Another question people have been asking is; “Why now?”

It’s very simple!  Major League Baseball has known how the belt has been helping children with developmental disabilities for years and has done nothing to help share the story and at times have even stifled the story from being told!

It all began back in 2006 when the Balance Pro SportBelt was first found to help children with sensory deficits.  As soon as the belt had been redesigned for the children I contacted a buddy of mine who had been on the media relations staff for one of the old teams I played for and also subcontracted for the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters.  He told me he would contact some people and look into getting some national publicity for the belt since “it was a good story”, he said.  A week later he contacted me back to tell me there was nothing he could do to help with the story.  Of course being curious I asked my friend why… and He said; “He didn’t know the rationale, but it wasn’t going to happen.” Is Major League Baseball suppressing the story and, if so, why? Being an eternal optimist I shrugged it off and focused on getting local press to help get the word out to those families who could benefit.  On April 8^th 2007, Easter Sunday, we had our first news article printed in the Bradenton Herald and shortly thereafter discovered the first child we helped from this article started walking for the very first time.  The article was aptly titled “Belting out Miracles”.

The testimonial from the parents of this child follows:

"We have tried many things over the years to help in our son's development. At 10 years of age he was unable to walk unassisted. We knew the problem was his balance. After reading about the Miracle Belt™ in the newspaper, we immediately ordered one online. Our son is now walking all around the house without any help. In fact, he constantly surprises us when he just walks into the room. We've dreamt of this moment for ten years. So, in our mind, the Miracle Belt truly is a miracle!"

Drs. Frank and Lisa Lanzisera,
Parents of a Child with Down Syndrome (Bradenton FL)

We had high hopes this article would be picked up and go national but to our surprise and disappointment the article came and went.  Our next article was published in the Sarasota Tribune on Aug 20^th 2007.  This article was titled “Weighted to Win” and featured a young boy by the name of Pacsun who had been resistant to walk with his walker but with the use of the Miracle Belt his confidence and ability to move around was greatly improved!  This article was dealt the same fate as our first news article with no follow up from affiliated newspapers.

We have worked hard to get the word out to help the children through typical media avenues with very little support beyond a local story and a Woman’s World article.  The belt helps children with developmental disabilities so we are dealing with a time sensitive issue for these kids.  What doesn’t Major League Baseball understand? Or do they even care?  If baseball would have helped get this story out to the public years ago we could have dramatically influenced the lives of children who are now 8 and 9 years old but instead they did nothing!

The main reason I felt it was time to share my story is to show how locked down the media has become even when the story could benefit the lives of thousands of children with disabilities.  On June 20^th 2012 an article titled “Former Oriole Pitcher Invents Miracle Belt” came out in the Baltimore Examiner where we received over 300+ likes of Facebook very quickly.  In the next few days I sent over 300 emails to the Baltimore Sun newspaper and didn’t get one response!  Not one!!!  Are you kidding me?  What has journalism turned into or are we really that controlled?  Time is running out for these kids! It’s not a metaphor for them it’s real life and baseball should be ashamed for what they have done to stifle the story.  We have had to work very hard over the past 6 years to build a strong distribution network which has allowed us to help over 10,000 children in that time.  It’s a blessing to be put in a position to help children and I just don’t understand how or why Major League Baseball could stifle this story unless they are trying to cover up their mistakes when handling my signing.  To me, I don’t see any other reason.  This isn’t about me, it’s about the children and how those in power in baseball see nothing but fear.  Because of this fear Major League Baseball has limited its scope to protect themselves from the unethical decision of instituting slotted bonuses.  Slotted bonuses have undoubtedly saved major league clubs tens of millions of dollars since 2001 and all for the “good” of baseball.  It’s time to focus on doing what’s best for the children.  I’m not talking about taking generous fan donations collected through MLB charities, which the clubs then take credit for and then donate the money back into society.  I’m talking about doing the right thing, supporting those who are truly making a difference in our society by paving the way for a brighter future for the developmentally disabled!  Time is running out and now is the time for truly supporting children!