On Sunday morning, Zack Short got a phone call that many of us have experienced: his grandmother had passed away. Short, in his first spring training with the Mets, could not join his family in the Kingston area to be with his grandmother as she died. As much fun as it seems like being a pro ballplayer is, this is the downside: you’re a thousand miles away for moments that don’t get a do-over. You miss a lot.
But just a few hours later, Short was told that he made the Opening Day roster for the first time in his Major League career.