CLEVELAND -- A batter doesn¡¯t often call timeout before his plate appearance begins. But Steven Kwan had an excellent reason to do so in the Guardians¡¯ 3-2 win over the Yankees on Tuesday -- when he took a moment to do a gender reveal for teammate David Fry.
Kwan dug into the box in the first inning and immediately asked home-plate umpire Vic Carapazza for time. He pulled a pink wristband out of his back pocket and put it on his left forearm, which is how Fry and his wife, Rebekah, learned they¡¯re going to have a baby girl.
¡°He was excited,¡± Kwan said. ¡°... His whole family was watching. He was hype, so that was really cool.¡±
The Fry¡¯s have a 2-year-old daughter named Evelyn, and with baby No. 2 on the way, Rebekah and Kwan¡¯s wife, Samantha, were brainstorming ideas about a potential gender reveal. Rebekah and Samantha are very close.
Samantha asked Kwan if he wanted to help do something at the ballpark, as Fry is currently rehabbing from a November surgery on his right elbow and is not with the Guardians in Cleveland.
¡°I was like, ¡®Hell yeah, I think that'd be super cool,¡¯¡± Kwan said. ¡°Anything to involve David, because he's obviously going through some rehab stuff, and we wish he was here.¡±
The wristband was Samantha¡¯s idea, Kwan said. They found out the baby¡¯s gender ahead of Tuesday¡¯s game, and they were the only ones who knew it. Kwan kept it a secret until game time.
Kwan and Fry have a close relationship, and the two caught up after Tuesday¡¯s big reveal.
¡°Just to be able to involve him [was important]. I know that every day the monotony of rehab is so brutal,¡± Kwan said. ¡°I know he watches every single game. So I thought it was a cool way to involve him.¡±