A feel good article in Tampa paper the day after the big win for Webster's Josh Fleming:
No limits to sharing this dream
Josh Fleming’s entourage did whatever it took to see his debut.
ST. PETERSBURG — You raise him. You teach, comfort, scold and encourage him.
You get him all the way from a small town in Missouri to the bright lights of major-league baseball in a nationally televised Sunday afternoon game. Then a pandemic leaves you locked outside the stadium gates on the day of your son’s big-league debut.
For Josh Fleming’s parents, this was not going to be a barrier, just a small impediment.
They flew in from St. Louis on Satur day, sat thems elves with friends across the street from Tropicana Field at Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill on Sunday afternoon, and watched Josh pitch five strong innings in a 5-4 Rays victory.
Turns out, you don’t have to be in the same building to share a dream.
“Even if we can’t get close to him after the game, we just want to be able to look into his eyes and see him smile,” his father, Mark, said shortly before the start of the game. “We may have to put his mom in a garbage bag so she can hug him, but we’ll figure it out.”
So how about it, Josh? Will you force Mom to follow social-distancing protocols? “I don’t know,” Josh said, chuckling, after his outing. “That’s going to be a very, very tough thing to do, I’m sure.”
If it wasn’t exactly the way they once envisioned, it was memorable nonetheless: a private room provided by bar owner Mark Ferguson with seven TVs, three college friends, two parents, an agent and a fiancee.
There were no ushers, foul balls or scoreboard theatrics, but there was plenty of passion to go around. Friends from back home in Missouri called the bar and had a bucket of beer sent in. Ferg’s customers stuck their heads in the room and offered congratulations.
It all began Friday morning, when three of Josh’s teammates and friends from Webster University got a text message from him saying he was being promoted. Within hours they had a road trip planned. Zach Bishop went from Columbia, Mo., to St. Louis to pick up Kevin Spisak, and they drove from 7 p.m. until 10:45 a.m. Saturday, when they reached Tampa Bay along with friend Brett Jungles, who was coming from Jacksonville Beach.
“Since the day (Josh) got drafted, we had a pact. No matter what city he was in, no matter where we were, we were going to be there the day he finally made it,” Bishop said. “The idea was we would fly in and buy tickets to the game, but obviously with (COVID-19), all of that has changed. But we figured we might as well still honor that pact and go watch the game outside of the stadium if we had to.”
Last to arrive was Josh’s fiancee, Katie O’Toole, who made it about 10 minutes before the first pitch. No excuse was needed. When she got the call from Josh on Friday afternoon, she was a little busy herself. Her sister’s wedding was in less than 24 hours and she was helping with last-minute arrangements after a venue cancellation.
O’Toole left the reception Saturday night, got up early Sunday to catch a flight and was hugging Josh’s mom, Lori, at Ferg’s just as the pregame show was ending on Fox Sports Sun.
“I wish we could be there and see the real thing, but this is okay, too,” O’Toole said. “I’m just glad his parents and friends and I were all able to share this together and support him even if it was from afar.”
The viewing party itself was an odd mix of rapid-fire emotions, from anticipation to joy to tension and finally relief. There were shouts of encouragement with each pitch, and they hit a crescendo when Josh got out of the first inning three up and three down.
“It’s okay,” his father said, “we can breathe now.”
The second time through the order had some rougher patches, but Josh, 24, left the bases loaded in the fourth and walked off the mound in the fifth while trailing only 2-0. When the Rays put together a three-run rally in the bottom of the inning, Josh went from a potential loss to a potential victory if the bullpen could hold on.
Even that produced some unscripted drama. Josh worked out in the offseason with Rays reliever Pete Fairbanks, a former University of Missouri pitcher, and has been bunking at Fairbanks’ place in St. Petersburg since being called up Friday.
“This could be awkward,” said agent Aaron Elking, who represents Josh and Fairbanks.
Fairbanks gave up a pair of walks in the sixth but got out of the inning with the lead intact, and the rest of the bullpen held on to close out the victory for Josh.
So what runs through a father’s mind while watching in a bar as his son makes his bigleague debut across the street, a few hundred yards away?
“When he made the call to tell us on Friday, that’s when I thought about all those times when he was a little boy and we would play catch,” Mark said. “Today it was more about this moment and the memory and trying not to be so nervous. We’re going to have to learn how to relax so we can enjoy watching him because today it was hard to even breathe.”
Contact John Romano at jromano@tampabay.com. Follow @Romano_TBTimes.
JOHN ROMANO
