Stars gather for a great Dirk Nowitzki’s Heroes Celebrity Baseball Game

Sometimes we don’t get to see enough of the fun side of our favorite local athletes.  In a year that has been as tough as this one for DFW sports teams, far too often we’d see the players we root for scowling after they walked off the court/field after a loss.  All the time we’d hear them in a soundbite monotonously describe how or why their team came up short that night.

It’s nice to get a change of pace every once and a while.

Once every summer, a collection of the area’s brightest stars gather in the name of charity for a night of fun, smiles, and victories all around.  2018’s edition of Dirk Nowitzki’s Heroes Celebrity Baseball Game was Friday night and there were no shortage of smiles both on and off the field.

If there was ever a night where DFW’s sports stars ever seemed so similar to us, it’s on a night where they have to try to field groundballs or catch a flyball in the outfield.  Through an abundance of fielding blunders and base running mishaps, somehow Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott and former Cowboys defensive ace Demarcus Ware led the Blue Sox over Dirk Nowitzki’s White Sox on Friday night in a 13-7 victory.

Ware, who at age 35 still looks as fit as ever, was named the game’s MVP after three run producing hits.  The cherry on top of the sundae was a three-run double in the final inning to put the game safely away for the Blue Sox.

Dak Prescott wasn’t too shabby himself with three hits of his own on the night.  On the White Sox side, Dirk Nowitzki did have a clutch go-ahead single down the third base line late in the game but comically had Cowboys defensive back Byron Jones serve as his pinch runner anytime he put the ball in play.

The one player who seemed to be giving 150% effort throughout the entire evening was running back Ezekiel Elliot.  It might have been a Cowboys fan’s nightmare as Zeke was diving and sliding all across the diamond with an impressive catch to rob Demarcus Ware of a hit and later trying to slide safely into third on the basepaths.

Before the game, something bigger than baseball occurred.  All of Texas welcomed three victims of the recent Santa Fe High School shooting down in the Houston area last month.  Santa Fe baseball stars Rome Shubert and Trenton Beazley threw out the first pitch while basketball star Noah Silva cheered his classmates on from the field as well.  The young men met with Dirk Nowitzki before the game and shared their experiences and passion for the game with the man of the day.

As the night ended with the teams meeting for photos on the field and signing autographs for fans, it was clear that there is simply no better day in DFW sports each year than the Heroes Celebrity Baseball Game.  So many big names giving their time for a great cause, and the fans love every second of it as they get to see their favorite athletes in one place and in a different, more fun light than usual.  It is a great evening for a great cause that will hopefully continue for years after the Big German decides to hang up his sneakers.