Don and Jenny Wickham said they are heading back to Tampa for Game 3 so they can watch their grandson Cooper Pratt in the World Series. The St. George couple said the trip will put them in the stands for another big night in a run that has pulled their family from Southern Utah into baseball’s biggest stage.
The Brewers were getting ready to take on the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 Friday night on Fox, and that is why the name Cooper Pratt Contract is drawing interest now. Pratt, 22, has been in the majors for only four months, but Jenny Wickham said she has never stopped feeling like his biggest supporter. “I am now and always have been a very proud grandma,” she said.
From their home in St. George, the Wickhams said they watch nearly every game. Jenny said, “We watch all the games. Very seldom do we miss a game,” and added that the attention around Pratt has brought messages, texts and phone calls from people she has not seen in 56 years. It is the kind of reach that follows a young player when his family is watching every pitch from far away.
Jenny said she can see how much Pratt has grown up, even if she still thinks of him as a kid. “I see that he's grown up even though he just turned 22 — Cooper's still a kid,” she said. That feeling sat next to the hard reality of the moment: one of the biggest games of the year, and a grandson they know well now playing on the sport’s largest stage.
Don Wickham said the nerves may be sharper in the family seats than on the field. “I think we're probably more nervous than he is,” he said. Still, the plan is set. “We're going back to Tampa for Game 3,” Don said, leaving one simple question in the air for every family member watching from Utah: whether they will be there in person when the next chapter begins.
