DENVER — Seemed like just another normal team meeting for Tanner Gordon on Friday night.
Until it wasn’t.
The former Champaign Central High School pitching standout was with his Albuquerque (N.M.) Isotopes teammates in El Paso, Texas, following the 12-7 win against the host Chihuahuas.
A member of the coaching staff wound the conversation around to the most important business: “Tanner Gordon’s going up.”
The room exploded. High-fives all around for the newest member of the Colorado Rockies.
First call from Tanner went to his dad, Bob, and mom, Jody, back in Champaign.
“I texted him before ‘Why didn’t you pitch (on Friday)?’ We knew it was either a trade or he was getting called up,” Bob said.
Turns out, the latter.
“He called us right after he found out,” Bob said. “We’re like ‘Oh, my God.’ We didn’t cry. We were over the top. I think he was still a little shell-shocked.”
It was midnight, so a bit late to start calling family and friends. Bob waited until Saturday morning.
Bob and Jody quickly booked a flight Saturday to Colorado, going from Peoria to Charlotte to Denver.
“We went the wrong direction. We got here,” Bob said.
On Sunday afternoon at Denver’s Coors Field, Tanner made his Major League Baseball debut, starting against the Kansas City Royals. Gordon went 6 1/3 innings, allowing five runs and eight hits, while striking out four and no walks.
“Good job Tanner Gordon, welcome to the big leagues,” said Drew Goodman, the Rockies TV voice as Gordon left the field.
Tanner’s parents were shown on the screen often during the broadcast, celebrating their son’s success.
It is a day Bob and Jody Gordon had long hoped would happen for Tanner.
“We’re just super excited,” Bob said. “We’re nervous for him. He seems to be doing pretty good (Sunday) morning. Even keel.
“It’s going to be a lot of new emotions for him and us.”
It wasn’t the usual pregame for Tanner. He was greeted beforehand by 26 family members and friends, including his coaches from John A. Logan College, who came to Denver for the magic moment.
“He walks in the hotel door and everybody claps,” Bob said.
The Gordons appreciate the support.
“It’s overwhelming really that people are going to take that time and make those arrangements that quick,” Bob said.
Nick Brunson, one of Tanner’s teammates at Central, delayed a trip to Tampa to be at Sunday’s game.
The Gordon rooting section was behind home plate. It was Bob and Jody’s first time watching a game at Coors Field.
The Rockies stay at the Rally Hotel near Coors Field.
The entire experience became real to Bob when he saw his son standing on the mound, getting set to throw his first pitch to Kansas City’s Adam Frazier.
Tanner struck out Frazier, and Bobby Witt Jr., too. Then, a groundout to third. Gordon needed just 11 pitches (nine for strikes) to get out of the first inning.
During the game, Bob let the umpire know if he thought he was squeezing the plate on his son. But Bob didn’t razz the other team.
“When Tanner does something good, a guy hits into a double play to end the inning, it’s like ‘Yeah.’ “
In the second inning, the reality of pitching in Denver’s notorious thin air caught up with Gordon as the Royals scored four runs. Three softly-hit singles and a deep fly ball by Maikel Garcia that just cleared the fence for a 4-0 deficit.
Getting the itch
Tanner Gordon wasn’t that kid at age 10 talking about playing in the majors. The dream came later.
“He really got serious at Indiana and then when he got drafted,” Bob Gordon said. “He wanted to make it a career. It’s a long shot.”
The longest of shots.
Tanner’s personal coach and trainer Joe Yager, who was in Denver for Sunday’s game, told Tanner his major league number “is going to be like 30,100. Not too many guys have got to play at least one game in the majors since the beginning of baseball.”
Yager has been important to Tanner’s development as a a player.
“He knows his baseball,” Bob Gordon said. “He’s been training Tanner since he was 16.”
Bob Gordon was hopeful the call up would happen this year.
“We always thought when he got traded to the Rockies, he was going to have a better shot here than he did with the Braves because their front-line pitching was so strong,” Gordon said.
Tanner had elbow inflammation in his pitching arm this spring which slowed the move.
He performed well in spring training innings against the defending NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks.
He was later sent to Arizona for a rehab assignment while his arm healed.
“They were just being real cautious with him,” Bob Gordon said. “We thought this was the year he would at least get a chance.
“We’re happy with the way things are.”
What’s on tap?
Gordon is packed and ready to go with the team to its next stop in Cincinnati. It is unlikely he will pitch there during a four-game series.
The Rockies on Sunday designated pitched Dakota Hudson, which leaves an opening for Gordon.
After Cincinnati. the Rockies play the Mets in New York. Gordon’s girlfriend Sydney is a nurse in New York. She was in Denver for Sunday’s game. Sydney is a former Indiana softball player.
Tanner’s clothes are in Albuquerque. Now he is off to Ohio. His mailing address is Bob and Jody’s house outside Champaign.
“If he stays up with the Rockies, Denver will be his home base until the end of the season,” Bob Gordon said.
No matter where Tanner goes, Bob, Jody and their friends and family will be watching.
“We watch every one he pitches in,” Bob said.
