A little league team in the north suburbs of Pittsburgh got a surprise visit from the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Monday evening. Paul Skenes was driving by Ingomar Franklin Park when he saw the lights on for a little league practice and decided to check it out. Eddie Dubis, a coach in the league and father of two of the kids, said it only took a few minutes for the 6-foot-6, 260 pound superstar to be noticed.
Dubis said, “I thought once he was noticed and after a couple [pictures and a couple autographs he was gonna leave, but he stayed for over two hours.”
Paul Skenes is an awesome human in case anyone was wondering.
He was driving by the Ingomar Franklin Park Little League baseball fields last night and saw the lights on and just pulled on in.
He was there over 2 hours signing, taking pictures and playing catch with the kids. pic.twitter.com/oHsYc2qyqP
– BIG BOB (@FSBigBob) June 9, 2026
Skenes stayed to take pictures, sign autographs and play catch on his day off. Once the word got out, Dubis said what started as a group of 30 or 40 kids quickly grew to a crowd of over 100. He said it was an experience his 11 and 13-year-old sons will never forget.
“They were star-struck,” he said. “Their eyes were as wide as can be. Even now, we are two days after the fact, they’re still talking about it.”
Dubis compared the drop-in to Micky Mantle or Willie Mayes playing ball with kids in the 60s and ’70s, but said it is something you do not see from modern athletes. He said in Pittsburgh, Paul Skenes is baseball.
“This is not common, and it just kind of shows the character and the type of person Paul Skenes was. He has been nothing but a great ambassador for baseball, for the major league, but also for the city of Pittsburgh,” said Dubis.
Skenes followed the visit with a start at PNC Park against the Dodgers last night. He allowed just six hits and two runs in six innings and struck out seven in one of his best outings in nearly a month. The Pirates lost 12-3.