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Billy, Giants' Missing Fan Is Found, Says 'I'm Fine... Just Broke Right Now'

Billy (left) poses for a photo with San Francisco Giants' Pitcher Matt Cain.
Courtesy of the San Francisco Giants
Billy (left) poses for a photo with San Francisco Giants' Pitcher Matt Cain.

Earlier this month, we reported a heartbreaking story about Billy, a San Francisco Giants fan, who showed up to every game for years, until one day he just stopped coming. The Giants went searching. Giants manager Bruce Bochy told NPR's All Things Considered that he was worried, "hoping to get some good news."

He got that, last night, when Billy was spotted outside Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It was the first time Billy showed up to a game since July 31.

"It's good to know that he's healthy and doing fine," Bochy told MLB.com. "We're still blaming our little skid on him."

The Giants, which are defending a World Championship were having stellar season, until Billy disappeared. Since then, they've slipped in the standings and are now fighting with Atlanta and St. Louis for a spot in the playoffs. With eight games left and 4.5 games behind the Braves, the Giants are perilously close to elimination.

The San Francisco Chronicle found Billy leaning on a lamppost at the entrance of Dodger Stadium.

"I'm fine," Billy told the Chronicle. "I'm just broke right now." The paper adds:

Chamberlain was wearing a Giants World Series championship cap, a heavy jacket that Duane Kuiper gave him and a pair of camouflage pants that he bought. He was sipping out of a 2-liter soda bottle. He had a handwritten cardboard sign that read, "Homeless. Hungry. Can you help please? God bless you."

He said he moved to Los Angeles in August because "I just decided it was time. I was up there (in San Francisco) for three years, and now I'm down here."

He said he knew people were looking for him and tried to get word that he was OK, but he was not aware of the missing person's report. He said he is living on the street, with no desire to sleep in a homeless shelter.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta
Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.