Bryce Harper’s visit with Gavin Rupp

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Baseball has helped sustain Gavin Rupp since his cancer first formed, back in February 2011. Gavin received radiation treatment and visited Children’s National Medical Center and twice underwent surgery to remove a glioblastoma tumor from his brain. He went through hell, and he still kept his starting position on his travel team. Gavin played shortstop.

Last month Gavin’s father, Chris Rupp, had to make sense of a collection of unfathomable phrases. The doctors were telling them there was another tumor. It was at the center of Gavin’s brain. The surgery risk was too high. There were no options. “The doctors and our team at Children’s National kind of told us it was time to start moving to hospice,” Chris Rupp said. Chris needed to tell his 13-year-old all of this.

When Mann asked Harper if he could meet Gavin, Harper did not hesitate. On the field, he gave Gavin the hat off his head and signed it for him. Harper asked questions to draw Gavin out. Gavin sat in a folding chair in the Nationals dugout. Harper leaned forward and his elbow on his left knee so his eyes would be at the same level as Gavin’s.
The conversation meandered from topic to topic. They talked about Harper’s pregame routine. Gavin asked Harper about his favorite ballpark to play in, his most memorable home run, his hardest pitcher to hit off of. Gavin loves Ohio State football, and Harper’s girlfriend just transferred there, and they talked about that. They talked about Las Vegas, Harper’s home town. Harper’s father grew up rooting for the Reds, and Gavin likes them almost as much as the Nationals, and they talked about that.

Harper traded one of his wristbands for one of Gavin’s neon wristbands. Harper asked Gavin to sign a baseball for him. They hung out for an hour.

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“I can’t say enough. A guy who is 20 years old, to take that much time,” Chris Rupp said. His voice quivered and his eyes watered. “When I was 20 years old, I didn’t have that maturity, to do what he just did.”

A few minutes before 7, Gavin walked on the field to throw out the first pitch. His dad had warned him against throwing from the mound, that maybe he would not be strong enough to throw 60 feet, 6 inches. Gavin stood on the rubber. Behind home plate, Harper crouched and caught the pitch in the air.

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