Last weekend, Buffalo Bills legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas made an appearance at Innovative Field where he signed autographs, did an on-field pre-game interview, and threw out the first pitch before the Rochester Red Wings took on the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.
When Thomas made his way to the mound, he had no idea what was happening behind him. Dylan Crews, the Wings’ starting center fielder and the Washington Nationals’ No. 1 prospect, slid in behind the plate to catch the pitch.
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“It kind of just happened the day of, and I asked (the Wings’ game day staff) if I could catch the first pitch and they let me,” Crews said Tuesday during a visit he and several other Wings’ players and staff members made to the Bills’ training camp at St. John Fisher University.
What’s the big deal? Plenty of players catch first pitches. This was different because when the Thomas family was living in Orlando for several years right after Thurman retired from the NFL and before they moved back to Buffalo, they were neighbors with the Crews family, and Dylan and Thurman’s son, Thurman III, were best friends.
“He had no idea that it was happening,” Crews said of the first pitch. “I think you could just kind of see on his face when he turned around, he looked surprised. So it was awesome. It was a really cool moment, one of my favorite moments for sure so far in my career, being able to catch his first pitch.”
Once Thurman delivered it, and he and Crews shared an embrace, and they have briefly discussed that when the Red Wings play the Bisons in Buffalo next week, Crews’ family is coming up and plans to stay at the Thomas home.
Crews and Thurman III remain close friends and are frequently in contact with each other.
“I grew up with Lil’ Thurman, played baseball with him, played football with him,” Crews said. “I’m always hanging out with Lil’ Thurman whenever I can, so it’s just pretty awesome to see it all kind of circle back around. Now I’m playing in Rochester, obviously, and I’m here at the Bills’ camp here in Rochester.”
The two played some Little League ball together, but they also were on the same team that competed one year in the Field of Dreams youth tournament in Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
When he was asked about the football Hall of Famer, Crews smiled because first of all, he never saw Thomas play because he wasn’t even born before Thomas retired. But also, he was just another dad in the neighborhood.
“I don’t really see big Thurm like that,” Crews said. “Like I said, I’ve known him my whole life, so I kind of just see him as my second dad. I don’t even see him as the Hall of Fame football player.”
Thurman III went to Western Illinois to play baseball but his career never took off. Crews, of course, signed with LSU and last year helped the Tigers win the men’s College World Series along with current Pittsburgh Pirates rookie star Paul Skenes.
Skenes was the first overall pick in the 2023 draft and Crews was taken No. 2 by the Washington Nationals. In just one year, Crews has worked his way to Triple-A and there’s a chance he could get called up in September when the MLB rosters expand.
Going into Tuesday night’s game against Omaha, Crews has played 29 games for the Red Wings and he’s hitting .246 with a .326 on-base percentage and has four homers and 15 RBI while playing an excellent center field.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Dylan Crews surprises neighbor and 'second dad' Thurman Thomas by catching first pitch
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