This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ATLANTA -- Rockies reliever Tyler Kinley’s face showed how Father’s Day makes dad become a kid again.
Kinley showed the baseball spikes that his sons, Harrison and Rowan, and daughter, Remi, designed for him with their crayons and creativity. Kinley had no idea that the children -- with his wife, Brittani, making sure all went smooth -- would surprise him by turning a white baseball cap into a piece of art.
“They draw all the time, they color all the time,” Kinley said, showing the hat and shoes from his locker. “They draw the guys on the team, playing cats, hitting the ball -- any time. My middle son will see a 14 anywhere, and say, ‘Dad! [Ezequiel] Tovar! Tovar!’
“They were able to hide this hat from me. My wife does a good job of organizing and planning this stuff. It was a great surprise.”
With the help of the community relations department, the Rockies conspired with players’ wives and children to design a hat -- while games were in session, so dad had no idea. Then the players were brought to a press conference room at Coors Field on Thursday under the guise of delivering a Father’s Day message.
Instead, they received deliveries. And smiled, and kept smiling.
Click along to see the hats on this Instagram post.
Kinley wore the gift except when on the field. He threw a clean inning with a strikeout in a 10-1 Father’s Day victory over the Braves.
Some of the children needed assistance. Third baseman Ryan McMahon, who celebrated the day with a home run, received his hat with the hand prints of his 16-month-old daughter, Austyn Brooke -- thanks to mom, Natalie.
“You can tell it was hard for her because they’re all spread out and bigger than her hands actually are,” McMahon said. “It was cute. My wife worked hard on that with her. I just appreciate that.”
Pitcher Germán Márquez, whose nearly 7-year-old son, Damian, made two hats with the help of mom, Onelia Rojas, said, “It’s really cool because we are regular people, too. The best thing is to be with family.”
Lefty pitcher Austin Gomber and his wife, Rachel, are parents to two sons, Beckham and Charlie, and a daughter, Adalyn. The Father’s Day warmth was part of a weekend that saw him return from a shoulder injury and pitch five strong innings in Sunday’s victory.
“I’m just super excited to be back -- and it’s cool to be able to throw on Father’s Day,” Gomber said. “Having three kids just adds to the excitement.”