Fire drill: Henry Davis' family, friends scramble to see Pirates rookie make his MLB debut
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Chris Davis was hoping a call-up was coming soon for his son, so he anticipated exciting news Sunday afternoon when a text message told him to pick up the phone for FaceTime.
A smiling Henry Davis told his father to pack his bags.
Davis delivered the news of his promotion from Triple- A to the Pirates to his parents, fiancee Sofia Taranis and close friends before flying from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh, where he made his major-league debut Monday night against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park.
“It was a scramble, so I kind of just sent invitations and then got on my flight,” Henry Davis said. “It’s been a little bit of a circus.”
About 24 hours later, a dozen family members and friends stood behind a blue rope at the edge of the grass wearing custom-made Pirates jerseys while watching the 2021 No. 1 overall pick take batting practice before heading to a suite down the right-field line.
Chris Davis and his brother, Steve, had custom No. 32 jerseys made at the new Pirates Clubhouse Store on Federal Street, opened in conjunction with Fanatics. They learned that Chris had ordered the first white jersey, and Steve ordered the first black one with the Pittsburgh script.
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“We’ve been smiling the entire time,” Chris Davis said. “It’s an amazing experience.”
Davis’ mother, Andi Schaefer, had a similar experience in interactions with Pirates fans while wearing a jersey with her son’s name and number on the back while walking around PNC Park.
“People stopped us, saying, ‘Davis?’ ” Schaefer said. “They were so pumped. Everybody seems happy and excited for some newer young blood.”
Schaefer was traveling on the auto train from Orlando to Virginia when she got the news and still had to drive home to Boston for a Father’s Day dinner with her husband.
She emptied her suitcase, only to pack again.
“We knew it was going to be a fire drill. It definitely felt like this happened very quickly,” Schaefer said, noting Henry’s development was delayed last season by a fractured left wrist. “But we felt like last year — because he missed so much time with the broken wrist — was like walking in quicksand. It feels fast because that felt so slow.”
Matt Hillis, who coached Davis at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, N.Y., received a phone call at 2:44 p.m. Sunday from Henry Davis, who asked a question: How quickly can you get to Pittsburgh?
“I couldn’t contain my excitement. I wasn’t positive but had a pretty good idea, so I tried to maintain my composure,” Hillis said. “It was the usual Henry, completely under control. Me, I’m shaking, literally shaking.”
Wearing a white Pirates jersey with a No. 1 on the back that Davis distributed as gifts after he was drafted, Hillis was pumped to see his former star player starting in right field for the Pirates in his debut.
“There’s nothing that could have stopped me, including the construction I sat in or the speeding ticket I got, which was well worth it,” said Hillis, who shared the story of how Davis won the starting catcher job as a freshman by separating himself with 5 a.m. workouts. “That do-whatever-it-takes attitude is why Pittsburgh made the right move drafting him 1/1. If you get that work ethic from a player who is that uber-talented, what more can you want?”
Source: TribLIVE
