The Congressional intern whom many credit with helping to save the life of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will throw out the first pitch at Major League Baseball's All-Star Game tonight at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix.
While most interns spend their time filling Starbucks orders and finding
ways to screw up making photocopies, on January 8, Daniel Hernandez was busy applying
pressure to the entry wound on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords'
forehead after she was shot through the brain during the Tucson shooting rampage.
Hernandez was lauded as a hero for his courage and quick thinking.
"Daniel, I'm sorry, but we've decided you are a hero," President Barack
Obama said during a memorial for the victims following the shooting.
"You
ran through the chaos to minister to your boss and tended to her wounds
and helped keep her alive."
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig reportedly
invited the families of all the victims of the Tucson shooting to
tonight's game, including the family of 9-year-old Christina Taylor
Green, who was fatally shot during Jared Loughner's murderous rampage.
Green's family's ties to America's past-time dates back to 1960, when
her grandfather, George "Dallas" Green, had his major league debut as a
pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Dallas Green went on to manage
the Phillies, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets in a baseball
career spanning four decades.
Christina Green's father, John Green, is a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Accompanying Hernandez for the game's first-pitch honors will be 85-year-old baseball legend Joe Garagiola Sr.