Jacksonville boy fighting cancer gets stadium to himself during a baseball game
Breaking the single-game record for lowest attendance usually isn’t something to boast about. Luckily, one Florida minor league baseball team didn’t mind dabbling in the unusual.
A father-son duo had the ballpark to themselves for the first five innings when the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Double A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, took on the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, the Double A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, on Tuesday night. The game set a Southern League record for lowest attendance.
The duo — Josh Ribeiro Sr. and Josh Ribeiro Jr. — attended the game as a part of the Jumbo Shrimp’s partnership with Dreams Come True and Community First Credit Union. Dreams Come True is a Jacksonville-based charity that fulfills the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses.
The younger Ribeiro, nicknamed Junior, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, according to News4Jax WJXT.
“This is the best experience I’ve ever had,” Junior, 12, said in an interview on the team’s broadcast. “I’ve already gotten three foul balls. I got a snapped bat from one of the players, and I also got a second bat that was signed by one of the Jumbo Shrimp players.”
Despite only two fans in attendance, the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville was fully staffed, according to the team’s Twitter post. That means food and drink hawkers bellowing, broadcast announcers making calls and everything else essential to the ballpark experience. Junior hit some balls in the batting cages and threw out the first pitch.
Although the Jumbo Shrimp would go on to lose the game 1-0, some wins aren’t registered in records.
This story was originally published July 31, 2019 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Jacksonville boy fighting cancer gets stadium to himself during a baseball game."
