PITTSBURGH -- Since losing his mother, Keala, to cancer 17 months ago, second baseman Kolten Wong has swung bats scripted with her signature -- Karen Keala Wong -- as a subtle way to honor her memory and legacy.
Wong left those bats in the bat rack on Sunday, choosing instead on this Mother's Day to use a pink-issued Marucci bat as part of Major League Baseballs' initiative to go to bat against breast cancer.
"I wanted to go with something that represented the Mother's Day theme, so I decided for the pink bat," Wong said.