“I didn’t tell him I was coming,” said the Angels Torii Hunter, who missed his game on Tuesday night. “He was shocked. When he saw me, he almost burst into tears. It was nice to see him walk across the stage [and get his diploma].”

Hunter, chartered a private jet to fly from Los Angeles to Little Rock, Arkansas, to attend his son’s, Cameron, graduation ceremony. He also agreed to donate his salary from the game he did not play, about $100,000, to charity.

“It was worth it,” Hunter said. “I’ve been gone for a lot of the 18 years of his life. I never got the chance to hang out with him much. I missed a lot of his games…. Whatever I made yesterday will go to a good cause.”

Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times said that Hunter kept track of Tuesday’s game by cellphone alerts and caught the end of the game on television.

“I was screaming in my bedroom watching it,” Hunter said. “I can only imagine how the fans feel.”