Many professional athletes establish charitable foundations. Some just want a tax break, but Detroit Tigers pitcher Matt Boyd and his wife, Ashley, wanted to see what they could do at street level in Uganda, where they have now established a nonprofit, Kingdom Home, housing 146 girls and boys ages 6 to 14. Typically born into poverty or abandoned to the streets, the children are among a group that human traffickers often target.

When Chris Gargiulo finished his 30th year of working at a McDonald’s in this city 37 miles north of Tampa, 60 people attended a celebratory surprise party. Gargiulo “was shocked,” according to Cheryl Stark, a friend from church, but someone else might have been even more surprised: the doctor Gargiulo’s mother, Elizabeth Bridwell, consulted after Chris was born with Down syndrome (DS) in 1960. 

As the major league baseball season opens, fans in 30 cities will learn whether the team-building efforts in spring training camps have been successful.

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle gave reporters the typical message: “‘Team-first’… We all have the same goal. There needs to be connection, there needs to be communication.”