After last-minute call-up, Montgomery's family went into 'scramble mode' to attend his debut

DENVER -- Colson Montgomery, the White Sox No. 5 prospect and the No. 95 prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline, made one of the most unique -- and even historic -- Major League debuts on Friday night at Coors Field.

But as wild as his first taste of the Majors was in the 3-2 win over the Rockies, it was nothing compared to what his family went through to be on hand to witness it.

“I think the craziest part was getting my family here,” Montgomery said. “My mom and my grandma were on their way to Niagara Falls, and they had to stop on the way in Cincinnati to catch a plane ride out here. And my dad and all my siblings were in Florida on the beach, so they had to drive to Nashville to catch a flight out here this morning.”

Montgomery’s father, TJ, broke down in tears as he stood on the Florida coastline on Thursday when Colson called him with the news of his promotion.

The family vacation would be cut short, but for the best of reasons.

“The week before, he was in Toledo and we thought we’d go up and visit him before we went on vacation,” TJ said. “And he had a great series after we left, and right before we left for Florida, we were like, ‘He’s getting hot. We’re gonna be down in Florida, and they’re gonna call him up.’”

And call him up, they did. For the Montgomery family, the next 14 hours were a blur.

First, the call.

“With Colson, he only calls either when something bad happens or when something good happens,” TJ said. “And here lately, it’s been bad because he got hit in the kneecap and then he got hit in the wrist, and he got hit the night before.

“So I thought, ‘Great, now what?’”

Colson played it cool.

“He goes, ‘What are you doing?’” TJ said. “I go, ‘What do you think I’m doing -- I’m sitting on the beach and enjoying myself.’

“And then he says, ‘Well, better get to an airport.’”

And so a hectic but joyous trek to the Rocky Mountains began. TJ and his four other children couldn’t find any suitable flights out of Florida.

So they improvised.

“It was scramble mode,” said TJ. “Colson’s got a house in Nashville, so I thought we could drive to Nashville, fly out, fly back and then it’s only a 2 1/2-hour drive for us to get home. I looked and they had a Southwest flight out of Nashville at 8:30 this morning.”

It was around 10 p.m. on Thursday in Florida. They drove all night, for 7 1/2 hours, to Nashville and arrived at 4 in the morning. Four and a half hours later, they were airborne.

By 11 a.m., they had finally arrived in Colorado. It was an arduous journey, but well worth it.

Colson’s mom and grandma, on the other hand, had a relatively easy time of it.

“She and her mom were going to Niagara Falls,” TJ said. “And they were going through Cincinnati when they got the call from Colson. So they stopped and checked flights to Denver out of Cincinnati, and sure enough, there was a direct one.”

Within an hour of getting the great news from Colson, his mother and grandmother were in the air.

In the end, however long the trip and by whatever means the travel took place, it all worked out. Even if it took “scramble mode” for it to happen.