Phamtastic Friday

Back in September, I suppose I was feeling particularly brave and decided to draw a Cardinals player for my white board art. However, drawing real people is a challenge for me. Making the face look like the actual human's face is terrifying. (As if drawing a real human wasn't enough pressure, I decided to start with the Cardinals... Clearly, I didn't think that through!)

Anyway, one of the Cardinals breakout stars of 2017, Tommy Pham, had another breakout moment during the Little League World Series games against the Pittsburgh Pirates. (He had hit a 2-run walk-off home run!)

My latest Cardinals Magazine had taught me that Pham had been with the Cardinals Minor Leagues for nearly 12 years. For those who don't know, Minor Leaguers make next to nothing, and that's a long time to live that way. He had almost given up his dream when he didn't make the Cardinals 2017 Opening Day roster, and I can't say I would have blamed him.

Through interviews, he impressed me even more. He was never satisfied when he had a good game. He might have hit 3 for 4 that day with a jumping over the fence catch in the outfield to save a run from scoring, but he would bring up the one time he struck out and how he could improve on that.

On top of that, he's legally blind in his left eye. He has Keratoconus, a rare eye disorder that causes degenerative vision problems.

To add to the impressiveness that is Tommy Pham, he had also recently made MLB history by joining the 20/20 club (20 stolen bases/20 home runs in a single season). I couldn't do that and I have 2 eyes with better than 20/20 vision. Needless to say, I had T. Pham on my mind.

So, I decided I would attempt to draw him. He is the longest I've spent on a white board drawing, but I think it paid off.

As with all of my white boards, I post them on Social Media. I strategically posted this one later in the evening after the Cardinals finished playing that day.

A while later, I was checking Instagram and noticed THE Tommy Pham, with a blue check mark, had liked my post. (Insert a bajillion heart eye emojis here!)

Then shortly after, my Twitter notifications started blowing up. THE Tommy Pham had retweeted my Tweet. (Insert an insanely loud, high-pitched, girly squeal here!!!) Oh, how my heart fluttered and still flutters thinking about it.

Tommy Pham stayed on our class white board for a few weeks, because I just didn't have the heart to erase him. I intended for my students to have a Phamtastic Friday, but their teacher got one instead.