Pete Crow-Armstrong has become one of baseball’s biggest young names this season, but an old Hollywood connection tied to his childhood has suddenly come back into view after Hayden Panettiere’s death.
Crow-Armstrong, the Chicago Cubs center fielder, grew up in Southern California with two working actors for parents. His mother, Ashley Crow, appeared in films like Minority Report and the 1994 baseball movie Little Big League, while his father, Matthew John Armstrong, had roles in shows including Turks and American Horror Story. That family background put Crow-Armstrong around the entertainment world early, including a link to Panettiere, who died Sunday at 36.
Ashley Crow played Sandra Bennet on NBC’s Heroes, the adoptive mother of Panettiere’s Claire Bennet, and the two shared 41 episodes of the show. Off camera, that connection reached Crow-Armstrong’s family in a more personal way. Years ago, he said Panettiere once babysat him when he was a kid.
“Hayden Panettiere babysat me. I had the biggest crush on her,” Crow-Armstrong told NBC Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmyer in a 2022 interview, according to The Big Lead.
He also remembered being around the cast as a child and enjoying that part of his upbringing.
“I liked being around the older actors, and I liked being babysat by my mom’s co-stars and whatnot,” he said. “I’d say she was probably the coolest one for me.”
Crow-Armstrong has said his parents tried to keep him grounded and focused on sports instead of the spotlight. That approach has clearly paid off. At 24, he’s now a two-time All-Star and a real NL MVP contender, with one of the most complete seasons in baseball.
His off-field profile has grown too, sometimes in unexpected ways. He also made headlines with a viral podcast appearance in which he floated a wild theory about whether Babe Ruth ever actually existed.
Panettiere was found unresponsive Sunday afternoon in an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, according to authorities. Her death has prompted tributes across Hollywood, including from her former fiancé, boxer Wladimir Klitschko, the father of their daughter, Kaya.
“Our family is going through a time of profound shock and grief,” he wrote. “Hayden was, although no longer my partner, an important part of my life and the mother of our daughter, Kaya.”
Crow-Armstrong has not publicly commented on her death, but his comments from 2022 have resurfaced as people remember the relationships Panettiere built throughout her career.
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