‘Baseball brings us together’: Dave Niehaus’ daughter recalls Polanco’s crucial hit next to her dad’s statue

During the Seattle Mariners’ chaotic 15-inning game, Greta Niehaus found comfort sitting near the statue of her father, Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus.

“It just came over me. It was almost just like I was being led,” Greta said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “I was pacing back and forth, like everyone watching, but also just so anxious and nail biting. And I went out in the hallway, and I was pacing up and down. And they have these beautiful photos of old ball players lined in the hallway. And I was touching them all and saying, ‘Come on, need all you guys here.’ And then I just saw the sign that said stairs, and so I just felt drawn to go to the statue, and I just went straight down, kept walking instead of turning around and pacing backwards, and went down the stairs to the 100 level.”

Greta said she wiggled her way through the crowd, to her dad’s statue. When she got there, something magical happened.

“I just felt this pull, this urge to be there, and it was crazy, because as soon as I sat down, I just grabbed on to him, and that’s when it happened — that’s when Polanco did it, that exact moment — and I just was so happy, like everybody just jumping and hugging all these people,” she shared.

Greta said two ladies pulled her aside and showed her a photo they had taken of her with the statue.

“I said, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so special. Would you mind sharing that with me?’ Because it just meant so much and and they went on to tell me a little bit about their stories and how they grew up watching the Mariners and with their dads,” she shared. “And one of them had lost her dad a couple years ago, and just this special connection, that baseball brings to people, it brings us together.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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