A story about how Yu Darvish treated a young fan went viral online Wednesday, and it’s for a great reason.
The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Annie Heilbrunn posted a thread on Twitter sharing the story. According to the story, a young Padres fan living in Tennessee named Landon was gifted a trip to Truist Park in Atlanta to watch the Padres for his 10th birthday.
Landon and his father drove 3.5 hours from Tennessee to Atlanta for the game, but it was rained out. The rain didn’t stop Darvish from signing some autographs for fans, including Landon.
Even though he didn’t get to see the Padres play, getting a signed ball by Darvish was a nice makeup for Landon. But the story doesn’t end there.
Landon’s mother messaged Darvish over Instagram to thank him and share how much the pitcher made her son’s day. To her surprise, Darvish actually wrote back, explaining why he wanted to stay and sign autographs.
But that’s not all. Darvish then reached back out via Instagram and invited Landon to visit Petco Park in San Diego for a game. Darvish offered to pay for the flights, tickets and hotel. They took Darvish up on the offer and attended a game earlier this week. According to Heilbrunn, Darvish gave Landon the VIP treatment before the game.
That is just tremendous.
This captures exactly why fan interactions are so important, why sports are so important, and why players considering the fans is so important. Darvish gave that fan a wonderful lifetime memory.
More must-reads: