While the world learned of the death of actress Hayden Panettiere on Sunday, Aug. 16, the news hit harder for Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. She was his babysitter.
“Hayden Panettiere babysat me. I had the biggest crush on her,” Crow-Armstrong said in 2022 interview with Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Chicago.
A Southern California native, Crow-Armstrong is the son of actress Ashley Crow, Panettiere’s co-star in the NBC series “Heroes.” His father, Matthew John Armstrong, starred in American Dreams, Turks, and American Horror Story.
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These days, Crow-Armstrong is familiar to baseball fans for the MVP-caliber season he is putting together for the Chicago Cubs. On Monday, Aug. 17, he started and ended the Cubs’ win over the Chicago White Sox with a home run, becoming the first player since 1957 to homer on the first and last pitch of the same game.
Crow-Armstrong entered the second game of the cross-town series with a .281 batting average, 30 home runs and 78 RBIs. His 7.7 Wins Above Replacement (per Baseball Reference) lead MLB.
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In his first at-bat Tuesday, Crow-Armstrong hit his 31st home run of the season.
The National League MVP race is expected to be a tight one. Crow-Armstrong and Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who’s won the award the last two years, are the front-runners. Crow-Armstrong’s defense in center field could be the difference-maker.
The Cubs’ success as a team can only help his cause. Through Monday, they had a firm grip on the top Wild Card berth in the NL, and were only 4.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the NL Central.
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Despite his famous pedigree, Crow-Armstrong always leaned harder into sports than acting.
“We didn’t live in Hollywood. We didn’t live under any spotlight,” he told Wittenmyer. “Nothing about my childhood had anything to do with the entertainment business, it felt like, because I think my parents wanted me as far away as possible.”
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