After COVID-19 cases in family, Bradley hopes baseball can help unite country

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Archie Bradley said on a conference call Friday that three members of his family tested positive for the coronavirus during the stoppage in baseball.

His father, 65 years old, was hospitalized for 10 days.

His mother was asymptomatic and his brother had symptoms for a couple days.

All three of them recovered and are back to health.

The family thinks Bradley’s dad caught it on a plane ride back home to Oklahoma from Arizona in March.

Bradley had spent time with his dad and brother in Arizona and said he was tested three or four times total while in Oklahoma. None of his tests came back positive.

“I’m able to take a step back and realize that there’s a lot of people who weren’t as lucky as myself with their family members and loved ones,” Bradley said.

With “summer camp” having started in Arizona, Bradley said he hopes baseball can be a beacon that helps people briefly get their mind off the issues plaguing society.

“I know there’s people in this state and the whole world that have been affected,” Bradley said.

“I hope that if anything, baseball can kind of come back to what it’s supposed to be: be America’s pastime, America’s calling card, and really bring this country together with everything it’s going through from the social injustice and everything going on out there to the pandemic that’s happening right now. I think baseball has a chance to be the shining light in America.”

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