BALTIMORE -- When the video came in earlier this summer, the Orioles couldn't help but feel a tug at the heartstrings. The same was true for everyone lucky enough to be in attendance at Camden Yards for Thursday afternoon's national anthem performed by 18-year-old Nicholas Nauman prior to Baltimore's series finale against the Mariners.
Nauman, who attends Carroll Springs School in Westminster, Md., isn't your typical teenager. He was adopted as a 9-month-old infant from Ukraine and was born with a variety of medical problems, including cerebral palsy (spastic quadriplegia), a (repaired) cleft palate, cortical vision impairment (CVI) and mental retardation.