Thirty Major League Baseball parks in 30 days. That was what one Orange County man did, but the trip wasn’t about baseball.
In 2014, Jonathan St. Clair’s 21-month-old son Jasper was being watched by a babysitter. Later, Jonathan's wife received a phone call from the babysitter.
“[The babysitter] just kept saying, ‘I found him in the pool. I found him in the pool,’ and we were kind of confused,” Jonathan recalled to KNX News’ Jon Baird. “We didn't have a pool.”
It turned out the babysitter took Jasper to her home, and while she was in the bathroom, Jasper drowned in the pool. He was taken to the hospital, but doctors eventually determined it was too late.
“You can imagine that, you know, one minute you've got a perfectly healthy 21-month-old that you're walking around with and playing with and having a great time with, and then all of a sudden, literally overnight, you don't,” Jonathan said.
Jonathan and his wife went all in on drowning prevention efforts, starting the Jasper Ray Foundation. Then Jonathan got an idea - 30 Major League Baseball parks in 30 days, raising $662,000 - a thousand dollars for every day Jasper was alive.
He called it “The Wave Maker Tour.”
He wrote a letter and got the support of the Major League Baseball commissioner.
“And he sent me back a very nice letter,” Jonathan said. “The only thing I wanted was just an endorsement for Major League Baseball saying, ‘You know what? We're rooting for you and hopefully, hopefully you can make, make all 30.’”
He also received support from several baseball teams.
“I would say probably 20-plus of the teams really pulled out the red carpet for me, which was really just amazing,” he said.
He started his journey in Seattle and ended at Dodger Stadium last Saturday.
During his trips, he wore a life jacket with a QR code telling his story. He said there were many sobering yet memorable moments during his trip, including one with a baseball fan in San Diego.
“And he's got tears in his eyes, and he proceeded to tell me that his best friend just lost their child two weeks ago to a drowning,” he said.
Jonathan says more than 4,000 people drown every year in the United States and that it's easily preventable - get a pool fence and learn how to swim.
“And statistically, if you learn how to swim and take swim lessons, you're 88% less likely to drown, which is absolutely amazing, but it's the only sport that you can learn that would save your own life,” he said.
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