Tomlin to start Game 3 with ailing dad in stands
While his dad sat on a bucket in their backyard catching, little Josh Tomlin pretended he was pitching in the World Series. He’s about to do it for real. And his dad, Jerry, recently paralyzed from the chest down following a medical scare that threatened his life, will be there in Chicago watching.
“It will mean everything,” said Tomlin, who will start Game 3 at Wrigley Field. “We’ve talked about this, shoot, since I was three or four years old. I can remember having conversations with him – ‘Bases loaded, full count, bottom of the ninth, so and so is up to bat. What are you going to throw him?”’
“Let’s go fastball,” Tomlin said, “and I’d throw a fastball and on strike three we’d jump up and throw our gloves and stuff like that.”
Jerry Tomlin is Texas tough, the kind of rugged guy who never missed a day of work and lives life head on – sometimes going too hard.
In August, Jerry was working at a power plant in Whitehouse, Texas, when he fell ill, his stomach tied in knots. With the pain worsening, he was taken to a hospital where doctors initially thought the problem was being caused by his gall bladder.
That’s when things took a critical turn as Tomlin’s body went numb. He underwent an MRI and numerous tests, and the 57-year-old was rushed into surgery after he was diagnosed with arteriovenous malfunction, a condition that affects blood circulation near the spine.
Josh Tomlin, already in the midst of one of the worst months of his career, rushed home after the Indians arranged a private jet so he could get there quickly to see his dad and be there for his mom, Elana. The pitcher made the trip fearing his dad might not survive.
The procedure saved Jerry’s life, but it has left him in a wheelchair with a long, difficult road to recovery ahead. It’s not known if he’ll walk again.
After spending nearly two months in a rehab facility in Dallas, he was released last week – on Josh’s 32nd birthday. Jerry watched from his living room as the Indians clinched their first American League pennant since 2007.
The Tomlins are incredibly close, their bond strengthened by their love of baseball.
“I talk to him every single day, him and my mom both,” Tomlin said. “I’ve got a great relationship with them. They’ve been a huge part of my life and a huge part of my success in the big leagues.”
Jerry and Elena will be accompanied to Chicago by Tomlin’s aunt and uncle, and they’ll stay at the team hotel.
“He’s always coached me,” Tomlin said of his father. “He’s one of the better motivators. He’s very intense.”