Las Vegas native, Army veteran to throw 1st pitch at Dodgers game
A Las Vegas resident who was wounded while serving in Afghanistan in 2010 will be honored Friday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Army Pfc. Blaine Sullivan, 33, is set to throw out the first pitch before the Dodgers host the Tampa Bay Rays, said his father, Curt.
“They reached out a couple weeks ago and wanted to honor him and introduce him as a real American hero,” Curt Sullivan told the Review-Journal on Thursday. “They get the royal treatment for the night.”
Blaine Sullivan is a 2010 graduate of Cimarron-Memorial High, where he lettered in football and baseball. He was a member of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Platoon.
Sullivan and his fellow Alpha Company soldiers were in Sangsar, Afghanistan, in late November 2010 when fighting intensified. They were rushing an injured Afghan National Army soldier toward the helicopter landing zone when Sullivan’s vehicle exploded from a roadside bomb.
Sullivan said in a 2010 interview with the Review-Journal he was launched several feet from the vehicle and suffered severe shrapnel and blast wounds. His right leg was amputated above the knee, and he required 100 units of blood products to survive.
Since the accident, Sullivan has become involved with the Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops nonprofits. The Dodgers are flying Sullivan, his mother, Stacey, and his 10-year-old son, John, to Los Angeles for the game.
Curt Sullivan also expects to be in attendance along with other family members.
“I bought a block of tickets behind home plate,” Curt Sullivan said.
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.
