Dodgers Stadium erupted into applause as Freddie Freeman’s walk-up song played on Monday night. Now, the fans are usually excited to see their first baseman hit, but this time was special, as Freeman returned for the first time in eight games. He was away from the team for those eight games, taking care of his son, Max, who is in the hospital battling Guillain-Barré syndrome. Freeman’s return to the game was met with cheers from Dodger fans, but fans worldwide supporting him and his son’s battle.
Baseball has been the backdrop for countless emotional moments that have resonated deeply with fans and players alike. Some moments have brought tears of joy, and others have brought tears of sadness, but all of these emotional moments emphasize the beauty of the game.
On July 29th, 2015, Wilmer Flores strutted out to the field with tears in his eyes. It was rumored that a trade was going down and that Flores would more than likely be dealt in the coming days. He was overcome with emotion playing in his final game for the team that signed him, the team that developed him, and the only team he had called home for eight years. Fans could see the emotion on his face and felt how deeply Flores wanted to be a Met.
However, this wouldn’t be his last game wearing orange and blue. The Mets would eventually back out of their trade with the Brewers, which saw Flores and Zach Wheeler being sent to the Brewers for Carlos Gomez. The Mets caught wind of injury concerns for Carlos Gomez’s hip and eventually called the deal off, keeping Flores in New York. The Mets would instead end up trading with the Tigers for Yoenis Cespedes.
Two days later, in an extra-inning matchup with the Nationals, Flores went up to bat for the Mets and delivered a walk-off homer. Just days after a technicality kept Flores in New York, he delivered, showing the team that sometimes crying in baseball is okay.
In the wake of tragedy, Boston was on the mend. On April 15, 2013, Boston and the entire nation were rocked by the events of the Boston Marathon bombing. The city was hurting and needed to rally around their team.
Four days later, the Red Sox would play their first home series since the bombing. Before the game, David Ortiz addressed the crowd and delivered an emotional line that made all in attendance and all watching at home feel Boston Strong.
Ortiz said, “This is our f****** city, and nobody’s going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.”
Despite being sanctioned by the FCC for swearing on national television, everyone supported Ortiz’s sentiment. The Red Sox went on to win the game 4-3, inspired in part by Boston’s strength and Ortiz’s speech.
Another speech that brought tears to almost all who were in attendance was Lou Gehrig’s speech. On July 4, 1939, the Yankees celebrated Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. Gehrig had been forced to retire as a player two weeks earlier due to his being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, later renamed Lou Gehrig’s disease. At a time when little was known about the disease, the public was emotional to not only see one of their favorite players retire but see him in a fight for his life. With concerns heavy for Gehrig, he eased everyone, bringing tears to all listening.
Gehrig said, “For the past two weeks, you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
These words would become famous as they illustrated the type of player and man Lou Gehrig was. Despite the looming difficulties of his fight with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, he was positive in the face of adversity.
Trey Mancini overcame all the obstacles to make his way back to diamond. In March of 2020, Mancini was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer and wasn’t just fighting to get back to baseball, but was fighting for his life. Mancini sat out the entire 2020 season battling his colon cancer with chemotherapy, hoping to make his way back to Camden Yards. Throughout his recovery, Mancini emphasized that he hoped to return healthy by Opening Day 2021.
By the time Opening Day 2021 came around, Mancini was five months cancer-free. In its opening day matchup against the Red-Sox, Mancini suited up for his first game since 2019. During opening introductions, Mancini received a warm ovation from the 12 percent capacity Fenway crowd. Despite the small crowd allowed to attend due to COVID-19 regulations, every MLB fan watching from home also gave him an ovation. Despite only managing to get a single, being back only a year after a cancer diagnosis was a win for Mancini.
Hitting your first career home run is an emotional moment, but when the homer comes in the wake of tragedy, it means everything. Michael Lorenzon was called up by the Reds as a reliever and got his first start on the mound against the Dodgers. Two days prior, Lorenzon’s father died, creating an emotional moment for his debut.
Lorenzon took the mound in the top of the seventh, recorded two outs, and returned to the dugout, holding in his tears. In the bottom of the seventh, with the Reds up 6-1, Lorenzon went to the plate for his first major league at-bat. He only needed one pitch before he smashed a three-run homer. Lorenzon rounded the bases to cheers from the fans, pointing up to his father and crying as he hit home plate. He entered the dugout to hugs from his Reds teammates, letting out all of his emotions. With Lorenzon still soaking in the moment, he returned to pitch 1.2 more innings as the fans cheered him on the entire way through.
In the Angel’s first home game since the passing of Tyler Skaggs, the team historically celebrated his life. Before the game, the Angels held a ceremony to commemorate the life and career of Skaggs, which included having his mother, Debbie Hetman, throw the first pitch. Additionally, all Angel’s players dawned Skagg’s number 45 jersey. Taylor Cole and Felix Pena went for a combined no-hitter against the Mariners to honor their former bull-pen member. Both pitchers pitched exceptionally well, with Cole pitching the first two and Pena delivering the final seven. In the ninth inning, with Pena having thrown 76 pitches, he returned to the mound to complete the game. He retired Mac Williamson and Dee Gordon for the first two outs. He then secured the final out with a Mallex Smith ground out sealing the win and combined no-hit bid.
The Angels’ offensive performance was equally impressive. The team’s bats were exceptionally hot, stringing together eight hits and sending 13 batters to the plate during the first inning. Angel’s fans and players all felt the emotion of the blowout win and no-hit bid, honoring Skaggs’ legacy in the most fitting way possible.
Not all entries on this list are the products of tragedy or sadness, but instead, some tears of joy. Almost all players, coaches, and fans cried tears of joy in 2016 after the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. The Cubs were in the midst of the largest World Series drought in MLB history, last winning the title in 1908. Along with the drought, the Cubs were also plagued with the “Billy Goat Curse,” one of the more infamous sports curses. The Curse of the Billy Goat began when a local tavern owner, Billy Sianis, was barred from attending a World Series Game with his goat “Murphy.” Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley explained to Sianis that he couldn’t let the goat in because the goat stank.
Sianis responded, “The Cubs aren’t going to win no more. The Cubs will never win a World Series so long as the goat is not allowed in Wrigley Field,” thus ushering in almost a century of bad luck for the Cubs.
Back to 2016, the Cubs looked destined for another year of failure after trailing the Cleveland Indians 3-1. Instead, the Cubs went on an incredible run to win their first World Series in 108 years. Fans had waited a century to see their team win again, and the emotion on the faces of Cubs players showed just how much breaking the Curse of the Billy Goat meant to them.
Jim Abbott’s MLB Career is an inspiration in itself, but his feat on September 4th, 1993, may just be the most inspirational moment in MLB history. Abbott’s path to the MLB was not easy as he was born with a condition called symbrachydactyly, which left him without a right hand. Even without a right hand, Abbott was one of the best collegiate pitchers, which led him to be drafted in the first round of the 1988 draft by the Los Angeles Angels. Five years later, with the Yankees, Abbott took the mound for a historic game against the Cleveland Indians.
One hundred seventeen pitches later, Abbott was on the brink of immortality. Carlos Baerga stepped up to the plate for the Indians. On the first pitch, Baerga took a strike down the middle. On the next pitch, he grounded to shortstop Randy Velarde, who threw to Don Mattingly at first. Jim Abbott had his no-hitter. It wasn’t a flashy no-hitter as he accumulated 15 groundouts and seven flyouts, but it was an emotional moment for Abbott and everyone watching. He showed the world that despite his disability, he could still accomplish one of the greatest feats in the MLB.
Ten days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the city held its first sporting event since the tragedy: a game at Shea Stadium between the Mets and the Braves. Players from both sides mulled over the game, asking themselves if they could play in New York only ten days after the tragedy. Fans and family members of those lost on 9/11 filled the Stadium, still with a feeling of uncertainty about the game.
Despite this uncertainty, the game began with both teams struggling to get hits on the board. It’s the bottom of the eighth, and Mike Piazza steps up the plate. He took the second pitch, which he saw 425 feet, for a home run as the New York crowd erupted in cheer. New York fans had something to be happy about for the first time in ten days. A mix of tears of sadness and tears of relief filled Shea Stadium as the home run signaled that New York fans and all Americans were still standing and ready to move on from the tragedies of 9/11.
There has never been a moment in baseball like September 26th, 2016. The Marlins were in the wake of tragedy. Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez died a day earlier, and the team was memorializing him. Every Marlins player wore Fernandez’s name and No. 16 on the back of their jersey.
Dee Gordon had been in a slump and had not hit a homer that season. But, in the bottom of the first inning, none of that mattered as he walked up to the plate. He lined up on the right side on the first pitch and imitated Fernandez’s usual stance before throwing a pitch. He would return to his lefty stance, and on the third pitch he saw, he launched the ball for a home run. Gordon strutted the bases, tears in his eyes as he reached home plate. Walking to the dugout, he burst into tears, pumping his chest to commemorate his friend, Jose Fernandez.
Gordon’s home run was a surprising and emotional moment, given his historically low career home run percentage. But it felt like the shot was more than just Gordon’s achievement; it was like Fernandez was there with him, guiding the ball over the fence. All fans felt the emotion of Gordon and everyone on the Marlins at that moment and understood just how poetic the game of baseball can be.
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Photo Credit: Flowers, a hat and the number of Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez is shown on the pitching mound at Marlins Park on September 25, 2016 in Miami, Florida. Fernandez died in a boating accident. (Photo by Joe Skipper/Getty Images)
