PITTSBURGH - The call after the call was missed, actually. Twice.
Kevin Stallings, the new Pittsburgh men’s basketball coach, had been entertaining some coaches in town for a camp. He glanced at his phone Saturday night and saw the two missed calls from his son, Jacob, a 26-year-old catcher in the Pirates’ organization. He dialed Jacob back.
What Jacob wanted to know was simple: Could his father get to Chicago the next day? He’d be making his major league debut.
“I said something to the effect of, ‘Get the heck out of here,’ ” the elder Stallings recalled Tuesday morning.
Kevin Stallings left the basketball coaches — who cheered when they heard the news — to go book a flight. He booked one so early, he actually beat his son to O’Hare International Airport.
“He was supposed to take a cab to Wrigley and I just said, ‘I’ll get you,’ ” Kevin Stallings said. “I picked him up and drove him from O’Hare to Wrigley and dropped him off. … We’d had so many drives to practices and games over the years — but that was as special of a day, and as special of a moment as, of course, I’ve ever had.”
Jacob was, understandably, quite nervous during the ride. His father was giddy, having waited and hoped for this moment for his son for years. Jacob, a North Carolina graduate, was drafted in the seventh round by the Pirates in 2012. He’s been in Pittsburgh’s minor-league system ever since, most recently with Class AAA Indianapolis. Injuries at the catcher position (Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart) for the big-league club led to Jacob’s call-up on Sunday.
He started Sunday night’s game against the Cubs and went 0-for-4. He and his father know he’s essentially day-to-day with the Pirates, playing until Stewart gets healthy. But they’ll cherish these moments, however fleeting, hoping they’re just the start of a big-league career.
“He’s up there because of injuries, because both catchers have gotten injured, and he knows that the best thing for the Pirates is when Cervelli and Stewart are back and they’re healthy,” Kevin Stallings said. “But he’s got a job to do until that happens. He also understands what that job is. …
“Sunday night baseball in Wrigley Field for your first big-league opportunity — on Father’s Day. For that to be your major league debut, you can’t … it’s a fairytale sort of thing, but it really happened. I’m pretty sure. I’m pretty sure it happened.”
