Former Astros first base coach Rich Dauer made an emotional return to Minute Maid Park on Monday to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Dauer, who spent three seasons with the franchise, nearly died last year as the result of a subdural hematoma. The 65-year-old slipped and fell on a wet floor the night before the Astros’ championship parade and rode in the parade unaware that he had bleeding on the brain. He was rushed from the parade stage through the crowd to a hospital, where doctors performed a three-hour life-saving emergency surgery.
The Astros invited Dauer to throw out the first pitch at the home opener.