Major League Baseball star Yasiel Puig visited a Jewish camp for kids with cancer and called it “one of the best days” of his life. Puig, an outfielder for the Cleveland Indians recently traded from the Cincinnati Reds, rented a helicopter to visit Camp Simcha in New York’s Catskill Mountains on Monday. The camp is an overnight summer camp for children and teens with cancer and other terminal illnesses that serves kosher food. Puig, a former All-Star who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers before a trade to Cincinnati last winter, had a free day between series against the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. He decided to visit the camp after a request from Irv Bauman, who he met in 2013 when he was playing with the Dodgers. Bauman’s grandson was working at the camp and asked his grandfather if he could finagle a visit from Puig. Puig wore a fake tiger head over his trademark bright-red dyed hair and first removed it when he entered a room full of children, who went crazy when they saw him, MLB.com reported. The outfielder spent four hours at the camp participating in camp activities and sat in the infirmary with a boy who was too sick to participate. “[A boy] started talking about baseball, saying, ‘I love the way you play. Keep going, fight,’” Puig told MLB.com . “And I said, ‘Oh, I’m the one coming here to tell you to keep fighting and everything will be fine, and you’re the one telling me to keep going, fight and work hard’ — and that made my day.” Puig later tweeted about his visit and wrote, “Today was one of the best days of my life. I want to thank so many people, starting with all of my new friends at @campsimcha. Thank you for welcoming me and giving me your smiles today. You are my inspiration and when I do good things on the field I will do it for you.” “Thank you to my dear friend @Irving_Bauman & his amazing family for bringing these kids & counselors & staff into my life. Thank you to Lisette Carnet Director of @WildHorseFDN for making it all seamless & for every detail & to my beautiful Andrea for always being there with me 🙏,” he added.
