If you go to enough baseball games, chances are you'll see quite the array of first pitches.
In fact, it's possible we've become somewhat desensitized to the idea of most honorees. It's almost normal to see, say, a brand new draft pick or NBA champion taking the mound pregame. On an extra special day, you might get to see a player catch a slow roller from his own toddler -- and even that, while very cute, has been done many times already.
A fictional character, though?
The Dodgers pulled that one off on Thursday as part of their celebration of One Piece Night, which included giveaways of promotional trading cards and straw hats for the first 52,000 fans in attendance (Dodger Stadium, for reference, seats 56,000), both of which generated massive interest among fans who had their interests collide on this particular evening.
But promotional items are rather routine. Less so was the appearance made by the show's protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, who delivered that first pitch. Not quite on the mark, mind -- it sailed over Kiké Hernández's attempt to prevent it from reaching the backstop -- but a crossover is a precious thing, so the effort is all that matters.