"It's like a dream," he said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY Sports. "Being in the Marines and having to do so much stuff over and over รข?¦ the nerves kinda go away."
Kimmel, a former high school baseball star at Moses Lake (Wash.) High School, lost both legs and his left arm in an explosion during his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.
He showed off his outfielder's arm as he fired a strike to the Giants' designated first-pitch catcher, reliever Sergio Romo. But perhaps the biggest thrill was sharing the mound with Giants Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Mays.
Mays is a U.S. Army veteran, who missed most of the 1952 and all of the 1953 seasons to serve in the Korean War.
"He took the ball and said I've got to rub it up with some dirt," Kimmel recalled. "He rubbed it up and signed it for me, so that was pretty cool."
