CINCINNATI — Teddy Kremer is known to many as a fist-bumping, high-fiving batboy for the Cincinnati Reds, but he’s much more than that. He’s really a renaissance man, and that makes him an inspiration.
The 39-year-old man with down syndrome living in the Cincinnati suburb of White Oak will be honored by the Nuxhall Foundation this October with its highest honor. Kremer is the 2022 Nuxhall Foundation Humanitarian Award winner.
“It’s a happy honor,” said Kremer, who was going to be receiving the honor in 2020 and 2021 but did not as the Miracle Ball was canceled due to the pandemic.
Kremer can be seen at some Cincinnati Reds home games at the team’s Fan Accommodations section at Great American Ball Park. But when he’s not there, he’s dancing at A-Marika or Arthur Murray or golfing, which are just some of his latest athletic pursuits. Others pursuits have included, or still do include, softball, soccer, baseball, basketball, swimming, and horseback riding.
He was also the student manager with the Colerain High School football team, including during the 2004 state champion season, the school year after he graduated.
Kremer also got an invite from then-Speaker of the House John Boehner to attend the 2013 State of the Union in Washington, D.C., had two bobbleheads created in his likeness, a character education baseball card produced, and authored a book, Stealing First: The Teddy Kremer Story, with authors Diane Lang and Michael Buchanan.
Everything he does shines a spotlight on his story.
“We’ve been waiting for this one for a long, long time,” said Kim Nuxhall, president and board chairman of the Nuxhall Foundation. “No one in our community better exemplifies our mission than Teddy Kremer.”
The Nuxhall Foundation is the legacy organization of the late-Reds pitcher Joe Nuxhall, and its mission is to provide accessible and inclusive recreational opportunities for all athletes of all ages and disabilities. This includes the Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Fields complex and the future Hope Center, which would provide year-round opportunities.
“Teddy has motivated the world with his talent and character, and Dad would have absolutely loved the spark he brought to the Reds and to life in general,” Nuxhall said.
Kremer will be honored at the sold-out 2022 Miracle Ball ― after a two-year COVID pandemic hiatus ― at Jungle Jim’s Oscar Event Center.
This is Kremer’s biggest honor, said his mom, Cheryl Kremer. “It’s a huge award. It’s a little emotional when they told him,” she said.
Kremer said that he’s happy to be honored, though it’s important his family will be there on Oct. 28, “and I’m happy for that.”
“To win this award, it’s kind of emotional,” he started to say before pausing as his eyes reddened and tears welled thinking of the honor. After a couple of moments, he finished his thought. “I’m just happy. It’s a great honor.”
All of this came after the happy-go-lucky super Reds fan became a bat boy for the Cincinnati Reds a decade earlier.
On Aug. 17, 2012, Teddy’s life changed. It was the first of six times he served as the Cincinnati Reds batboy. The experience came after his parents bid on the opportunity several months earlier at a charity auction at Mercy Montessori.
He was the ultimate dugout champion that night ― fist bumps, high fives, and enthusiastic cheers for all ― which produced a Reds 7-3 win over the Chicago Cubs. Then-Reds manager Dusty Baker called Kremer the team’s “good luck charm.”
Since that time, he has become somewhat of a household name, especially with those families who have children living with disabilities. Parents Dave and Cheryl Kremer said their son had become an inspiration to those families because he’s proof they can be successful. One West Virginia family with a Down syndrome child drove to Great American Ball Park to meet Kremer. He wasn’t at the game when they drove down, but they eventually connected.
When Kremer heard that someone wanted to meet him, he said, with his voice cracking, “I was touched.”
Dave Kremer said his son’s story “has been so widespread that it’s been picked up in other cities where people see this and think, this is a good experience.”
Cheryl Kremer said her son proves that “everyone can be successful” regardless of ability or disability, a genetic disorder that impacts a child’s developmental or cognitive skills.
But after the Oct. 28 Miracle Ball, Kremer isn’t finished.
A week after he’s honored by the Nuxhall Foundation, he’ll travel to Tipp City to raise money for the Miami Valley Veterans Museum at the Dancing with the Miami Valley Stars fundraiser.
The Humanitarian Award may be the biggest for Kremer so far, but it’s not the only one. Earlier this summer, Kremer received the Tom Fricke Service Award from the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.
But all of this has taught Kremer an important lesson that anyone can apply to their own life: “Never give up. You go to school, you have goals. You go to work, you have goals. You never give up. You need to achieve them. Never give up.”
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