting their ace back from his neck troubles would make a huge difference. 

Alex Avila, Detroit Tigers

I’ll admit to some personal bias here. I love watching Avila play. It was fun to watch him develop from a first-time starter into one of the best catchers in baseball last season. The Tigers have been a disappointment thus far, largely due to players like Avila performing below expectations. But there are so few great catchers in the majors that it’s a pleasure to watch the ones that emerge. 

Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels

I realize I’m sort of repeating myself, but don’t we want to see the best players on the field? Weaver is one of the best pitchers in the AL and has established himself as appointment viewing. Baseball misses him taking the mound every five days. Now that the Angels have made the AL West a race again, Weaver’s return could make sure they stay competitive. 

Jonathan Lucroy, Milwaukee Brewers

As disappointing as the Brewers have been this season, Lucroy has been one of the team’s bright spots. With a .345/.387/.583 slash average, Lucroy put himself in the discussion of best catchers in the NL with Yadier Molina, Carlos Ruiz and Buster Posey. Suffering a broken hand when he did was disheartening. Hopefully, Lucroy can resume his great play when he returns.

Follow @iancass on Twitter

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