Rising Baseball Star “Pitching for God”
welcome back t estela cas. and i’m bob harp. pitching … for god! a lower valley church gets some unexpected cash from one of el paso’s rising baseball stars. ysleta high school graduate justin maese is now in the toronto blue jays minor league system… after receiving a six-figure signing bonus! he’s already bringing it back to the lower valley… just handing his family priest … six thousand dollars cash. “i’m strong believer of god and what i’ve done so far i thank him for everything … its just my way of giving back.” e paso’s own justin maese had a great first season with toronto blue jays affiliate clearwater in the gulf coast league … finishing with six wins and no losses he was named the club’s most valuable player. “i was sitting in my hotel room one day … i was thinking what could i do back home.” maese said he posted this pic of himself pitching and a crucifix on instagram, promising to give one dollar for every like. after a thousand likes he increased it to two dollars a like … 3,000 likes later he showed up at la purisma church in socorro this week with this wad of cash. “i surprised the priest … h was pretty happy.” “so just out of the blu yesterday?” ” yeah, he didn’t expect it, nothing … ” “what did he say? “he couldn’t believe it he wa just so happy … he just blessed me and was like thank you.” ” its rare, its incredible … ” la purisima priest father angel maldonado told me it’s rare and for a blessed young man like maese to show such generosity. ” it was a pleasant surprise.” he called it a pleasant surprise and said he did not know how to thank maese … adding he thinks we need more young people like him in the world. ” i think we need more young people like him in the world.” “i’m a retired high schoo teacher and that speaks very very well for youth.” magda maureira is a volunteer at la purisima. “we could not believe it, it wa so lovely, and he represents the community and his peers so well, how proud we are of him.” maese will be in toronto tomorrow for a game against the red sox, collecting his m-v-p award. he hopes to be pitching at the major league level in a couple of years. the church told me they hope to use the