McLain's Mother's Day gift really can't be topped

This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon's Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ATLANTA -- Each Mother's Day going forward, Reds second baseman Matt McLain will have a tough time topping the one his mother, Wendi, enjoyed in 2023.

"It was super cool, and obviously, we’ll both remember it forever," McLain said.

That was the day McLain found out he was going to the big leagues with Cincinnati. With Triple-A Louisville at the time, the first call he made was to his mother. Wendi McLain and the family were watching his brother, Nick, play baseball for Arizona State.

“It was on Mother’s Day. It was just so special," the 25-year-old McLain recounted. "She was at my brother’s game. They had just gotten swept, and they were all hanging out by the bus, I remember she told me. I called her, and she started screaming.

"Everyone’s like, ‘What are you screaming at?’ She’s around by the team bus, they just got swept and she started crying and whatever. I called her before my dad. She told my dad and goes, ‘Oh my God; I’ll call you right back.’”

Wendi, Mike McLain and the whole family were on hand at Coors Field when their son debuted for the Reds on May 15, 2023, vs. the Rockies. McLain went 1-for-4 with a double and two runs scored in the 9-8 loss.

Since that day, both of McLain's brothers have made their way into professional baseball. Sean, 24, is an infielder who was taken in the fifth round of the 2022 MLB Draft. He’s in the Dodgers’ organization at the Double-A level. Nick, 22, is an outfielder in the White Sox system after being their third-round Draft pick in 2024.

McLain, a first-round pick by the Reds in 2021, appreciated Wendi for being a dedicated baseball mom -- and his father as well -- for making sure he and his brothers got to all their youth and Little League games -- including for select and travel ball teams -- while they grew up in Tustin, Calif.

“Traveling all over, helping us out, doing everything for us really," McLain said. "I think that’s the biggest thing people don’t realize. They give up their weekends for us to go drive an hour, play two games in the day at like 12 years old, which is kind of crazy. But it’s awesome.”