Chad Bettis returned to baseball after cancer and the Rockies played the perfect song for the occasion

Chad Bettis returned to the Rockies after being treated for testicular cancer during the offseason and working his way back in the minors for most of the season.

He was, naturally, welcomed back to the team with open arms by his teammates and friends throughout baseball. Bettis said that in preparing for his first game back, he “felt like a kid the night before Christmas.”

The applause that welcomed him to the mound was as loud and enthusiastic a welcome as anyone could hope for.

It’s a well-deserved comeback and of course an uplifting story of a player who went through an illness and made it back through the support of friends, family, and teammates.

However, for his first walk from the bullpen to the dugout before taking the mound, the Rockies didn’t make any sort of grand announcement to welcome him back. Much has been made of his return and it wouldn’t have seemed out of place for the team to do so.

Instead, the Rockies did something much more simple and possibly more meaningful. They played the Danny Gokey song “The Comeback” as he jogged over to the dugout.

For anyone not familiar with the track, it’s a peppy, spirit-lifting song that includes such lyrics as,

After a season of night falls and push backs
After the heartache of wrong turns and sidetracks
Just when they think they’ve got you game set match
Here comes the comeback

and,

This is your time your moment
The fire, the fight, you’re golden
You’ve come so far keep going
Oh here comes the comeback

Everyone at the field on Monday, at least almost everyone, probably knew what Bettis had been through and the circumstances of his return. They didn’t need to be told with a ceremony or a voiceover or a pamphlet. A standing ovation still accompanied the moment.

The acknowledgement of his struggle and his return through a simple, yet uplifting musical choice was a nice touch by the Rockies organization and made for a wonderful moment at the ballpark.