Major League Baseball teams are coming through for a little girl who wants to throw out the first pitch with her 3D-printed hand
Seven-year-old Hailey Dawson has a goal. She’s aiming to throw out the first pitch for every single Major League Baseball team in the country. She’s got a 3D-printed hand and serious determination, and she’s not letting anything stop her from carrying out her dream. According to NPR, Hailey’s prosthetic hand was created by a team of engineers at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She threw out her first first pitch at a baseball game for the school, and from then on she was hooked. Now, she’s got her sights set on bigger baseball targets.
7-year-old Hailey Dawson wants to throw out the first pitch at every MLB ballpark with her 3-D printed hand pic.twitter.com/onStqhEzyB
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 7, 2017
The Bleacher Report created a video that showed Hailey’s love of the game and her stellar 3D-hand coordination skills.
And once it started to go viral, Major League Baseball teams across the nation began to take note.
The Detroit Tigers are on board.
Sounds great! Can you DM us Hailey's info, so we can reach out?
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) September 7, 2017
The Philadelphia Phillies are next in line.
We'd LOVE to have Hailey at CBP!
Can you please DM us her information so we can reach out?
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 7, 2017
The Kansas City Royals are batting up for the privilege.
We'd love to make it happen! Please DM us her info.
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) September 7, 2017
So far, Hailey has received invitations to throw out the first pitch from almost every single MLB team. She’s already checked off the Orioles and the Washington Nationals so far.
But according to Hailey’s mom Yong, the best part of all of this is just that Hailey has a functional hand.
"For her to be able to have a hand to actually hold something, where in the past she's never been able to, that's amazing. It was initially a functional thing for her... to be able to ride a bike and for safety issues, but it eventually became a social confidence thing. Because when she puts it on everybody wants to see it, everybody want to touch it and everybody wants to be around her."
Yong hopes to use Hailey’s newfound fame to raise awareness about Poland Syndrome, the condition Hailey was born with that left her without several fingers on her right hand. As for Hailey? Well, we just hope she has a blast all along the way.