Labour threw Jays reliever for Loup
KANSAS CITY— On the plane, Aaron Loup tried to sit still. He paid for Internet access so he could text his wife. He put on a movie — a “Mission Impossible” or something, he thinks, a distraction you didn’t need to pay attention to. He was anxious, rushed, a little terrified. He didn’t even have a proper bag.
“I was 20 minutes into the flight when I got a text: ‘The baby’s coming’,” said the Toronto Blue Jays reliever before Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. “It was about 20 minutes after that they sent a picture of the baby saying, hey, he’s here. The doctors told us when it happened, it was going to happen fast.”
Loup’s wife Leighann was on the bus to Game 3 of Toronto’s American League division series with other Jays’ family members when her water broke. She was 26 weeks pregnant, well short of a 40-week gestation period. After a brief panic, she was rushed to an Arlington, Texas, hospital. Loup followed in a cab, and the two of them spent three days there, while doctors tried to keep the baby from coming. The first 48 hours, everyone said, were critical. They were a long 48 hours.
“It’s kind of scary both ways — it’s the post-season, it’s what you play for, everything’s on the line, but . . . it’s your family,” says Loup, a soft-spoken native of Louisiana. “(Manager John Gibbons), (general manager Alex Anthopoulos), all my team- mates said take care of your family first. Nobody’s holding anything against you here. And when you can, if you can, get back, because we’re going to need you.
“We watched all the games in the hospital. It’s way more nervous and stressful watching on TV than playing in the game. It’s crazy. You have no control.”
He had no control in the hospital, either, but Leighann stabilized well enough that he came back for the first two games of the ALCS. He was in Toronto for Game 3 when the call came.
“I was getting dressed in my locker right before Game 3 and she texted me and said, there are some signs, but nothing for sure yet,” said Loup, whose first child is a two-year-old girl named Sophie. “So I’m kind of sitting in my locker, I don’t want to get fully dressed, I’m kind of worried, and by midway through the first she calls me and she says, it’s happening. You need to go.”
The Jays scrambled. The team’s travel director, Mike Shaw, called Air Canada, and found a 6:55 flight to Dallas with seats available. The team had a clubhouse attendant drive Loup to the airport, and made sure he was checked in before he got there.
The important part, though: The baby boy seems healthy, a miracle. His name is Wyatt Aaron Loup.
“He’s doing good — stable and healthy, and all things are pointing up right now,” says Loup.
“For being as early as he was, he’s a little above average. It’s definitely good.”