For Cardinals players, memories of Mom include their call to the big leagues
It’s not that Brendan Donovan meant to ghost his mother, but he had a few things on his mind.
The super utility star knew that the St. Louis Cardinals would come calling for his big league debut soon enough, but he was still taken a little by surprise when the call came through following a 1-for-4 performance with a home run against the Omaha Storm Chasers on April 24, 2022.
With his engrained, martial efficiency, he fired off a text to his family’s group chat informing them of the good news and then put his phone down to get to work packing. It was only later, when he picked it up off the charger and saw the deluge of texts and missed calls, did he consider that he might’ve missed a few personal touches.
The first call up, in whatever form it takes, is a memorable moment for players and coaches alike. Quite a few Cardinals had the good fortune to be in close proximity to their mothers when the call came through; Iván Herrera was with his mom, who burst into tears, though he quickly added, “she cries for everything.”
When former manager Mike Matheny made the decision to add Oli Marmol to his coaching staff ahead of the 2017 season, Marmol got the news while visiting his parents in the Dominican Republic. It had been years, he said, since he and his wife had been back to the island, so when his phone rang and it was work on the line, he made a bold decision.
“My phone rings and it’s [John Mozeliak], and I let it go to voicemail,” he said, laughing. “The voicemail said, ‘hey, I want to talk about your future. Call me.’ I was like, well, this could go two ways.”
With dinner already planned that night with his dad’s family, he was able to share the moment with his parents, even after gambling on sending the head of baseball operations to his inbox.
Erick Fedde made his debut in Washington for the Nationals in the first game of a doubleheader on July 30, 2017. It was an inauspicious start – he allowed seven runs on 10 hits in four innings and took the loss against Nolan Arenado’s Colorado Rockies – but that didn’t stop his parents from being able to enjoy the moment.
After calling his dad and making sure both parents were able to hear him through the speaker, he broke the big news, and got the reaction from his mom that every player dreams of: “oh my gosh, we’ve got to find flights!”
That scramble is also a typical part of the experience, which in part excuses Donovan for his seeming lack of sentimentality. When it happens for a coach, though, there’s often more opportunity to do a little bit of planning.
Catching instructor Jamie Pogue first met Matheny in spring training ahead of the 2000 season, Matheny’s first in St. Louis. A native of the Toronto area, Pogue was then in his first Cardinals spring training after a year of independent ball, and would soon head off to A-Ball in Peoria. Catchers work closely together, though, and Matheny had spent the previous year playing in Toronto for the Blue Jays. The two hit it off from there, and became fast friends.
When Matheny was named manager of the Cardinals in November of 2011, Pogue sent his friend a quick text congratulating him, and received a much faster reply than he anticipated, asking if he wanted to be a part of the group that was being assembled.
A month later, after a formal interview with Matheny that Pogue said was conducted in workout clothes and without even being aware it was a job interview, he was able to call his own parents and let them know he was headed to the majors.
“It’s not the same as these guys,” Pogue said, gesturing around to the players’ lockers surrounding him. Still, the big leagues are the big leagues, and on the team’s second road trip in April, his mother and the rest of his family were able to drive a handful of hours from their Toronto area home to see him in the majors.
They did, Pogue said, sit in the high quality family section, rather than getting an up close view of him from seats near the bullpen.
Perhaps more than anything else, it’s the family aspect of the majors that can some days make it feel like any other ballpark dotted across the landscape. Alec Burleson’s wife Mary, expecting the couple’s first child, was waiting with friends outside the team’s clubhouse on Saturday, yet another mom-to-be eager to pick someone up after the game.
The steps along the way and the challenges of the accomplishment might call for some additional grand gestures from time to time, but the sentiment is consistent. On Mother’s Day, uniformly, smiles came across the faces of players and staff alike as they remember getting to share that first special moment that changed the lives of the closest people to them forever.
Still, big league ball players would do well to remember an important tip for which Donovan ran into a timely reminder – when mom calls, pick up the phone.
