When the Barracudas baseball team found itself in need of several players, 6-year-old Oscar Stuebe was happy to fill in as a teammate with his 7-year-old brother, Connor.
The Stuebe brothers also played together on The Yankees, another team in Palm Beach County, Florida. During a recent Yankees game, they had pulled off a fun feat. Oscar caught a pop fly in right field and threw it to Connor at first base for a double play.
The day after the double play, the Barracudas played a doubleheader. During the fifth inning of the second game, Oscar stood waiting in center field. The boys’ mother, Sarah, watched eagerly from the stands, snapping photos and cheering along. Their father, Riley, was in the dugout as an assistant coach.
The batter hit a pop fly. It was nothing out of the ordinary, the kind all players and parents had seen dozens of times during the season. But that day was different.
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Oscar took off running, his small legs powering him across the dusty field, his mitt in the air. It looked like he caught the ball. The crowd erupted in a cheer. Then the ball dropped, Oscar bowed his head and he collapsed.
