Baseball

Angels' Mike Trout homers in 1st at-bat as father, says son is 'greatest gift from above'

By Jon Ackerman Aug 5, 2020
Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout hits a solo home run, Aug. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

The Seattle Mariners hoped three-time AL MVP Mike Trout would be a little sleep deprived, or at least a bit off his game, when they hosted the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday. Trout and his wife, Jessica, had their first child late Thursday afternoon, and Mike spent the next four days with his family.

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But he returned to the lineup Tuesday, faced the Mariners’ Mike Dunn in the first inning, and sent a 2-2 pitch 407 feet into the empty concourse in left-center field — his first home run as a father.

“I was hoping now that Trout was a dad, the dad bod might have snuck up on him, but that wasn’t the case,” Mariners manager Scott Servais joked after the game.

Trout said it was “really, really, really hard” to leave Jessica, and that he had called her “probably about 30 times already today.” But he arrived in Seattle in time to help the Angels (4-7) to a 5-3 victory.

The Trouts named their son Beckham Aaron Trout. In announcing the birth on social media over the weekend, Trout said, “Our greatest gift from above, we are so in love!”

The boy’s middle name, Aaron, is in honor of Jessica’s younger brother, and Mike’s best friend, who committed suicide in 2018. Last month, the Trouts announced a partnership with Tiny Turnip, an MLB and MLBPA licensed apparel brand, who designed some clothes as part of a campaign called “Your Game Isn’t Over Yet” to bring hope and awareness to the tragedy of suicide.

“We hope and pray this collaboration touches the lives of even just one precious soul,” Mike said on Twitter.

The Trouts’ design is a baseball over a glove, forming the shape of a semicolon, which is a symbol of suicide prevention. The stitches on the ball are words of encouragement, and underneath the ball is James 4:10. That verse reads, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

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