Jay Jackson was on a road trip with the Buffalo Bisons earlier this month when he learned he was returning to the majors.
The Toronto Blue Jays needed an extra arm for an upcoming doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox, so they turned to the 35-year-old reliever. He packed his bags at a hotel in western New York and tried to sleep before his upcoming flight when he got a late-night call that his fiancee, Sam, had gone into labor and was taken to a hospital in Utah, where the family has ties to the state, Jackson told the Toronto Star’s “Deep Left Field” podcast last week.
JR Bautista Jackson came into the world almost an hour after midnight on July 6 at Ogden Regional Medical Center, about 14 to 15 weeks early, he tweeted. He was transferred to another hospital in the state but has remained in a neonatal intensive care unit since.
Later that day, Jackson boarded his flight to Chicago, threw a hitless 1⅓ innings, and even earned a win in the Jays’ 5-4 victory in the second game that day. He then got on a plane again, this time to Salt Lake City, as the team put him on the league’s paternity list.
While the MLB All-Star break offered some relief, he also needed to fly to South Carolina to help hold a baseball youth camp he had set up in his home state. That left the career journeyman traveling all over North America during his off time.
This is the type of schedule he’s planning to continue for the foreseeable future, balancing baseball and family. He’s spending every off day visiting his family at the hospital before meeting back up with the Blue Jays bullpen, Jays Journal notes.
For example, he pitched a scoreless inning and picked up another win when Toronto defeated Arizona 7-5 on July 16. After the game wrapped up, he told “Deep Left Field” that he immediately started searching flights and found one from Toronto to Salt Lake City departing that evening. A nonstop flight from Toronto to Salt Lake City is about 1,660 miles and takes a little more than 4 hours, per Google Flights.
“Luckily, it got delayed by like an hour and a half. That was awesome that I got to make it and get there in time,” he told the show.
Back at the hospital, he and his fiancee read children’s books to help young JR learn their voices. Then, it was back to Toronto, where he pitched two more shutout innings in the team’s 9-1 blowout loss to San Diego.
The team has another off day Thursday as it returns from Los Angeles to Toronto, making the next trip a bit easier with Salt Lake City in between. There are two more off days in mid-August after that.
While it’s a bit of a grueling schedule on top of baseball’s normal grind, Jackson told the Toronto Star podcast it’s been worth it to spend every moment he can with his newborn son.
“It’s more of a pleasure than a stress right now because I get to be by him and see him, especially with as tiny as he is right now, and just give him my energy and some of my love and support I can give for him,” he said. “It’s a little struggle, but it’s fun.”
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