Yankees’ Jose Trevino’s touching tribute to dad after walk-off was heavenly

After several games’ worth of karma adjustments in the wrong direction, the New York Yankees were granted a mojo reversal from a most unlikely source on Tuesday night in the form of catcher Jose Trevino.

Once fans learned the context of Trevino’s walk-off smash and celebration, though, the 29-year-old Texan coming through didn’t seem quite so unlikely after all.

Tuesday’s tight contest against the Orioles (aren’t they all?) belonged to Trevino from the very first pitch. He smacked a laser into the left-center bullpen to extend the Bombers’ lead to 2-0. After Michael King faltered in the seventh, he equalized again with a two-out, looping RBI single.

And, after back-and-forth Ghost Runner nonsense in extras, Trevino delivered the final blow, breaking a 6-6 tie with a ripped liner down the left-field line, just past the dive of Ramón Urías.

Of course the ball evaded Urías’ dive, though. After all, Trevino had an extra guide working in his favor.

As the catcher gleefully rounded first and headed towards the outfield, he took several moments to look to the sky and scream, “Papi!” in a moment of tribute to his deceased father. As Trevino recounted after the game, his dad passed away in 2013 (not 2014, as the tweet below notes), and Tuesday would’ve been his 69th birthday.

Yankees catcher Jose Trevino had pitch-perfect tribute to dad

Trevino’s father was the man who instilled the game of baseball in the catcher’s bones (of course), and his backyard tutoring sessions included vivid descriptions of game situations in order to motivate clutch play out of his son. Many of those, as Trevino noted, involved tie games in the late innings at Yankee Stadium; the Yankees were the elder Trevino’s favorite team.

Once Trevino took to Twitter, he let the emotions flow more formally, dictating a note to his late father and using the highlight of his game-ender as a message: we did it.

The day began with Trevino well aware of what date it was and whose life he’d be celebrating.

When the catcher awoke, he sipped his coffee out of his dad’s favorite mug — a Mickey Mantle rookie card emblazoned on the side, of course.

From rise to grind, Trevino lived out his father’s dream, providing the 2022 Yankees with a walk-off moment that momentarily felt like it reset their trajectory yet again, covering for Giancarlo Stanton leaving early with a tight calf and DJ LeMahieu being scratched a few hours before first pitch.

That’s what a good team does, after all. That’s what a good team does. If Michael King falters, a Trevino type is there to pick up the slack. If half the lineup is out, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Marwin Gonzalez and Trevino can rally out of nowhere.

After the contest, an overwhelmed Trevino paid tribute to Yankee fans for making him feel comfortable in his new home, as well as the children who tragically lost their lives to gun violence in his home state of Texas on Tuesday. He also acknowledged he was holding back tears for a different reason, opening up on exactly how wild his 24 hours had been once he got back to the locker room.

For one night, Trevino and his Papi were the kings of New York.

Something tells us he’s going to get plenty more chances to become even more “comfortable” in his new home, too, for the fan base has got his back.

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