JUPITER, Fla. — Florida Marlins outfielder Luis Gonzalez had an idea to help a Florida family recover from a violent death of a loved one, and he asked Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols if he’d care to lend an evening.

They are going to take somebody to dinner.

Gonzalez’s inspiration was to auction off a dinner with him and Pujols — both All-Stars, both 40-homer guys — to a fan, with the benefits going to help the family of Ray Vazquez.  A Palm Beach County firefighter, Vazquez was killed when a gunman walked into a local Wendy’s and began shooting earlier this month. Vazquez is survived by his wife and their five children, and Gonzalez hopes to raise money that will help.

“I told (Gonzalez), Let’s go,” Pujols said. “I’m a daddy. I have three kids. We can’t bringing their daddy back to his wife and three kids, but let’s do something nice for them, appreciate what he was doing in his job, and (let them) know there is somebody who cares about them.”

Palm Beach Post columnist Greg Stoda has more in his column today.

Gonzalez worked with the Marlins and the Cardinals to set up the auction, which will begin Thursday at MLB.com and the two team’s official Web sites.  The auction will close sometime next Wednesday. And the two top bids will receive invites for them and three other people to attend the game on March 20th. The winners will be invited onto the field, given tickets for that day’s game and then dine with Pujols and Gonzalez.

(When a link is available, it will be placed in here.)

On March 3, Vazquez, 42, went back to the Wendy’s on Military Trail — a road that runs just a few blocks from Roger Dean Stadium — to return a toy his son, Adrian, had received with a meal. His son realized he already had the toy. According to reports, Vazquez was standing in line when the gunman walked in and opened fire. He killed Vazquez, a 15-year veteran of fire rescue, and wounded four others.

“I’m doing this as a human begin,” Gonzalez told Florida reporters. “He was just being a dad. What father hasn’t gone back into a fastfood restaurant to exchange a toy for a kid? We can’t bring him back, but maybe we can make a small impact financially.”

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