Watch: Andrew McCutchen reunites with young fans from viral moment eight years later

The McCrearys and the Pirates had been working on a reunion with McCutchen several times over the past eight years, but plans kept falling through, especially after the team traded McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants a few years ago.

Despite that trade, Christopher and Elijah remained McCutchen fans and continued to follow his career at his different stops before he re-signed in Pittsburgh this past winter.

From MLB.com:

“I’m a diehard Pirate fan, but I’m definitely a diehard Cutch fan,” Christopher said. “Over the years when he was gone, I kept up with him. Probably the only other player that’s not a Pirate that I kept up with really heavy. When he came back, I was so excited. I was really happy. I knew the first thing people were going to say was, ‘Oh, this is a farewell tour.’ I thought in my mind, ‘This is not a farewell tour. He’s going to help this ballclub win.’ Sure enough, the next day, he said it’s not a farewell tour. … It really meant a lot to me. It showed me who he is as a player and kind of proved everything that I knew.”

The Pirates ended up losing Monday's game to the Dodgers, 5-2, while McCutchen did not play and had the night off.