LANCE TALKS TURKEY
Astros fan favorite pitches in to help needy locals for Thanksgiving
Nov 26, 2019, 1:22 pm
LANCE TALKS TURKEY
This article originally appeared on CultureMap.
On a crisp Saturday morning, Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. happily posed for photos, shook hands, and passed out free turkeys to needy locals at the Big Brothers and Big Sisters Greater Houston headquarters near downtown. In all, some 150 turkeys were delivered to families who otherwise would've missed out on a Thanksgiving main course.
"We're glad to hand these out to people who work hard — they deserve a stress-free holiday," McCullers told CultureMap at the event. "I consider myself a Houstonian. I've lived here for four years. My daughter is about to be born here. This city has embraced me and my family — everywhere we go, people couldn't be more gracious to us."
Hoping to give back ahead of Thanksgiving, McCullers approached Big Brothers Big Sisters about lining up families who otherwise might not afford the single biggest expense on the traditional Thanksgiving dinner table: the turkey.
According to a 2018 study by the United States Department of Agriculture, 14.3 million Americans were food insecure throughout the year, a situation made all the more dire on a local level when the Houston Food Bank was forced to throw out nearly two million pounds of food worth $3 million, contaminated from an ammonia leak in one of its coolers. The turkeys were provided by ThrIVe Drip Spa.
For McCullers, the giveaway is all part of his belief in paying it forward, no matter how grand or modest the gesture. "People have a lot of things going on in their lives — work, family, stresses," he said. "You'd be surprised what a little can do. People really appreciate a little effort: hold the door for someone or just ask, 'Hey, how are you doing today,' smile at somebody — just give a little bit of grace."
Continue on CultureMap to read about McCuller's busy offseason.
Houston center fielder Jake Meyers was removed from Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland during pregame warmups because of right calf tightness.
Meyers, who had missed the last two games with a right calf injury, jogged onto the field before the game but soon summoned the training staff, who joined him on the field to tend to him. He remained on the field on one knee as manager Joe Espada joined the group. After a couple minutes, Meyers got up and was helped off the field and to the tunnel in right field by a trainer.
Mauricio Dubón moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace Dubón at shortstop.
Meyers is batting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs this season.
After the game, Meyers met with the media and spoke about the injury. Meyers declined to answer when asked if the latest injury feels worse than the one he sustained Sunday. Wow, that is not a good sign.
Asked if this calf injury feels worse than the one he sustained on Sunday, Jake Meyers looked toward a team spokesman and asked "do I have to answer that?" He did not and then politely ended the interview.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) July 10, 2025
Lack of imaging strikes again!
The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Thursday that the Astros didn't do any imaging on Meyers after the initial injury. You can't make this stuff up. This is exactly the kind of thing that has the Astros return-to-play policy under constant scrutiny.
The All-Star break is right around the corner, why take the risk in playing Meyers after missing just two games with calf discomfort? The guy literally fell to the ground running out to his position before the game started. The people that make these risk vs. reward assessments clearly are making some serious mistakes.
The question remains: will the Astros finally do something about it?