Just ten days after it officially returned with the end of the MLB lockout, baseball is already finding a way to make us feel misty-eyed again.
Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker went viral on Sunday for an awesome moment prior to his team’s Spring Training game against the Washington Nationals. Dusty was surprised by son Darren, who plays in the Nationals organization. Darren went out to present Washington’s lineup card and shared an embrace with his father at home plate.
Check out the heartwarming video.
Photographers also captured some great shots of the moment for Dusty to frame in his office.
Darren, who is now 23, was selected by the Nationals in the tenth round of last year’s MLB June Amateur Draft. He plays second base and center field and attended college at UC Berkeley. Darren made 18 appearances last season for Fredericksburg, the Nationals’ Low-A affiliate, and hit .318.
You may recall the last time that Dusty and Darren teamed up — as manager and bat boy with the San Francisco Giants. Though he was just a toddler at the time, Darren served as a bat boy for the Dusty-led Giants during their 2002 playoff run. One of the lasting images of the World Series that year between the Giants and the Anaheim Angels was Giants first baseman JT Snow pulling Darren to safety during a live sequence in Game 5.
Some two decades later, Darren had another viral moment at home plate, this time a touching one that he got to share with his father. It also reminds us just how quickly time passes, as it has now been 20 years since the Snow play and over ten years since Darren used to roast some of his dad’s players.
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