Cleveland’s Mike Aviles caught the ceremonial first pitch from his daughter Adriana as his wife, Jessy, watched prior to the Indians’ game against the New York Yankees on Thursday.
Cleveland’s Mike Aviles caught the ceremonial first pitch from his daughter Adriana as his wife, Jessy, watched prior to the Indians’ game against the New York Yankees on Thursday. Aaron Josefczyk The Associated Press
Cleveland’s Mike Aviles caught the ceremonial first pitch from his daughter Adriana as his wife, Jessy, watched prior to the Indians’ game against the New York Yankees on Thursday. Aaron Josefczyk The Associated Press
For Pete's Sake

For Pete's Sake

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For Pete's Sake

Mike Aviles’ 4-year-old daughter, who is fighting leukemia, throws ceremonial first pitch

By PETE GRATHOFF

pgrathoff@kcstar.com

August 14, 2015 8:57 AM

It’s fair to say there are no hard feelings around here for Mike Aviles of the Cleveland Indians.

Aviles started his big-league career with the Royals in 2008 before being traded in 2011 to the Red Sox for Kendal Volz and Yamaico Navarro.*

* If you knew that, you are a hard-core fan

In May, Aviles’ 4-year-old daughter, Adriana, was diagnosed with leukemia. Aviles’ teammates shaved their heads in a sign of support for Adriana as well as wearing “Team Adriana” T-shirts.

Here’s a happy update.

On Thursday, Adriana threw out the first pitch before the Indians’ game against the Yankees.

“My joy comes from my kids,” Aviles told Cleveland.com. “I have three girls and a boy on the way. I enjoy just seeing them happy. It makes me happy. That’s what you want to do as a parent, you want your kids to be happy. You don’t want to see them crying. You want to see them always laughing and joking. When they’re having a good time, I’m excited.”

Aviles must have been excited Thursday.

The Indians tweeted some photos as well:

Here is more video of the first pitch:

To reach Pete Grathoff, call 816-234-4330 or send email to pgrathoff@kcstar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @pgrathoff.

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