Jon Workman had planned on an exciting game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants on July 31. What he did not foresee was spotting his own oncologist, Stephen J. Forman, M.D., throwing out one of the first pitches at Dodger Stadium to open the game.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” said Workman. “I kept telling those in my row, ‘Hey, that’s my doc!’”

Forman, the Francis and Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, was part of a pregame ceremony commemorating the launch of ThinkCure. ThinkCure is a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to raising funds for critical cancer research at City of Hope and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles — and ultimately to finding a cure for cancer. It is the official charity of the Dodgers.

As it turns out, Workman later caught a foul ball that flew into his section, just over the visitors’ dugout, during the game. But he said he also took home a second souvenir: a sense of pride that his doctor was honored on the field and that his team, the Dodgers, had dedicated itself to fighting cancer with City of Hope through ThinkCure.