51s recall happiest call of all

Ask any professional baseball player about the first time he was called up to the major leagues, and he can tell you in remarkable detail where he was, who notified him and how he reacted.

Throughout the 51s clubhouse, players recollected stories describing the thrill, the sense of accomplishment, the relief and, in at least one case, the hangover.

"It was probably the second-best day of my life, aside from my son being born," pitcher Rommie Lewis said of learning he was being summoned by Toronto last year. "My heart started beating (fast), and I called everyone I knew."

Las Vegas infielder Craig Stansberry said he still gets chills talking about the time he was pulled from a Pacific Coast League game in Tacoma, Wash., in 2007 and told he was going up to the Padres.

But for several 51s players, just getting the long-awaited good news from their mischievous minor league managers was an adventure.

Veteran infielder Chris Woodward had just returned to Triple-A Syracuse in 1999 after missing time with an injury when his irate manager asked him after a tough loss if he was ready to play yet.

"I said, 'Yeah, I was ready today.' And he looks at me and he's kind of shaking his head and he says, 'I don't think you can play for me,' " he said. "It kind of threw me for a loop, and then he goes, 'Yeah, I think you should be playing in New York tomorrow.' Because we were playing the Mets in interleague play."

Veteran slugger Ryan Shealy was having a big year for Colorado Springs in 2005 when his manager asked him how he'd feel about going down to Double-A to help the team clinch a playoff spot.

"I was puzzled and was like, 'No disrespect, but why on earth would I want to go down there?' " he said. "He said, 'All right, well do you want to go to the big leagues?' And I was like, 'Hell yeah, I want to go to the big leagues.' And he said 'Well, you're going tomorrow.' "

In pitcher Brett Cecil's case, he celebrated a bit too much before getting the news from then-51s manager Mike Basso in 2009.

"I was hung over," Cecil said. "I had just started the night before, and my wife had come into town and we did the whole club scene and went out for a little bit.

"I came in and got a workout done and went out for a stretch. Basso called me over and said (the Blue Jays) needed a pitcher and said, 'You're their guy.'

"Other than being hung over, it was a great feeling."

Scott Richmond's parents were in Indianapolis to watch him pitch when he was told he'd be starting in Toronto instead.

"We ended up going to a store and getting a suit because I didn't have a suit," he said.

At least his luggage wasn't lost on the way to Toronto. Lewis wasn't so lucky.

"My baseball bag got lost in transit, so I was pitching in somebody else's spikes and using somebody else's glove," he said. "I believe they were B.J. Ryan's old spikes and Scott Downs' glove."

Slugger Adam Loewen's first call-up was a cross between "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and "Sleepless in Seattle."

Loewen, who started his career as a pitcher, was in Altoona, Pa., when he was summoned to Seattle to make an emergency start for the Orioles in 2006.

"I had to take the team bus, and I was the only one on it," he said. "The team bus driver drove me two hours to Pittsburgh, got lost, and it ended up taking like five hours.

"I couldn't sleep that night, flew to Seattle across the country, got no sleep and then was in the game that night in front of like 50 friends and family."

The Vancouver native probably lost more sleep as he made his first four starts against former Cy Young Award winners Roy Halladay (twice), Randy Johnson and Tom Glavine.

51s hitting coach Chad Mottola also took an arduous route to the big leagues in 1996. Instructed to join the Reds at Shea Stadium after a night game in New York, he panicked when his taxi driver refused to battle the postgame traffic.

"The cabdriver told me he didn't know the address to Shea Stadium from the airport," he said. "I said 'It's right there; I can see it.' He told me, 'No, no, no. I can't get in there.' I said 'You have to get in there.' I literally said, 'I'll give you $100 if you get me in there.' Somehow he found his way in there with no problem."

Upon finally reaching the majors, Stansberry ripped the first pitch he saw for a hit in front of a sellout crowd of more than 43,000 in Philadelphia. But the 6-foot-5-inch Shealy said he was numb in his debut in Cleveland.

"My first three at-bats, I couldn't even feel my legs. I was so nervous," he said. "I got a hit the next day off CC Sabathia, so that was awesome.

"When you're up there, it's kind of like you breathe a sigh of relief, because that's what you worked for for so long. It was like, I got my first hit, check mark, my first homer, check mark, because then you're in the books, and no one can take that from you."

In Woodward's debut at Shea Stadium, he wore No. 31, the same number as Mets catcher Mike Piazza.

"Both him and the umpire said, 'Hey, congratulations, kid,' and Mike says, 'Hey, nice number,' " he said. "Then I just remember stepping in against Orel Hershisher, a guy I grew up watching in (Los Angeles). It was pretty surreal."

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.