The video of Cronin organizing the baby pool went viral, amassing 8.8 million views on TikTok
You've heard of a Super Bowl pool, but newly minted grandpa Kevin Cronin organized something even better: a baby pool.
The baby pool tradition started in is family in 1993 when Cronin and his wife, Diane Cronin, wanted a fun way to tell their parents they were having a baby -- and it stuck.
"My wife and I have four kids. I did a baby pool for all four of them," Kevin, 58, shares with PEOPLE. For each baby pool, friends and family had to guess the baby's sex and when they would be born.
The couple also extended the invite to people outside their family, such as Kevin's coworkers.
"It's a cool way to get everyone involved because when I was working in an office back then, and every day people would come to my office to see if they won," Kevin adds. "Everyone was interested in the baby and wanted to win." The original baby pool in 1993 had a $5 buy-in and paid out around $300 to the winner.
Ahead of his daughter's due date, Kevin returned to the baby pool tradition after 20 years, as his youngest son was born in 2005. However, they have since made it a bit more challenging by adding guesses for height, weight, and time of day.
One of Kevin's daughters, Alyssa, shared a video on TikTok of Kevin coordinating the baby pool, which went viral, amassing 8.8 million views. In the video, he divided a piece of paper into four categories: date, time, height, and weight. They omitted the section for sex as the couple already knew they were having a baby girl.
He then called different family members to get their thoughts. One of the submitters, Kevin's son, hilariously estimated that the baby would be born just over 2 feet tall, prompting laughter from the father-daughter duo.
Kevin is a viral sensation known as Kickball Dad, a nickname given after volunteering to substitute coach for Alyssa's kickball league in 2022.
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Alyssa discovered her dad's tradition after finding her very own baby pool while going through a box of her old things. "I found my baby pool in my box and thought, 'What is this? Oh, my goodness, betting on my birth?'" she shares.
However, Kickball Dad may have started a movement as thousands of commenters chimed in on what their baby pool submissions would be. Many also said they would be implementing baby pools in their families.
Unlike in past years, there is no set prize for this year's winner, but Kevin is thinking about getting a gift card to a baby store, so newborn reaps the benefits of the bet. "We're still figuring it out," he says. "The prize is pending."
"The prize is glory," Alyssa jokes.
With the arrival of a baby into the family, Kickball Dad is now Kickball Grandad, as his daughter Michelle, 31, welcomed a daughter.
The newest member of the family, Chloe Marie McEvoy, was born at 2:45 a.m. on Monday, April 21, securing the victory for Kickball Dad. The little one weighed in at 9 lb. 1 oz. and measured 20 inches, as predicted by Kevin himself, who was the victor of the baby pool.