7-Year-Old Lucy Frates Steals Hearts, Show At Fenway Park

BEVERLY, MA — With half the Fenway Park infield covered with members of the Beverly-based Frates family, it was 7-year-old Lucy Frates — daughter of late former Boston College player and ALS Ice Bucket Challenge founder Pete Frates — who stole the show with her first pitch Tuesday night.

The Boston Red Sox honored the Frates family as part of their Lou Gehrig ALS Night ceremony. The Red Sox were in Houston last week when ballparks across Major League Baseball held Lou Gehrig Day events in honor of the "Iron Horse" who died of the same multisystem neurodegenerative disorder that claimed Frates in 2019 after a courageous seven-year battle.

Nancy Frates, the Beverly mother of Pete Frates, narrated the official Major League Baseball Network tribute video shown throughout the day on the MLB Network and at Yankee Stadium last Wednesday night in honor of Gehrig.

"Like a hero from long ago whom he was now connected to," Nancy Frates noted, "Pete refused to let the disease take his heart, and left a legacy that would be remembered long after he was gone."

In 2014, Pete Frates helped launch the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which is credited with raising awareness of the disease and more than $200 million for ALS research as of 2019.

The Red Sox will also sell "Strike Out ALS Pete Frates No. 3" hats with proceeds going toward Pete's Place at the Chelsea Jewish Lifecare Center's Leonard Florence Residence.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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