The story behind this special home run will make every Cardinals fan emotional

There are times in baseball where the sport becomes bigger than it appears. Players' Weekend is a time for players to show their more human and personal side.

Several players took this weekend to showcase causes and people that they care deeply about. Arizona Diamondbacks' second baseman Ketel Marte had a bat designed in memory of his mother who passed away. Christian Yelich had a bat made to honor the late Bob Uecker. Freedie Freeman's bat gave a nod to his three sons with his three specialty bats.

For the St. Louis Cardinals, several players took this weekend to put their personalities on full display. Masyn Winn had Charizard-inspired cleats. However, one of Winn's teammates took a more personal approach to this weekend's festivities.

St. Louis Cardinals catcher uses MLB's Players' Weekend to represent children at Children's Mercy Hospital.

For those of you who don't know Yohel Pozo's story, I would strongly encourage you to learn more about it. Pozo and his wife, Paola, had their first child, Paul, in March of 2020. The minor leaguer had his contract with the Texas Rangers expire soon after, and he was left unemployed with a new child while a pandemic was raging throughout the world.

Pozo's son began showing signs of poor balance, and he eventually suffered a pediatric stroke. The health expenses began piling up for the Pozo family, and they were forced to live in their car. Yohel took a job as a delivery driver, and the San Diego Padres signed him to a minor-league contract, and he eventually went back to the Rangers via the Rule 5 Draft.

After calling several managers and coaches throughout the Rangers' organization, Pozo eventually received financial help from the Rangers themselves to cover the plethora of costs associated with his situation. He spent a few different seasons with a variety of teams before joining the Cardinals and becoming one part of a two-catcher tandem that included Pedro Pages, and the rest is history.

Yohel Pozo could have used Players' weekend to have a goofy design on his bat or catcher's gear, but he instead used his platform to bring attention to a cause near and dear to his heart.

Yohel had his son, along with several other children who are fighting to recover from pediatric strokes, place their handprints on his bat. He also designed his cleats to say "Pediatric Stroke Awareness" along with a ribbon designating the colors for this illness. "I just want to honor (my son) and all the kids that have been through that. Everybody thinks that stroke can happen to an old person, but it can happen during delivery, too, like what happened with my son."

As often happens when professional athletes visit those in hospitals, a home run was requested. It's not often that a player is able to follow through with a promise as big as this, but Yohel Pozo did just that for the children at Children's Mercy Hospital.

Yohel Pozo came up to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning with no one on and no one out. Reliever Camilo Duval was on to face his first batter, and Pozo had the words of the children racing through his mind.

Pozo honored their request by launching a slider 404 feet to the left-center field bleachers.

“The kids asked me if I could hit a homer and I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to try,’ and then when it happens -- as soon as I saw the ball and it was a homer -- I almost started crying running the bases just thinking about it,” Pozo said after the game. "I hope (the kids in the hospital) see that and see that I hit that homer for them."

Pozo had two bats designed for this weekend's series against the New York Yankees. He plans on keeping the purple bat, the one designed specifically for his son, but his other bat that has the hand prints of the children will be auctioned off to raise money for Children's Mercy Hospital. Auctions will begin soon after Players' Weekend wraps up.