CHICAGO – In what seemed like the culmination of his career, Pete Crow-Armstrong chose not to celebrate. Instead, he stood quietly by a chair next to third base – the place where his late grandmother had promised to sit to watch her grandson realize his MLB dream.
A week before his call-up to the Cubs’ main roster, Crow-Armstrong received a blow: Eleanor – the woman who raised him on a love of baseball and pie as a child – died in a tragic fire in Glendale. Unbeknownst to anyone in the Cubs organization, the young outfielder had flown through the night, clutching a tear-stained letter from his Minor League days, to bid farewell to his unsung hero.
And then, on that historic Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field, when Pete’s name was called for the first time in the lineup, a slow, quiet shirt, and a line on the big screen that had the entire stadium in a state of rapid silence:
“For Eleanor, who believed from day one.”
Crow-Armstrong, with a shaky voice after the game, shared:
“I heard her on every swing. Not in the stands, but in time.”
Since then, the young Cubs player has launched an intense campaign called “One Empty Seat,” raiding support for the families of home fire victims across the United States. The promise to her—though wrinkled, Pete is continuing to write in a process larger than the darkness:
“No one should dream alone.”