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Yankees turn into heroes for Manchester family
Friday, May 16, 2008 5:37 PM EDT
Five-year-old Kyle Jeter Reaves suffered a skull fracture when he was struck by a foul ball off the bat of Bobby Abreu during batting practice before a Cleveland Indians home game last summer. Kyle returned to Progressive Field on April 28 where he met Abreu, Derek Jeter -- the inspiration for his middle name -- and his favorite team, the New York Yankees.
"It was pretty amazing," said Reaves' father Joshua. "I'm still at a loss for words."
Joshua Reaves became a Yankees fan as a youngster when the Reds dealt Paul O'Neill to New York following the 1992 season, and his allegiance stayed with his favorite player. Since then, the family has made regular trips to see the Yankees play when they had a series in Cleveland. On Aug. 12, Kyle was making his first trip, along with his father and his grandfather John Reaves, when the fateful accident occurred.
The ball struck Kyle above the right eye, resulting in a skull fracture for which he was treated at Children's Hospital and released. Still, according to Joshua Reaves, the impact could have been worse if not for Kyle's reflexes.
"(Abreu) pulled it really hard down the first base line and we were standing in the front row," said Joshua Reaves. "It spun up over the padding and Kyle saw it coming before anyone else did."
According to Joshua Reaves, the fracture took approximately three months to heal. An indentation is still visible, but Kyle is expected to make a full recovery.
"The doctors said he'll have a small dent until he's a teenager or at least until he grows some more," said Joshua Reaves. "Eventually though, everything will be back to normal."
Reaves said that baseball commissioner Bud Selig contacted the family April 10 to invite them to the game later in the month.
"Major League Baseball has done a great job taking care of the situation," Reaves said.
The family was escorted to the visitors' clubhouse where several players, including Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Mariano Rivera posed for pictures and signed autographs for the family. Joshua Reaves said the highlight was the time spent with Abreu, who signed the ball that had struck Kyle, and with Jeter, who spent approximately a half hour with his young namesake.
Two weeks removed from the experience, Joshua Reaves was still taken aback by the generosity shown toward the family.
"I never would have thought these guys would be like that," Reaves said. "They said they were sorry they didn't know about it before. They spent so much time with us and were having fun and joking around. Derek was riding (Abreu) pretty good."
And according to Reaves, the Yankees' generosity hasn't ended yet. The family, which usually only gets to see the Yanks play when they visit Cleveland, may have a trip in the works to visit relatives in Staten Island this summer.
As for the possibility of the family meeting up with their favorite team and newest group of friends, this time at their home stadium...
"Derek (Jeter) gave us some phone numbers," Reaves said, "and said he'd take care of it."
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