CHICAGO -- The story of how Javier Baez got his World Series ring begins long before he was a Chicago Cub, or had ever set foot on the shores of the continental United States. In fact, it begins several decades before he was born. It ends with a young woman named Grace who, before Tuesday, he had never met. And in a way, it is the kind of story that can only happen in a sport with a history as long as baseball.
Grace is the hero of this story, both in a literal and figurative sense.