Jeremy Guthrie shares flags, baseballs and memories with members of Missouri National Guard

Before deployment to Afghanistan last year, Christopher "Ryan" Morton, Adam Rulon, Jonathan Rulon and Tim Jackson attended the Red Sox-Royals series in Boston. Morton bought a military appreciation jersey and received a set of baseball cards while at Fenway.

After one of the games, Morton and the crew (all Royals fans) waited by the Kansas City bus to see if they could get the cards signed. Jeremy Guthrie came out to sign, and after hearing the group's story, got the rest of his teammates to give their autographs as well. In return, the men had one of their 1438th multi-role bridge company Kandahar airfield flags flown in honor of Guthrie on December 1, 2013 and March 13, 2014.

Before Thursday's Cardinals-Royals game -- nearly a year since they first met -- Morton, Jackson and The Rulons presented Guthrie with the flag encased inside a plaque. Guts also signed some baseballs for the four Missouri National Guard members.