Pete Crow-Armstrong did not grow up in a typical baseball household. The Chicago Cubs center fielder is the son of Ashley Crow and Matthew John Armstrong, two working actors whose lives were built around film and television rather than sports.
Even so, Crow-Armstrong has made it clear that both of them were deeply involved in his baseball childhood, with his mom in particular playing a hands-on role in the backyard and around the game from the start.
That family story has become part of Crow-Armstrong’s public identity, but it is not just a fun fact.
It helps explain how he became such a polished young player in Chicago. In a May 2025 MLB feature, he remembered his mother catching his pitches when he was around 11 years old, only for one throw to catch her in the thigh and end that bullpen session for good.
He laughed about it, but he also made clear that Ashley Crow was “just as much a part” of his athletic childhood as his father or any coach.
A baseball kid raised by two actors
Ashley Crow is best known to baseball fans for her role in Little Big League, the 1994 film in which she played the mother of a 12-year-old who becomes the owner and manager of the Minnesota Twins.
Outside that film, she built a long acting résumé with roles in projects such as Heroes, Minority Report, As the World Turns, and Guiding Light.
TV Guide lists her as an actress born in Birmingham, Alabama, and notes that she earned a BFA from Auburn University and later an acting master’s degree from New York University.
Matthew John Armstrong also made his career in front of the camera. TV Guide identifies him as an actor from Chicago best known for playing Ted Sprague on Heroes, and it notes that he married Ashley Crow and that the couple has a son, Pete Crow-Armstrong.
GQ added in a 2025 profile that Armstrong logged time on American Dreams and Heroes, while Crow starred in Little Big League and Heroes.
The two met on the set of Turks, a CBS police drama set in Chicago, and that connection eventually became the foundation for the family Pete grew up in.
Armstrong’s career highlight in Hollywood was that show, and that it was where he met Crow.
Pete has since joked that his parents used to talk about the tiny paychecks they earned from acting, a reminder that the household had plenty of industry experience but not the kind of money people often assume comes with Hollywood.
Pete has also said his parents were around baseball constantly, not just as spectators but as active helpers.
He told MLB that his mom and dad played softball together in their actors’ league, and that Ashley Crow understood the game well enough to be part of his routines.
That is part of why his baseball path never felt borrowed or forced. Even with two actor parents, the game was still being taught, talked about and lived at home.
The family support behind PCA’s rise
Crow-Armstrong’s gratitude toward his parents has stayed visible as his profile has grown. In one public comment the Cubs outfielder thanked his mom and dad and said he would not be where he is without them, then joked about getting them to Chicago for good.
“I just want to start off by thanking my mom and my dad. I would not be here without y’all. You know that. I think it’s time to get you to Chicago for good. We’ve been teasing the move for a while now, so I’m proud to have both of your names on my back.”
The tone matched the way he usually talks about family: direct, appreciative and a little playful.
That support mattered when he reached the majors, too. Crow-Armstrong remembered that when he made his MLB debut on September 11, 2023, his mother was the only family member who could get to Coors Field in time for the surprise call-up.
He called it a perfect moment because it ended with the two of them sharing the first real hug of his big-league career.
By 2025, Crow-Armstrong had gone from intriguing prospect to one of the most exciting young players in the league. He is a first-time All-Star and a serious MVP candidate and a Cubs center fielder whose athleticism traces back to a childhood shaped by both parents.
Pete Crow-Armstrong grew up in an acting family, but the people closest to him still built their home around sport, work and constant support.
That is the base he carried into professional baseball, and it is still part of the story every time he takes the field.
