The calendar hasn’t yet turned to April, but one of the more memorable moments of the Major League Baseball season has already taken place.
New York Yankees backup catcher J.C. Escarra went viral last weekend after he appeared in a video telling his mother on a phone call he made the team, prompting her to cry in delight and disbelief while he also fought back tears.
A one-time draft pick by the Baltimore Orioles who has played several seasons in the minor leagues, Escarra, 29, has never played in a major league game, working as an Uber driver, substitute teacher and baseball coach to make ends meet while he chased his dream.
“When he called me, I was not expecting anything,” his mother, Marinelys, said while appearing with her son March 28 on TODAY. “So, I was talking to my mom, and then I said, ‘Look, J.C.’s calling,’ so as soon as I got it and then he start talking, I was normal until he say that (he made the team). And then I said, ‘Ohhhh.’ And then I start crying.”
She said she cried for days and then started “crying again” when she arrived at Yankee Stadium for the Yankees’ season opener on March 27. The team defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-2.
“Everything was perfect, and the right time,” she added about seeing him on the field.
Escarra’s call to his mother took place after Yankees manager Aaron Boone told him he had made the team, after initially trying to dupe him into thinking he hadn’t.
Escarra said his entire family played a vital role in him reaching this point.
“After everything I’ve been through, the people that were there for me with open arms — when I got released, when I had all this adversity — was them, my family. My wife, my dad, my brother, my mom,” he said. “They were all there for me when I needed them the most.”
Escarra said he was “one more ‘no’” from quitting playing baseball and it’s a “dream come true” to have made it with the Yankees.
“Yesterday, at the home opener, man, what a feeling, just being on that line and having that New York Yankees logo on my chest. It’s just so special, not just to me, but to my family,” he said.
Escarra’s journey sounds like the stuff of Hollywood lore. He comes from a family of die-hard Yankees fans — so much so, in fact, that J.C’s brother’s middle name is Derek, in honor of Yankees legend Derek Jeter.
Escarra and his wife are also expecting their first child in June. He refused to quit baseball and took up odd jobs, while his wife also worked multiple jobs.
“In my heart, I knew I had to give it another year. I had to give it another year,” he said. “I got the green light from my wife. During that year that all this was happening, I’d jut gotten married, just bought an apartment, and it was time to put my big-boy pants on and provide for my family, but we made it happen.”
The phone call Escarra’s mother received from her son when he said “we” made the team is something she won’t soon forget, either.
“I was unable to breathe,” she said, laughing.
Escarra did not play in the Yankees’ season opener against Milwaukee. Though he has yet to appear in a major league game, he hopes his perseverance resonates with others.
“That’s what I want, is just for my story to be an inspiration to everyone out there. I just happen to play baseball, but they could use it for whatever they do, whatever goals they have, so I just want to inspire,” he said.
Escarra and his Yankees teammates will be back on the field on March 29, when they play another home game against the Brewers.
