Hampson’s major-league debut was joyful, chaotic journey for his family
PHOENIX » Rockies second baseman Garrett Hampson, as cool and confident as a veteran, dug in and waited for the 1-1 pitch from Arizona right-hander Zack Godley.
Elsewhere at Chase Field — Section 116, Row 26, to be exact — there was a much different vibe. Hearts pounded and tears were held in check.
Godley’s pitch, a 79 mph knuckle-curve,
was meant to fool Hampson. It did not. Hampson drove the ball on a line off the leftfield wall.
The official scorebook recorded it as an RBI double that drove in Ian Desmond to cut Arizona’s lead to 3-1. History will remember it as the first hit of Hampson’s bigleague career, coming in the fifth inning Saturday, July 21, 2018. Hampson, at age 23 and 84 days, became the 19,321st player in major-league history.
As Hampson stood on second base and the baseball was taken out of play for posterity’s sake, eight people in the stands went bonkers.
“I couldn’t believe the excitement level. It was overwhelming,” said his mother, Marjie Hampson, who arrived at Chase Field about
five minutes before her son got his first hit.
Marjie had flown into Phoenix from Reno, Nev., via Las Vegas. But a monsoon thunderstorm in Las Vegas “waylaid me for four hours. We were stuck on the tarmac for two hours and I was frantic, just frantic. I kept saying, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ ”
Although she didn’t make it in time to see her son’s first at-bat — a groundout to the shortstop — her timing turned out to be just fine. Maybe the baseball gods were on her side, or maybe good karma stemmed from the silver baseball earrings she was wearing: good-luck charms since Garrett was 6.
“It’s hard to describe my emotions when Garrett got that hit,” she said, “but I was cheering as loud as I could.”
Hampson’s hit was the zenith of a joyful, chaotic journey for his family and closest friends, all of whom scrambled to be on hand for his debut.
Here is the full roster of Hampson’s entourage at Chase Field that night: his mother; father Chris Hampson; grandmother Maureen Hampson; older brother Colton; longtime girlfriend Gigi Hascheff; Gigi’s mom, Lynda Hascheff; best friend Luke Smith; and Smith’s girlfriend, Katie Nicholas.
“For eight people, they can make a lot of noise, for sure. I could hear them pretty good,” Hampson said with a chuckle after the Rockies’ 6-5 victory.
The phone call that set it all in motion came at Hampson’s apartment in Albuquerque at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday. Glenallen Hill, manager of the Triple-a Isotopes, was on the line, delivering a flimsy story about someone breaking into Hampson’s car. It’s a baseball tradition to mess with a player on the brink of the biggest promotion of his career, so the second baseman suspected it was a ruse.
“First of all, I drive a truck, not a car, so I knew something was up,” Hampson said.
His cover quickly blown, Hill delivered the goods. Rockies all-star DJ Lemahieu was going on the disabled list with a left oblique strain and Hampson was being called up to be the starting second baseman. That night. He had to be on a flight from Albuquerque to Phoenix at 7 a.m.
Gigi was staying with Hampson in Albuquerque. When she heard the news, tears of joy flowed, even as her mind started whirring.
“I have chills right now, just talking about it,” she said. “It was all incredibly emotional. But then I went into planning mode. It was like, ‘OK, we have to pack up your room and we have to figure out how you’re going to get to Phoenix.’ Garrett’s not really much into packing.”
Gigi would know. They began dating at Reno High School and both attended Long Beach State, where Hampson played baseball and she was a 5-foot-7 guard on the basketball team.
As Gigi began worked out logistics, Hampson started making calls. His mom, back home in Reno, got the news just before going to bed.
“I said: ‘Garrett, I’m brushing my teeth. What is it?’ ” she recalled. “He said, ‘Mom, call me right back.’ So I did. I kind of went numb when I heard the news.”
Hampson’s father — his parents are divorced — was already in Albuquerque. Chris had driven from Reno to Albuquerque to deliver his son’s Ford F-150 truck. His traveling companion, riding shotgun, was Maureen, his 81-year-old mom, who made the trip to see her grandson play in Triple-a.
The duo had decided to take an 18-hour scenic route from Reno to Albuquerque, traveling through Utah, southwestern Colorado and New Mexico, arriving in Albuquerque on Friday. They saw Hampson play for the Isotopes on Friday night. Little did they know that a 6-hour drive from Albuquerque to Phoenix to attend a major-league game Saturday was in their immediate future.
“It’s been quite the journey, quite the grind for his grandmother,” Chris said. “But we had to be here.”
Maureen was born and raised in Nottingham, England, and came to the United States in 1958. Her late brother, Brian Marshall, was, at one time, a sheriff in Nottingham, a fact she’s quick to have fun with.
Through her years living in America, Maureen slowly became a baseball fan. Now she’s a Rockies fanatic.
“I can still remember when Garrett was just a little boy,” she recalled. “He had that big plastic bat and he would hit balls clear across the yard.”
Colton Hampson didn’t receive the news of his brother’s promotion until about 7:30 a.m. Saturday. He had put in an 18-hour day working as the group sales manager for the Boise Hawks, the Rockies’ short-season Single-a team. He slept right through the phone calls that had arrived in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
“I woke up to about 10 voicemails,” Colton said. “I heard them and I started to tear up. I just knew how hard Garrett had worked. Stuff came flooding back. I remembered going out to the Little League field in Reno.
“It was just across from our front yard. Garrett and I would go out and play ball there, every day, until it got dark. So to find out he got called up was surreal. When I got (to Chase Field) and saw him on the bigleague diamond, I got chills.”
Garrett finished his first major-league game 1-for-3 with an RBI, and he made two stellar defensive plays at second base.
Rockies manager Bud Black, who had been impressed by Hampson’s maturity and athleticism during spring training, was not surprised that the rookie rose to the moment.
“He played loose,” Black said. “I think he was excited, probably a little nervous, as all of us are in our debut, but he handled it well. And our guys were great with him. I was really proud of the way they helped Garrett find his way. I’m really happy for Garrett, it’s a game he’ll never forget.”
Nor will his mom. “I’ll get photos of this day, something to hold on to,” she said. “But that got me thinking. I’ve got a picture of Garrett somewhere back home. He’s about 18 months old and he’s sleeping, but he’s got a little baseball mitt on his hand. I’ve got to find that photo.”