NEWS CHANNEL 5 – Madeline Medina, mother of Christian Medina, receives signed Derek Jeter jersey
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By Jon Santucci – Originally published 02:41 p.m., December 22, 2013 – Updated 03:01 p.m., December 22, 2013 – To View Click Here
FORT PIERCE New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was Christian Medina’s favorite baseball player, so much so he even named his dog Jeter. Now, Jeter has done something to honor Medina, the Lincoln Park Academy catcher who died after a car accident in October.
Jeter signed the final Lincoln Park Academy jersey Medina played in and inscribed it with the words, “Block everything at all costs.”
Medina used to the write the phrase on the inside of all his baseball belts his mother Madeline Medina said.
“It means everything in the world to me,” she said on Sunday. Derek Jeter was my son’s idol. If you see my son’s room, the only things you’ll see are Yankees and Derek Jeter. He wanted to be like him in his demeanor and attitude. Him signing that, you cannot imagine how it makes me feel.
“It makes me feel so beautiful inside.”
Jeter signed the jersey in New York City on Saturday and it is expected to arrive in Fort Pierce on Tuesday.
The signing was set up by Scott Van Duzer, president and founder of the Van Duzer Foundation, who wanted to do something to give Madeline Medina a positive memory of her son Christian.
“When she first came in my store (Big Apple Pizza in Fort Pierce), I had never met her, but I knew the story of her son,” Van Duzer said. “That look of pure heartbreak stayed in my heart and I just wanted to do something for her. We were talking about how her son loves baseball and loves the Yankees, so I asked her for her son’s jersey.
“She was hesitant at first, but I told her I would take good care of it.” Van Duzer said he worked through Steiner Sports, the memorabilia company that Jeter works with, to have the Yankees’ captain sign the jersey.
“I just want her to have a happier memory,” Van Duzer said. “Nothing can bring her son back, but Derek Jeter signing this jersey, hopefully it can be a happy memory from a terrible situation.”