Known as one country with many destinations, Yemen has been ravished by war-like conditions as its capital, Sana, has fallen into the hands of the rebels. Sana is among the oldest and continuously inhabited cities of the world. The 2,500-year-old city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The second largest country in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen till recently was home to a large number of Indians. The country witnessed a huge flare-up with aerial bombardments and firings of gunshots as an air of uncertainty gripped large parts of the country ever since the Arab Spring of 2011. Yemen has been in the throes of internal turmoil. The political uncertainty and unrest continued with the widening of differences between the Sadi Shia group of Houthis from northern Yemen and Yemen president Abdu Rabu Mansur Hadi. The situation was further aggravated after the Houthis strengthened their stranglehold on Yemen. The Yemen president fled the country. After the launch of the airstrikes by the coalition forces amid shelling and crossfire, Yemen was on the boil. Several people, the young and the old, men, women and children were all affected. All were keen to be evacuated and looked for refuge including the five-day-old baby who was born prematurely and developed respiratory problems soon after her birth. In a spectacular and a decisive operation styled as Operation Rahat, India managed to pull out several Indians and other foreign nationals trapped in Yemen. Acting with electorate to the situation in Yemen, India not only managed to swiftly and safely evacuate Indians but also rescued foreign nationals under the most difficult and trying circumstances. We got formal requests from 33 countries but we evacuated nationals of 48 countries including America, England, France, Germany, Australia. In all, we evacuated 4,474 people of India and 1,920 foreign nationals. People know the word war. It's a three-letter word. But we have seen what war means. What a terrifying experience it is. And when the guns were fired in the sky, our windows started shaking. Glass was broken in many cases. Children started shrieking. And it was a terrible, terrible experience. In Sana'a also, they put us on the first flight though we didn't have boarding passes. So I'm very grateful to the Indian Air Force to the Indian government for saving us, for taking us out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led from the front in grappling with the crisis on hand. Prime Minister Modi had a telephonic talk with Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Salt. The King of Saudi Arabia assured the Prime Minister of all necessary assistance. Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj personally spoke to the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia and requested him for assistance in the Indian evacuation efforts. The Indian approach to the evacuation process was guided by the spirit of Vasudeva Kutumbakam, or the world as one family. The Ministry of External Affairs anticipated the possible deterioration in the security environment in Yemen. Along with the Indian Embassy in Sana'a, it issued three advisories on the 21st of January, 19th of March and the 25th of March this year. The ministry urged the Indian nationals to leave Yemen voluntarily by available commercial means. But no one at that time paid heed to the ministry's requests. They preferred to wait till the situation had gone out of control and an operation had to be launched to evacuate them. The Indian Embassy was among the handful of foreign missions operational in Sana'a after the commencement of airstrikes. Formal requests boarded from as many as 33 countries for assistance in the evacuation of their nationals. These included not only the neighbors but also the western countries. India responded positively to these requests and succeeded in evacuating foreign nationals of 48 countries. As for her, the life of every human being is sacred. Logistical arrangements for the evacuation exercise were put in place by the External Affairs Ministry. An interministerial standing group for repatriation of Indian nationals from abroad was constituted which met on a daily basis to coordinate and implement the evacuation plans. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj chaired several meetings of this group to review the situation and to make effective plans for the evacuation by the air and the sea route. Operation Rahat was a very challenging operation. The land route was blocked. The airspace of Yemen was declared as no-flying zone and there were pirates in the sea. Our Prime Minister, Shrinarendra Modi spoke to the king of Saudi Arab and asked for help. After that we got permission to fly from Sana'a, the capital of Yemen for two to three hours a day. It was a joint effort of Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Indian Railways, Air India, Shipping Ministry, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs. I was coordinating from Delhi and my colleague, General V.K. Singh was overseeing the operations from Djibouti which was our camp office. Minister of State for External Affairs General V.K. Singh was given the charge of personally overseeing the rescue and evacuation of a large number of people. Given his background, as the former Army Chief General V.K. Singh had the necessary training and skills to lead such a sensitive operation. Without losing time General V.K. Singh visited Sana'a five times. He camped at Djibouti to personally oversee the evacuation work. He effectively coordinated with the officials, spoke to the rescued people and assured them that the government would ensure that all of them will reach their homes safely.  Tomorrow you will be taken by vehicles to the airport and put into the aircraft to go back to India. Alright? We have experienced several challenges and managed to successfully overcome them. This was almost the last day of evacuating people and we had great difficulty in reaching because initially we had a little problem in Djibouti the ground staff was you know slightly overworked because it looked as if we have taken over they were calmed down we took off halfway through the ATC at Sanat told us we have your permission only for two aircraft why is the third aircraft coming turn back and go now we kept requesting ultimately we had to tell them look here if those two land the money for their parking and landing charges with this aircraft so we were able to convince them that we should also land then we were told you can't land because there is a airstrike going on there were fighters attacking areas around the airfield so which meant that you have to keep you know keep on hold and it was too dangerous in fact we were told that you go back but I think we prevailed and we landed and there were 600 plus people that day we took out everybody keeping in view the complexity of the operations Djibouti was made the hub for evacuation efforts Minister of State General V K Singh shuttle between Sana and Djibouti sparing no efforts to accomplish the most challenging task he was ably assisted by the Indian officers and staff the control room set up in the south block for around the clock monitoring of the evacuation work was buzzing with activity similarly in Djibouti too a control room was working on a regular basis 24 hour helplines were established in the Indian Embassy in Sana and the control room in Djibouti the control room which we had set up in Djibouti the ambassador of Ethiopia who also was having his accreditation to Djibouti was there and our honorable minister of state was also there in Djibouti so the control room was functioning under their guidance so our control room was constantly in touch in the control room in Djibouti was constantly in touch with the control room in India that was in Delhi and the Embassy in Sana as well as the community coordinators in other places in Yemen so that place was the nerve center of the entire operations so information whatever was available in all places were collated there and the action was coordinated from there the Indian government got in touch with the local Yemeni authorities and other governments in the region for their safe and timely evacuation the Indians evacuated from Yemen belonged to 27 states and Union territories most of them had lost all hope to be evacuated when the authorities including the minister of external affairs herself came to their rescue so desperate were the war-stricken people to get out of Yemen that they tried out every method including the option of tweeting to the external affairs minister that eventually helped them to be evacuated there are many stories of human interest but two became very popular one when we brought a five day old baby in an incubator and the other eight month old child was brought who has Yemeni mother and Indian father from this child's mother whose name is Sabasha Wesh I got a tweet at one o'clock in the night and she said that she was taking a chance and she asked me that she is Yemeni husband is Indian and her child is also an Indian passport holder can she be evacuated I asked for her phone number she gave me her phone number I personally spoke to her and said that my embassy officials will contact her the next day next day my embassy officials contacted her but she wanted one day more so the next day she was brought back and after landing in India she tweeted me thank you Sushma ji I am safe my child is also here with me Jai Hind then I tweeted back no need to thank Sabha I was only performing my duty towards my country and my countrymen God bless your child our young citizen Jai Hind these operations would not have been possible without the help of the armed forces especially the navy and the air force in fact the small boats played a big role in bringing the evacuees from the port to the ship which brought them to Djibouti from Djibouti they were transported back to India by planes the Indian navy launched an awe inspiring operation of rescuing the people trapped the people rescued were brought on board the ship where they were completely looked after they were provided food and beverages at regular intervals those in distress and trauma were provided urgent medical help the Indian navy rendered human services in helping children who came out of a traumatic situation a new humanitarian face of the Indian navy was visible India deployed 5 ships included 3 warships INS Sumitra INS Mumbai and INS Tarkash and 2 Indian vessels Kavarati and Korul the Indian naval ships evacuated people safely from Aden, Al Hudaida and Al Mukalla ports in Yemen despite heavy shelling and fighting between the warring factions the Indian navy had a key role to play in the entire operations the instructions were given after consultation between Ministry of External Affairs that we needed to evacuate our Indian nationals who were in Yemen we had INS Sumitra which was actually on gulf raid and patrol and that was deployed virtually within hours and to get onto the spot and was the first responder when we got started getting evacuating the Indians in that operation it was very clear that we would need more forces to be deployed and while Sumitra was there doing a marvelous job the ships company of Sumitra and the officers actually evacuated the Indians and the other nationals in the face of adversity we already had 2 ships INS Mumbai and Tarkash and 2 merchant ships were sailed out these were escorted by these 2 ships and while the transit was taking place to the Gulf of Aden it was a marvelous job by carrying out the evacuation of the Indians as well as the foreign action the no-fly zone imposed on the Yemeni airspace and blockade of sea route by the coalition forces made the evacuation exercise a complex and a very difficult task special permissions had to be obtained both from Yemen and Saudi Arabian authorities sighting of the planes in the hour of crisis brought a ray of hope to the Indians but even to the other foreign nationals 7 aircraft 3 from the Indian Air Force and 4 commercial planes were used to ferry the evacuees from Sana'a to Djibouti and onward to destinations in India in early March this year the government had asked the Indian Air Force to evacuate a number of Indians from Yemen so the world like situation there and it became untenable for the Indian diaspora to be safe there because of raging conflict in Yemen as a result of that a lot of agencies from India got involved in the evacuation activities from Yemen the Indian Air Force the Indian Navy the civil aviation ministry that is the Indian I would say and other civil vessels surface vessels sea weighing vessels were involved in the evacuation of Indian diaspora from Yemen the Indian Navy played a very important role in evacuating people from the port of Aden under very trying conditions they brought all the Indians to Djibouti on the east coast of Africa wherein the Indian Air Force had positioned C-17 strategic airlift aircraft at Djibouti airport for further evacuation of the Indian nationals from there to India these C-17 aircraft were equipped with all the equipment and the necessary logistics to ferry these Indian people from Djibouti to India we had put two sets of aircrew in each of these aircraft and since they are involved in operations around the clock for almost 10 days from 1st April to 10th of April this year we had flown close to 11 sorties evacuating close to 2100 Indian nationals and bring them back safely to India from Yemen it was a combination of Indian Air Force and commercial planes that brought Saka to the rescued people a number of trips were organized to save the people in a record time the Indian Government showed remarkable leadership and extraordinary ability in evacuating 6000 people from Yemen so efficiently and effectively and successfully and I think that was acclaimed around the world as a demonstration of Indian capability the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister of India were personally very involved in leading the evacuation process and in fact I had one of the Secretary's high officials from the Department of the Ministry of External Affairs having lunch with me one day when he received a phone call from the Foreign Minister who was seeking some advice showing how intimately involved she was in all aspects of the evacuation so I do know the Indian Government performed a very well and successful job that the world has recognized and commended that leadership in the case of Australia we had seven people from two families who were in distress and in trouble in Yemen and we had requested that the Indian Government support their Swiss evacuation from India and that happened seamlessly on a couple of flights out of Yemen and for that we're very appreciative of the assistance from the Indian Government so well done to India Going beyond the evacuation process the Indian Railways provided all hospitality to the people returning from Yemen and issued confirmed tickets free of cost for the onward journey to their homes Railways have been in forefront for extending help to the persons returning from Yemen we were in constant touch with Foreign Ministry and as per their evacuation plans we had made arrangements at airports bulk of the passengers came to Bombay almost 2000 passengers who were helped by our senior railway officials who received them helped them in getting reservations and provided free tickets to them and we made sure that after they landed at Bombay they reached their home hassle free and comfortably little more than 200 passengers landed at Kochi there our railway unit similar arrangement for their travelling arrangements up to their destination and that was also arranged free of cost and with confirmed reservations in this endeavor our senior officers had established help desks at airports they had established counters so that they can be received at proper place helped in every way they were provided with accommodation they were provided with food and other facilities so that their further journey is comfortable the concerned state governments provided all possible assistance to the evacuees on their arrival in India like the Maharashtra Government which provided 3000 rupees to each of the returnees to help them safely reach their homes very pathetic there now really we are very thankful to the ministry of external office when we reached in Djibouti then our minister we were kissing he was on board so he welcomed us and he gave a nice treat and he arranged everything in Djibouti under the close supervision of Indian Ambassador Amrit Lughun the embassy officials and staff in Yemen worked round the clock in the most trying circumstances to carry out the evacuation plans this gigantic exercise of the Indian government earned worldwide appreciation there in Yemen it's very dangerous guns and bombs we were scared here and my brother can't sleep I am John Horton from Northern Ireland I absolutely can't say enough about the Indian government for helping us to get out of Yemen we are aware that India through its operation Rahat has really done a lot and has been able to really not only save its own nationals but nationals citizens from other countries as well for that we are very appreciative we are very grateful we are thankful to the government of India for the rapid measures that have been taken and the comprehensive solution that has been taken in order to have the citizens, foreign citizens in the country of conflict to be placed in safer countries perhaps it was one of the toughest exercises that called for a multi-pronged and well coordinated and timely action to bring to safety thousands of Indians and other foreign nationals stranded in Yemen I am grateful to get out of Yemen and go to India hopefully it will get better we are in very big problem there Danzer, an Indian government has done this and saved our life without any cost we shall remember India in our whole life the Bangladesh High Commission here in New Delhi kept in contact with external affairs their high officials immediately and I believe it did not take longer time to get feedback from the Indian authorities almost immediately we got feedback from the Indian officials that they are very willing and ready to help us this unique and unparalleled exercise earned for the government the armed forces and for India an abiding respect and admiration the international community profusely loaded the Indian efforts I think more than 5000 people were rescued by India out of them there were about I think 900 foreign nationals Nepal also in this country sought help from MEA and Embassy of India in Shana Amen for the rescue of 18 Nepalis and we received full cooperation and assistance from the government of India when and where it is needed and government of India is with us maybe the case of Amen maybe the case of Iraq and elsewhere the people of Nepal government of Nepal were very much thankful for all this kind of generous kindness works and this is I think this is for humanitarian ground Indian nationals not in position of travel documents were provided with emergency certificates by the Indian Embassy in Shana the government left no stone unturned to assist all those Indians in Yemen desirous of returning home in a safe and timely evacuation in fact the Ministry of External Affairs came to the rescue of the 5 day old baby whose mother found herself in a precarious condition as she had no means to take care of a child acting as a mother the Ministry of External Affairs not only arranged a lady doctor but also managed to get an incubator for the child I saw a lady carrying it looked as if she was carrying a doll you know it was looking very light and the way she climbed up and all that and it is later in the aircraft because I had a habit of going and talking to people I saw this little baby and I said how old is the baby and she said 5 days I was actually aghast I for a minute I didn't know what to tell her I said why did you have to wait of course we learnt later that I think it was a premature child but still I thought in such a condition she should have gone back home when we got down we got the baby examined the baby was suffering from severe jaundice we had Dr. Uma Indian out there who took charge she got the baby put into the incubator and ultimately next day with the incubator she flew back to India with the child but it was it gave us a lot of palpitation if I can put it that way we brought the baby in the incubator with phototherapy, oxygen and IV fluids so that during transportation of you know 5-6 hours the baby is quite stable so now baby is ok we will take the baby to the hospital and should be alright just as the government managed to rescue and revive the prematurely born 5 day old child who was brought in an incubator the Indian effort seemed to provide an incubator like protection to all those who were rescued and brought back to safety indeed it was Operation Drahat which brought relief not only to the evacuees but also to those who worked round the clock to save precious human lives


And the mayor of the city of St. Louis, Honorable Vincent Sheimel, Martin Matthews and Hubert Dickey Ballantine. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. Thank you very much, Mr. Matthews, Mr. Ballantine. I want you to know it's a real pleasure for me to be here with you this afternoon. This is a beautiful facility, and you and your community should be very proud of it. With the inspiration and dedication of Martin Matthews, Hubert Dickey Ballantine, and others who have devoted so much time and energy, you and your neighbors, local government and businesses, have moved this club from the shade of a convenient tree to a storefront and now to this multi-purpose and multi-million dollar magnificent building. My hat is off to you. And as your project has grown, corporations based here and around the country, companies like Monsanto, Anhauser-Busch, and Emerson Electric have joined your effort. Enrollment has grown from, I understand, 30 to more than 2,000 boys and girls, and has served more than 30,000 St. Louis young people. Many of you I know participate in the Earn and Learn program and teach yourselves the meaning of leadership and responsibility, often earning your own club dues. This club is an exciting example of the private sector cooperation that I believe can renew the quality of life across America. Bill Verity is to be a businessman who is chairman of what we call our private sector initiatives task force. And he's leading an effort that we've started in Washington to encourage the private, public, and non-private sectors to work together in all our communities. I believe the idea is catching on. Here, because of Mayor Schemel's leadership, the private sector will pick up the cost of operation bright side. That's a program to clean up the city while providing summer jobs for youth. I understand some Matthews Dickie alumni are involved in that. The Ralston Purina Company, which sponsors eight youth jobs here at Matthews Dickie, is also working with other non-profit groups around the country in one of the nation's most successful summer jobs for youth programs. And today, I received a telegram reporting similar achievements, believe it or not, in the Big Apple in New York City. William Spencer of City Corp wires that this year's New York City Partnership Program, they call it there, summer jobs for youth campaign has been able to generate 18,000 jobs for economically disadvantaged young people in that city and already more than 12,000 have been placed in those jobs and they're still proceeding to fill the other 6,000 jobs. Your experience, that in New York and other examples around the country, make it clear that we don't have to turn to the federal government to fill every need. Don't misunderstand, government has a legitimate role in aiding citizens, people particularly, you can turn nowhere else for support. Business, volunteer organizations, and our churches can't take over all of America's responsibilities. But our economy nearly founded on the rocky misconception that government bore those responsibilities alone and too many of us, not these gentlemen here, began saying, well, let government do it instead of doing the things that we used to do for each other. All Americans share in these responsibilities and we call on every resource, every strength, every bit of individual imagination to fulfill our obligations together. I applaud the people of this city for making this tremendous success story possible. I wish all America could stand where I am now looking out at all of you, you young people with your hopes, your dreams, because of the cooperation of the people in this city who've given you a chance for a real and a bright and a prosperous future. I wish America, all of it, could see these positive practical results of neighbor helping neighbor. And if they could, every American would be as convinced as I am that the people of this country are a good and giving people capable of accomplishing great deeds. As a matter of fact, I think I'll leave a note for future presidents suggesting what to do when they need a little inspiration. Go to St. Louis. There's a spirit here that has caught our national imagination more than once, countless tales of courage and generosity are told about this gateway to the West. My favorite happens to be about a young fellow, however, who is going the other way, Charles Lindbergh. That's little before your time. But he was a brave young aviator. We called him Lucky Lindy. You could understand why, of course, when you stopped to think that he flew a small single-engine propeller plane, no jets in those days. The first time anyone had ever flown such a thing across the Atlantic Ocean, he made history. And he talked all the time as if his plane were his best friend. He called it the spirit of St. Louis. As I look out here today, I understand the confidence that name and that spirit gave him. Yours is a thoroughly American city, and your can-do attitude a deeply American spirit. From now on, I think I'll keep the spirit of St. Louis as my companion also. You club members are also learning team spirit, working individually and together for excellence. I'm sure that out of 65 baseball teams, there must be a few of you who dream of playing in the major leagues some days. Is that right? And I understand that some of your alumni have made that also and are doing that. I was never a baseball player. My game was football. But I used to broadcast major league baseball. I was just talking to some of the Cardinals who were here today and talking about it. Did it here in the Midwest, the home games of the Chicago Cubs and the White Sox? I have a lot of memories. St. Louis Cardinals in those days were called the Gas House gang. Nucky Medwick and Leo DeRosher and Dizzy Dean. I remember back when Bob Feller was just out of high school and starting with the Cleveland Indians. Alliance and a great club team with Gabby Hartnett and Billy Jurgers and Billy Herman and so many others and those names were all, I think, before many of you were born. But I had the privilege of broadcasting the Chicago Cubs one season when the only mathematical chance they had toward the end of the season to win the pennant was to win the last 21 games of the season. Couldn't drop a one and they did it. It still stands in the record book as a baseball record. I don't know why I brought that up because they had to beat out the Cardinals to do it. Kind of tactless of me. But in one of those games with the cards, I can't resist telling you a little story, a little reminiscence here. Billy Jurgers of the Cubs was up at the plate and I was broadcasting the game by telegraphic report. That meant I had a fellow sitting on the other side of a window with a telegraph key and headphones on and he got a dot and dash Morse code from the ballpark and I took the slip of paper and I announced the play and I'd see him start typing and I'd start in with the pitchers out of the windup. Here comes the pitch and take this and it'd say S1C and I'd say an answer called strike breaking over the outside corner to a batter that liked and so forth and so on. Well, this particular day it was the Cubs and the Cards tied up nothing and nothing in the ninth inning. Billy Jurgers at bat, Dizzy Dean out on the mound. I saw Curly start typing so I figured the next play is coming and so I had Old Diz come out of his windup and Curly shaking his head no and I didn't know what he meant but he handed me the paper to paper says the wire's gone dead. Well, I had a ball on the way to the plate and I knew there was one thing you could say that never gets in the score book so I had Billy foul one off and then I thought ninth inning and there's a half a dozen other announcers they can turn to to get the rest of this game if I tell him we'll play a little music while we fix the wire so I didn't. I figured I'll have him pumping and foul another one off and then he fouled one that all missed by a home run by a foot and then he fouled one back to third base and I just grabbed the kids and had a fight over the baseball and he kept on fouling them until I was beginning to set a world record for a batter hitting successive fouls and finally, for about 12 minutes at the plate, I saw Curly start typing again and he was nodding yes so I started another ball on the way to the plate and when he handed it to me I started laughing I could hardly say it the message said Billy popped out on the first ball pitched I don't suppose being in the business I'm in now I should never tell you that I faked something out that way but I've been a real ball fan ever since so it was a great treat when I was able to meet one of the recent additions to the Baseball Hall of Fame at the White House last year one of the athletes was there it was once an ace pitcher for the Cardinals you've probably heard of him his name is Bob Gibson during the 68 Major League season he held the batters who faced him to the lowest earned run average in modern baseball history after the season he opened the World Series against the Detroit Tigers with a 17 game strikeout there are 17 strikeouts in the game and a shutout and he pitched them to two victories in the World Series but he's another St. Louis success story his father was a mill worker who died before he was born his mother worked in a laundry and his supporters seven children as a young boy his brother encouraged him to take up baseball and as a man he made his boyhood dreams come true now they say that if you ask him he'll attribute his success to a keen competitive drive and the motivation of financial reward well that's alright but those who know him attribute his success to the fact that he put his heart into his work you know he was working toward a dream and making it come true once when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president speaking to a group of young people as I am now he too spoke about dreams he said one of the reasons the world gets better so slowly is that too many young people lose their dreams as they get older and growing up he said they throw away their enthusiasm and grow away from their ideals and he said you ought to thank God if regardless of your years you are young enough in spirit to dream dreams and see visions hold fast to your dreams he said America needs them the young people now the young people that he spoke to then have grandchildren now that are your age and still we haven't achieved all our vision of what an America can be an America without poverty without unemployment free of class struggles and in a world at peace we've done a lot I think we've accomplished much but we have a lot yet to do and I think that the Matthews Dickey Boys Club is full of youthful dreams if you can hold on to the ideals of your youth if neighbor keeps helping neighbor not only here but around the country then together we'll renew the spirit that made this country great and makes our dreams come true one of the great pleasures of being president is the ability to honor individual Americans whose spirit and sacrifice have bettered the lives of their fellow citizens I believe this may be a surprise but it's my privilege today to present individual awards to two outstanding citizens that you all know very well it is with great respect and admiration that I award Martin Matthews and Hubert Dickey Valentine the Presidential Citizens' Medals for outstanding service that they have given to this community to St. Louis and to the United States of America and it reads let me just read the citation they are, I will read one they are both the same except for the names on them being different but the President of the United States of America awards the Presidential Citizens' Medal to Martin Matthews and the other certificate will read to Mr. Dickey Valentine the good works of Martin Matthews flow as deeply through the city of St. Louis as the Mississippi River itself is inspiring contribution to bettering the lives of inner city youth is a shining example of the power of good I would like to take this time to say welcome Mr. President to St. Louis, Missouri and let's give him a St. Louis welcome today, today really is a great day it's one of the biggest days in my life and I sure have enjoyed it very much I enjoyed the personal contact with the President of the United States and I say that God bless America and God bless him in his work I thank you all for being here today we would like to start over Mr. President on behalf of the Matthews Dickey Boys Club we would like to present these gifts to you and I hope that you enjoy your stay I just want you to know I've just given I've just given up football I'm a ball player now thank you all very much