A little girl with a 3D printed robotic hand is gearing up to throw out the first pitch at nearly every Major League Baseball park in the country after her wish to do so went viral.
Seven-year-old Hailey Dawson from Las Vegas has already had the honor of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals, which the little girl found thrilling.
Last week, Bleacher Report covered her story, and tweeted about Hailey’s wish to check off the other 28 parks across the US and Canada. Immediately, other MLB teams started replying, saying they would be happy to host Hailey in the near future.
Baseball superfan! Hailey Dawson (center) dreams of throwing out the first pitch for every MLB team (she’s already done so for the Baltimore Orioles, pictured)
Amazing: The seven-year-old loves to watch and play baseball and does so even with her prosthetic hand
Backstory: She was born with Poland syndrome, which, among other things, left her only three fingers on her right hand
Go get ’em! ‘She has no fear,’ says Hailey’s mother Yong of her daughter’s sporting ambition
Getting the hang of it: The first time she threw out a first pitch was at a University of Nevada Las Vegas baseball game
Hailey was born with Poland syndrome, which means she has underdeveloped chest muscles that led to some other issues, including having only three fingers on her right hand.
A few years ago, her mom had done some research on the new 3D printed hands becoming more popular in prosthetics, and she emailed the University of Nevada Las Vegas engineering department to help her out.
There, a team of researchers and students made her the prosthetic, which has fingers that open and close when Hailey flicks her wrist. She now has seven prosthetic hands, which she uses for different purposes
Using one of these prosthetics, she taught herself how to hold and throw a baseball. That’s when the team at UNLV hooked her up again, coordinating for her to throw out the first pitch at the college’s Rebels baseball game in March of 2015.
That’s just her: According to her mom, Hailey doesn’t care what other people think and sees her different hand as the same thing as having a different eye color
Incredible technology: Several years ago, a team at UNLV helped make Hailey a robotic hand with a 3D printer
Teamwork: The young girl’s mom had reached out and the students and researchers worked hard on the design
Famous! Hailey is currently earning national attention for her story
‘She just loves throwing that ball out and when she did it for UNLV it was amazing and she just hammed it up big time,’ her mom told Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.
‘She said, “I wish I could throw out the first pitch for the … Orioles,’ she added. ‘I thought, well that’s kind of a tall order, how do I do that?’
But she managed it. That summer, Hailey threw out the first pitch at an Orioles game, and earlier this summer did so again for the Nationals. They started thinking that maybe Hailey could actually visit every MLB park for the big honor.
Her dream seems to be coming true. On Thursday, Bleacher Report uploaded a video of the little girl to Twitter, writing: ‘7-year-old Hailey Dawson wants to throw out the first pitch at every MLB ballpark with her 3-D printed hand.’
In no time, nearly every MLB team had signed on, replying to the tweet and requesting Hailey’s contact information.
Having fun: After getting her prosthetic, she threw out the first pitch at a UNLV baseball game, but really wanted to do so at an Orioles game
She earned the honor in 2015, and this year also threw out the first pitch at a Nationals game
How it works: The fingers of the hand grip and release with movement from her wrist
Within a couple days, she’d gotten interest from the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angles, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets Mets, Oakland A’s, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Deigo Padres, San Francisco Giants, and Seattle Mariners.
‘We’d LOVE to have Hailey at CBP!’ the Phillies chimed in.
‘We would love to have Hailey visit us!’ added the Braves. ‘You’re going to look amazing in a Cubs jersey, Hailey!’
‘Good news #STLCards fans, Hailey will be joining us for a first pitch during the 2018 season!’ tweeted the St. Louis Cardinals, who already locked her in.
Impressive! She’s now excited to have received offers to throw out the first pitch at nearly every MLB park in the country
Accessorized: She has several versions of the hand with different designs — including special ones printed for each of her first two MLB first pitches
Chuck Morgan, the voice of the Texas Rangers Globe Life Park, also said he looked forward to announcing her at the park, though the Rangers’ official account did not respond.
Including Chuck’s offer, 24 out of the 28 remaining teams have replied. She’s now only awaiting responses from the New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Colorado Rockies, and Tampa Bay Rays, though it’s possible those teams have reached out privately.
Since there are only a few weeks left in the 2017 regular season, Hailey’s pitching duties will spill into the 2018 season.
She’s sure to be quite busy, too since the offers didn’t end with the MLB — several minor league teams also said they’d be happy to host Hailey.
They include the Sacramento River Cats, Trenton Thunder, Inland Empire 66ers, Reading Fightins, Toledo Mud Hens, Hartford Yard Goats, and Columbia Fireflys,
Almost there! Hailey (with her family) has had public offers from all but four of MLB teams
Gonna be a world traveler! She’s also had offers from minor league teams, softball teams, and a baseball team in Mexico
She’s also received offers from Florida University’s Gators baseball team, the Scrap Yard Dawgs professional softball team in Houston, the Texas Charge softball team, and even the Bravos de León, a baseball team in León, Mexico.
The Twitter account for the New York Stock Exchange offered a completely different honor, too: ‘And after that, maybe you can come ring the NYSE Bell.’
Hailey’s mom Yong has said that throwing first pitches has given her daughter a confidence boost, though she was quite confident to begin with.
‘She has no fear. When she waves, she waves with her little hand. When kids want to hold her hand, that’s the hand she pulls out. She has no care about what other people think,’ she told SportTechie.
‘When people ask her, she says, “This is what I was born with. You were born with blue eyes, I was born with his hand. This is me.”‘