Kaiser Carlile, a 9-year-old bat boy, died after he was accidentally hit in the head, as a player took a practice swing and now his father is speaking out.
“The glow that my son had was something I had never seen,” Chad Carlile said. “He love this.”
Kaiser was so much more than the bat boy for the Liberal Bee Jays of Kansas. To the team, he was family.
“Kaiser will always hold a special place in my heart,” Brady Cox, a player, said. “I’ll never step foot on a field and not think of him.”
Chad Carlile said he was proud of his son.
“It makes me proud to know my son was able to touch peoples’ live like this,” he said. “You raise your kid to do his best, but we never dreamed it would be at this magnitude.”
It was at a game on Saturday when Kaiser, who had been wearing a helmet, was accidentally struck in the head by a bat during a practice swing. He was rushed to the hospital but died the next day.
Since Kaiser’s death, there has been an outpouring of support from the team, and the community.
At Tuesday’s game, Kaiser’s little sister threw out the first pitch. There was also a moment of silence.
The use of bat boys and bat girls has been suspended for the remaining World Series games in Wichita. Still, Kaiser’s father remains a firm believer that the tradition should continue in the future.
“This shouldn’t be taken away from any other kids, the opportunity to do this,” Chad said. “This is something I think should stick around. There might be a better way to do things, yes, but this bat boy thing is tremendous for kids and youth.”
Kaiser’s legacy, meanwhile, is already being felt. He was an organ donor who his father said helped two other children.
“It’s not that hard a decision to make when you know that he is on that final thread and there’s two other kids that are going to live forever because of that,” Chad said. “It kind of makes your life a little easier.”
Kaiser’s funeral is scheduled for Sunday.
His father said it all depends on how the team does because there is no way he would hold the funeral on a day the team couldn’t attend, his son wouldn’t allow it.