Porch Talks with Joel Schmieg

Trevor Williams grew up going to professional baseball games with his dad in San Diego. At the age of 24, Williams got to take his dad to a MLB game, while he was on the mound.

Sept. 6 was the day Williams got the call to the show, and the very next day Williams made his debut in the 6th inning of a 3-2 ballgame with the Pittsburgh Pirates. With two outs, Williams gave up a run, making it a tie ballgame.

Thankfully, Jung Ho Kang homered in the bottom of the 8th, and the score held at 4-3 in favor of the Pirates, giving Williams his first career win in his major league debut.

After the game, Williams climbed into the stands to embrace his wife and baby boy.

With his dad looking on in pure elation, tears of joy began flowing down his father’s face creating one of the most memorable scenes in sports.

Williams then engulfed his dad in a hug before giving him the game ball.

“You dream about it your entire life, and you picture it happening, but it’s one of those things where you let the emotions take control of you, and there’s no one else I would rather share that moment with than my dad,” Williams told Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune. “He’s been with me since the very beginning.”

It is moments like this one that remind me why I love sports.

There is a reason some of the best movies made are about great moments in sports history.

Sports stories write themselves. In almost every great game, someone makes the comment that you could not have written a better script for the game.

They typically involve a large amount of defeat, despair and agony. But that is what makes the triumphant victory all the sweeter.

From little league, to travel ball, to high school, to college, to the minors and then to the pros, Williams had a long ride to his first major league game.

But it was all worth it when he got to share the moment with the man who inspired him to love the game in the first place.

“When I called (my dad) the other day, I didn’t think that moment was going to get any better,” Williams told Biertempfel. “I didn’t think I was going to share a moment with him that was better than that, but this definitely outdid it.”

Whether Williams becomes a major league star, or only lasts a short while in the bigs, he will always have the moment he shared with the people who mean the most to him.

And who knows? Maybe one day Williams will get to cry in the stands while his son gets his first major league win, or writes his first story, or does whatever it is that makes him happy.

After all, there’s not much better in this world than tears of joy from dad.

Schmieg is the sports editor