After 7 years, baseball player Adam Greenberg is getting his first at bat

On July 9, 2005, in his major league debut for the Cubs, outfielder Adam Greenberg faced pitcher Valerio de los Santos of the Florida Marlins.  Greenberg’s time in the Show lasted all of one pitch, as the first offering he saw from de los Santos beaned him squarely in the side of the head, which left the then 24-year-old with a concussion, followed by severe post-concussions symptoms including vision problems, nausea and positional vertigo, an affliction he still suffers from to this day.  Greenberg has bounced around the minor leagues for the past several seasons without ever making a return to the big leagues.

Enter filmmaker and baseball enthusiast Matt Liston, who started an online campaign to get Greenberg just one more at bat in the Show.  Despite endorsements from several current major leaguers and some 20,000 signatures on his petition at change.org, Liston wasn’t able to convince the Cubs—Greenberg’s one and only major league team—to give the 31-year-old ballplayer a second chance, which surprised many people seeing that a) the Cubbies have had nothing to play for since about mid-July, and b) it would have made for some pretty good PR.

Good news has finally come for Liston and Greenberg in the form of the Miami Marlins, who, after procuring approval from MLB commissioner Bud Selig, have agreed to give Adam Greenberg his second chance by way of a plate appearance in next Tuesday’s home game against the Mets and R.A. Dickey.

“I’m ready,” Greenberg said on the NBC Today Show Thursday, holding back tears as David Samson, general manager of the last-place Marlins, offered him a one-day contract

The Marlins had received approval from MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to give Greenberg a plate appearance next Tuesday, when Miami has a home game against the Mets, who are scheduled to start knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.