Andrew McCutchen is the gold-standard of how to interact with kids as an athlete

Andrew McCutchen capped off the start of his career beautifully, with the Pirates legend hitting his 300th career home run in front of a Pittsburgh crowd on Sunday.

It’s hard to know how fans will react after catching such an iconic ball, knowing it’s worth a lot of money on the sports memorabilia market, but McCutchen said, He proved what a special player he is off the field with this interaction with the young fan who caught the ball.

McCutchen is genuinely interested in talking about ball with this kid. He doesn’t just say, “Thank you for bringing it back,” he perfunctorily takes a photo and moves on. Rather, he is very interested in meeting these fans. It took just a few seconds of McCutchen’s day to go from looking at the ball with the boy and finding the mark to telling the boy he’d remember his name forever. You know that’s what it is. It will remain in your family’s memory for a lifetime.

Look at the smile on the boy’s face in the photo together. That says it all.

All signs point to McCutchen retiring soon. After signing with the Pirates in 2023, he said he wants to play two more years and then retire in Pittsburgh. If that happens, he deserves an instant statue and will forever be recognized as one of the greatest players to ever wear a Pirates jersey.

What a legend!