Sunday’s Los Angeles Dodgers game against the Boston Red Sox began like thousands before it.
Fans filtered in through the gates at Dodger Stadium, bought their concessions and found their seats.
But when Dodgers’ public address announcer Todd Leitz asked the crowd of 46,834 fans to direct their attention to the videoboards moments before the first pitch game against the Boston Red Sox, few realized that the most emotional moment of the day was about to unfold.
Jake and Romy Reiner were about to make their first public appearance since losing both of their parents, legendary filmmaker Rob Reiner and photographer Michelle Reiner, on December 14, 2025. Their brother, Nick, has been charged with their brutal murders.
What unfolded over the next few minutes became something far greater than an ordinary ceremonial first pitch.
It became a family’s love letter to two parents who’d spent a lifetime making Dodger Stadium feel like their second home.
The Dodgers had reached out to the Reiner family before the season began to let them know if they ever needed anything, the organization was there for them.
The family’s oldest son Jake, reached out in early July with a simple request: Could he and his sister honor both their parents by throwing out a ceremonial first pitch for each of them?
The answer came back immediately.
Yes.
“Whatever you guys want to do, we’ll do it,” a Dodgers spokesperson said they’d told the family.
“It was something they felt very passionate about. It was their happy place, so we wanted them to have some joy.”
If you’re familiar with the relationship between the Reiner family and the Dodgers, that response should not surprise you.
Rob Reiner wasn’t just another celebrity fan.
Long before he became one of Hollywood’s most celebrated filmmakers, he was just another baseball-loving kid from New York who wore No. 6 growing up.
After moving to Los Angeles as a teenager, his loyalty shifted from the Yankees to the Dodgers, beginning a relationship with the franchise that lasted over a half-century.
He became a season-ticket holder, threw out the ceremonial first pitch on several occasions, including in 2012 and 2014, and more importantly, he passed his love of baseball down to his children.
Jake’s own connection with the Dodgers deepened through the team’s Junior Dodgers Broadcasters program, where he and his father first met longtime Dodgers radio play-by-play announcer, Charley Steiner.
That initial introduction turned into a friendship that lasted over two decades.
“Rob and Michelle were good friends,” Steiner told The California Post in an exclusive interview.
“I first met Rob maybe 20 years ago. We immediately hit it off and became friends. Rob is a year or two older than I am. He once told me, ‘Do you know why we’re friends? We have similar interests in sports, politics and movies.’”
When Jake reached out to the Dodgers, Greg Taylor, the team’s Emmy-award winning Vice President of Media Productions, immediately began building a tribute to Rob and Michelle, knowing exactly who he wanted to write and narrate it.
Steiner.
“I had no idea this thing was in the works until Greg called me and asked me if I wanted in,” Steiner said. “That was the easiest part of the whole process. Of course I’ll do it. I was all in.”
For Steiner, the assignment was both an honor and a much-needed therapy session.
“The Reiners meant a lot to me,” he said, fighting back tears. “Being able to do it was therapeutic and difficult. That’s the best way to describe it. It was hard to do because it hurt, but therapeutic because this is part of the process. If it makes Jake or Romy feel any better at all, I was happy to do it.”
Before every homestand the Dodgers release a breakdown of the theme nights, promotional giveaways, anthem singers, performances, and ceremonial first pitch participants for the slate of games.
But they did not announce the Reiners and for the next three weeks as production remained under lock and key.
Out of respect, the Dodgers, the Reiner family, and Steiner kept everything quiet so that Sunday’s appearance could unfold naturally.
It also ensured the crowd would also experience the moment together organically.
When the tribute video played, a stadium known for its noise suddenly became remarkably still.
Even Steiner admitted he underestimated the impact it would have.
“It surprised me how much attention this received,” he said. “It was just five minutes before the first pitch. There was no promotion. The fans got quiet in a hurry. The reaction was rewarding.”
Then came the moment everyone will remember.
Jake walked to the mound wearing a custom Dodgers jersey bearing his father’s childhood No. 6.
Romy followed wearing No. 97, a nod to the year she was born.
Normally, multiple ceremonial first pitch participants throw simultaneously, but the Dodgers allowed Jake to throw first, and Romy followed, giving each sibling an individual moment before sharing one together.
Jake fired a strike to Dodgers’ outfielder Alex Call.
Romy toed the rubber — a rarity for many ceremonial first pitches — and delivered hers all the way to the plate without a bounce, where it was caught by 2025 World Series Game 7 hero, Miguel Rojas.
Afterwards, brother and sister wrapped their arms around each other on the same mound where their father had once stood. It was a beautiful, full-circle moment.
“I was rooting for them as if they were players,” Steiner said. “The emotion they were both dealing with was incomprehensible. When I saw them hug, I thought, ‘This is too much.’”
Around them, Dodger Stadium rose together, cheered and applauded.
“That was enormously gratifying,” Steiner said of the crowd’s reaction. “It was a beautiful day. It really was.”
A source close to the family called every detail — from the custom jerseys, to the inclusion of both parents in the tribute video, to allowing Jake and Romy to throw separately — “a true testament to what a world-class organization the Dodgers are.”
Steiner agreed.
“That’s why they’re the best fans in baseball,” he said.
On Tuesday, Jake Reiner publicly thanked the organization that had quietly helped his family heal.
“The Dodgers have always been a huge part of our family,” he wrote on Instagram and X. “My dad and I could talk baseball for hours and I truly never felt closer to him than when we’d watch games together.
“Dodger Stadium is a place we’d love to come to as a family. Romy and I wanted to honor our mom and dad by throwing out a ceremonial first pitch for each of them. We’re grateful the Dodgers helped make this moment so special.”
Sometimes baseball’s greatest moments can’t be found inside a box score.
They’re found in the reverence and silence of 50,000 people honoring grief; the embrace of two siblings on a pitcher’s mound.
And sometimes, they’re found in a place a grieving family can make feel like home again.
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