At the opening of what turned out to be a triumphant, shutout Game 5 of the World Series for the Giants on Sunday, a tribute montage played on the Jumbotron honoring the late Robin Williams, showing him in a bunch of his most famous roles. And throwing out the ceremonial first pitch were the three Williams children, Zak, Zelda, and Cody, with longtime friend Billy Crystal playing catcher.
As the Giants posted on their Twitter account, the three Williamses issued a statement saying,
We are honored to be here in support of the tribute to our father, someone who loved his hometown and especially the Giants. For all of us, it is a tremendous delight and a little surreal to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of a World Series game for our team to our dad’s best friend. We could not think of a better way to celebrate his memory. Let’s go Giants!
Zak looked genuinely overwhelmed, and moved, after throwing the pitch to Crystal, and Zelda and Cody Williams both looked on from the side of the mound. As the AP reports, Crystal and Zak then hugged in front of the cheering crowd.
Robin Williams had been a longtime Giants fan, having moved to Marin County as a teenager, and he famously came out onto the field at AT&T Park cheer the Giants on in 2010 during the National League Division Series, weeks before the Giants won that World Series.
3 Innings in the books
#SFGiants 1-0 | #WorldSeries Game 5
#OctoberTogether pic.twitter.com/LE8dRBBQ8t
— #OctoberTogether (@SFGiants) October 27, 2014
Robin Williams tribute. His kids on the mound. Billy Crystal introducing a video, and Robin, from the beyond, firing up the crowd. Chills.
— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) October 27, 2014
USA Today has more photos, and below is the full video from MLB.com.
