Springfield, Ohio – Baseball has always been an important part of Cory Winfield’s life. Even after a drunk driver nearly took his life in 2007, the Wittenberg record-holder for career and season pitching saves continues to find joy in the national pastime. 

Cory, a 2000 Wittenberg graduate and a retired member of the police force in his hometown of Marion, Ohio, is headed to Cleveland’s Progressive Field for a game between his favorite team, the Indians, and the Detroit Tigers on May 19. While Cory and his wife Lindsey go to a “few” games each year, the upcoming trip has taken on greater significance thanks to family members and friends who are working to make sure it is special. 

It all started when Lindsey created a video as a way of entering a contest run by MasterCard and posted it on her Facebook page. In the video, Lindsey and Cory are seated together as she first displays messages to the camera and then hands them to Cory to read. The full effects of the traumatic brain injury Cory suffered become clear immediately, but his personality also bursts through the screen as he slowly discovers that his “Priceless Surprise” would be great seats to see the Indians play his favorite game. 

Dozens of likes, hundreds of comments, and thousands of shares later, Lindsey says the couple has been overwhelmed by the response. While MasterCard hasn’t come calling – nor has the centerpiece of the advertising campaign, Cory’s favorite musician Justin Timberlake – “college buddies have made phone calls and worked it out so we can watch batting practice before the game,” Lindsey said. 

“To say Cory is excited is an understatement,” she added. “He’s like a kid on Christmas morning!” 

Another friend attended the Indians’ spring training and was able to secure a baseball autographed by Cory’s favorite player on the team, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. Most amazing of all, a complete stranger contacted Lindsey after seeing the video online and presented the couple with tickets in the VIP section of an upcoming Justin Timberlake concert. 

“It is a total random act of kindness that we are both still blown away by and registering that it even happened,” Lindsey said. “The concert is going to be an amazing memory for Cory and me. I fully intend to send our random-act-of-kindness guy a picture or two of Cory getting down at the JT concert – seeing Cory’s smile is a million times better than any thank you I could ever write.” 

The response has been consistent with the couple’s experience since Cory’s injury, as his friends from Wittenberg have formed a strong support network along with family. 

“Cory still keeps in touch with his baseball buddies from Witt,” Lindsey said. “They have done a great job of visiting, texting and keeping in contact with Cory. Cory loves to laugh at stories from college, and he has shared with me great memories he has from his playing time there. 

“As his wife, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate and love that these guys still want to hang out with Cory and treat him like ‘normal.’ Cory needs that ‘dude time.’ I think it is more important to his maintaining a positive mindset than any counseling session could ever have. They (his college friends) came to see Cory in ICU and have kept it up all these years later. It is touching to watch.” 

A quick scan of the Wittenberg baseball record book reveals some of the details that Cory holds so dear. He was a four-year letterwinner as a pitcher for the Tigers, and his name appears frequently in the records section. He was the team’s Pitcher of the Year in 2000, when he compiled a 4-6 record and a 3.40 earned run average in 73 innings of work. 

Cory followed in the footsteps of his father and brother in the police force in Marion, but his life has taken a very different course since the hit-and-run accident that took place just moments after his shift ended on the night of Aug. 19, 2007. After three months in the hospital and years of physical, speech, occupational and aquatic therapy, Cory and Lindsey are “back on our feet and living like a ‘regular’ adult couple again,” according to Lindsey. They now reside in Huron, Ohio, near Lindsey’s family and her full-time job. 

Cory is a “great house hubby taking care of chores around the house and making sure I do all of my chores, too,” she added. “I get away with NOTHING! Cory is fully aware and fully capable of checking up on what I’m doing – even if I sneak a Starbucks he’s on it because he regularly checks our bank account.” 

Not only does Cory keep the family’s household in order, but he is making an impact on the lives of others as well. He and Lindsey speak at drivers’ intervention programs, which are court-ordered for drunk-driving offenders, and at high schools around prom season to emphasize the importance of responsible partying and the impact of drunk driving. 

“A lot has changed for Cory and me, but we know things could be a lot worse,” Lindsey said. “So even though there are still good and bad moments, we try hard to keep a positive perspective and stay thankful for how far he has come. His neurosurgeon tells him at each annual visit that Cory is a ‘miraculous recovery’.”

Written By: Ryan Maurer