They say MLB is a fraternity and on Sunday night, Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen offered a helping hand to A’s outfielder Brent Rooker for the All-Star Game.
As the A’s and Red Sox played their first-half finale at Fenway Park, Rooker got word that his plane ride to Seattle for the Midsummer Classic had been delayed. As Oakland scrambled to try and find flights for Rooker from Boston to Seattle, he was expecting to fly back with the team to the Bay Area Sunday night and up to Seattle on Monday.
Jansen heard about Rooker’s plight and offered up a seat on a private jet from Boston after the game, saving the A’s outfielder from a travel headache before his big moment. Rob Bradford of Audacy Sports’ ‘Baseball Isn’t Boring’ podcast interviewed Rooker in Seattle about Jansen’s nice gesture to get him to the game.
“I think Kenley reached out and said that they had a couple of extra seats,” Rooker told Bradford. “He was incredibly kind and generous and offered us those two seats to jump on with him. We were able to make it here Sunday night, which was a huge help and made my life, my wife’s life and everyone involved’s life a lot easier. Big thanks to him.”
Rooker and Jansen had their hands full with kids roaming around the plane but also got to know each other a bit on the cross-country flight.
“We talked a little bit of baseball, but he had his three kids and I had my kids,” Rooker said. “There was a lot more parenting going on.”
This is the second straight season the A’s have failed to fly out their own representative to the All-Star Game, as right-hander Paul Blackburn hitched a ride with the Houston Astros’ All-Star contingent last year. It’s also worth noting that A’s mascot Stomper was the only mascot who wasn’t flown up to Seattle for this year’s All-Star festivities.
Related
