Those who attended Saturday’s game between the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants witnessed one of the best first pitches ever thrown during a professional baseball game.
Sgt. 1st Class Brian Keaton dropped to the ground and threw out the game’s first pitch as if he was throwing a grenade. Then, Keaton wrote his wife’s name in the dirt on the mound.
Keaton, who served 20 years in the U.S. Army, said the experience "was awesome… every baseball fan’s dream."
"I’ve been fortunate to get to meet the team through being at Walter Reed," Keaton told "Fox and Friends" on Monday. "So they asked me to do it. It was a lot of fun. I had a blast."
Keaton spent more than three years at Walter Reed Hospital recovering from injuries sustained in war. After meeting the team during his recovery, Keaton took the team out for traditional army training. "I made them low crawl and throw grenades," he said.
So when Keaton took the mound on Saturday, he showed off his extensive Army training for the crowd.
Keaton could not have his family with him at the game, so he wrote his wife’s name into the dirt mound after his pitch.
"I’ve been deployed and gone so much since 2001, and I wish she could have gone on that mound with me," Keaton said. "I would have never been there if it wasn't for my wife raising the kids while I was gone and loving me and taking care of me when I was sick. She's a hero. my wife, Kristen, is the hero."