Sliding Into Home!

The best memories happen when you least expect it.

Have you ever noticed that the best moments in life are frequently unplanned and completely unscripted?  It’s not the big trip, fancy dinner, or lavish party that are most meaningful, but the little moments in life that we don’t see coming. One such moment for me was the highlight of the entire filming process for the On Fire movie.  Let me explain.

As the sun began to rise on December 6, 2023, we made our way to the On Fire pre-shoot meeting. On this 19^th day of filming, we prepared to capture the day Jack Buck had promised to a little boy in a hospital bed. It was the promise of John O’Leary Day at the Ballpark that had sustained me during the most agonizing of times and it was something my family and I experienced together in August of 1987.

The Saint Louis Cardinals were generous enough to open their home, roll out the red carpet, and provide the backdrop for the filming of these critical and beautiful scenes.

So, on an unseasonably warm day, with a brilliant blue sky, we carefully captured some of the most compelling moments that took place around the stadium.  Little John being rolled into the stadium, meeting the players, and eventually announcing the game next to Jack.

After ten hours of capturing tender, precious and true moments that helped change a little boy’s life, we prepared to hear the words that liberate the crew to break down the set and the actors to go home: “That’s a wrap.”

Before they were uttered, though, the Director of Operations for the Cardinals asked me if I wanted to run around the bases with the little boy portraying me. In looking into the excited eyes of James McCracken and seeing the pure joy of anticipation on his face, regardless if I wanted to run the bases or not, I knew we were going to do it.

With an entire crew watching, and a few cameras rolling, this middle-aged man hobbled out of the dugout next to an adorable young man. As James and I made our way to home plate, we were both taken aback at the stunning view of the city from this vantage point.

We were stirred to move when we heard our director, Sean McNamara, proclaim, “Action!”  With that, we were off!

We trotted toward first base laughing. As we touched the bag and scampered toward second base, I heard a voice behind me say, “Aren’t you guys forgetting someone?”

In turning around, I saw Joel Courtney, the actor portraying the grown-up version of John O’Leary, sprinting to catch up. He had been in makeup preparing for another scene when he heard we were running the bases. So, he left the chair, ran through the hallway, out of the dugout and onto the field to run with us.

My friends, so many moments from the filming of On Fire stand out as remarkable. Filming the fire at my parents’ house where it occurred. Filming the wedding at the church where Beth and I were married. Having actual nurses who saved my life 36 years ago participate as nurses saving the life of the little boy in the movie. But to be in the center of a stadium, circling the bases, with two other versions of John O’Leary, two guys who I now love, is something I’ll never forget.

My favorite part about this unexpected jog around the bases was captured on video. In the background we can hear the commotion of a crew trying to get work done and prepare for the final shots of the day. We hear one of them tell the director we’ve got to get moving, that more work needs to get done, that time is money. Sean responds sweetly, but decisively, that “This is the work that needs to get done. When else will you see all three John O’Learys running the bases together?”

He then yells out as we approach home plate, “Which one of you will slide?”

There is a chorus of people who respond, “No. Don’t slide. Don’t slide!”

But when I hear my director and my buddy say slide into home at Busch Stadium, I listen!  As all three of us approach home, I gracelessly slid into home plate. (It is the worst slide ever recorded as you’ll see here. My children told me it looked more like an old man falling down!)

on the dirt, looking at the stunned faces of James and Joel, hearing the murmur of crew wondering if I’m okay, I heard over all the other noises in the stadium, the sound of Sean McNamara, laughing hysterically.

The sound of that joy was worth my pain and embarrassment.

Sometimes the best moments in life are totally unplanned; they are completely unscripted. Occasionally they occur in the middle of a massive stadium with a film crew watching, but more often, they are the tender, precious moments of saying “yes” to the blessings and the beauty that is your life.

Don’t miss your chance to embrace your blessings and slide into home today.

This is your day.  Live Inspired.

It may not have been pretty, but the moment created one of my favorite memories from the filming of ON FIRE. Check out the trip around the bases, the slide into home, and my buddy Sean's infectious laugh here!