Opening Day 2018: Stephen Piscotty's Regular Season Debut with the Oakland Athletics

In May 2017, after dozens of tests and multiple opinions, Gretchen Piscotty was diagnosed with ALS. Her eldest son, Stephen Piscotty, was playing for the St. Louis Cardinals at the time, and in December 2018, the Cardinals traded Stephen to the Oakland Athletics to be closer to his mother. The baseball community was incredibly supportive of the move and thousands of people took to social media to show their support for Stephen and Gretchen.

I absolutely adore the fact that the @Cardinals found a trade to move Piscotty closer to his mother. They will forever be remembered for this, and I could not be happier that Stephen Piscotty has his number one supporter much closer to him! God bless - to everyone involved ❤️ https://t.co/TYP2VXhQUX

— Drew Gabruch (@DGabruch) February 23, 2018

Stephen Piscotty is home for the holidays (and then some). Shout out to the @Cardinals and @Athlethics for this trade. Sometimes there's more to life than what happens on the field. https://t.co/yDuGHxmYuy

— Dennis Shiao ✍️ (@dshiao) December 16, 2017

Bigger than baseball: Stephen Piscotty reflects on homecoming in trade to A's (via @JoeStiglichNBCS) https://t.co/badwxRTd6a #Athletics #MLB #MLBHotStove pic.twitter.com/AVWKP7KZD6

— NBCSAuthentic (@NBCSAuthentic) December 15, 2017

Today, March 29, 2018, is the 2018 Opening Day and Stephen’s regular-season debut with the Oakland A’s. To read more about Stephen's journey to the A's you can check out this article from mlb.com.

Now back in his hometown, Stephen is using his platform to help Gretchen and others living with ALS. The Piscotty family and their community are rallying to raise awareness and funds for ALS research at the ALS Therapy Development Institute through "Team Gretchen."

In just a few weeks, on April 16, 2018, Gretchen's close friend Beth will run the Boston Marathon to honor Gretchen and raise money for ALS research. You can learn more about Team Gretchen or donate here.