The call came on Monday night, one day after Eric Yardley’s 29th birthday, and eight years after he was nearly demoted to ball boy for the Seattle University baseball program.
Yardley was just about to sit down for dinner with his wife, Tia, at their home in El Paso, Texas, on Monday when the El Paso Chihuahuas manager, Edwin Rodriguez, called to deliver the good news: Yardley had been called up to the big leagues. He was going to pitch for the San Diego Padres.
“He said something like, ‘The Padres need you in Cincinnati,’ and I don’t remember what he said after that,” Yardley said.