Heart restrictions prevent 7-year-old boy from playing baseball, so he became an umpire
When Trenton Garrison was told he couldn’t step into the box, he decided he would stand behind it.
The 7-year-old from Albuquerque, New Mexico, can’t play baseball due his health so decided he would become an umpire instead. That choice led to a meeting with MLB umpire Doug Eddings over the weekend, after his work at the National League Division Series (NLDS), and there’s a potential visit to Spring Training on the horizon.
Trenton finds way to stay involved in baseball
Trenton was born with complex congenital heart disease and has had more than 20 operations, including multiple open-heart surgeries, according to KTSM in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
He needed a tracheostomy and a ventilator to breath for more than two years between 2012 and 2014. His mother, Heather Garrison, told the TV station he also has heterotaxy syndrome, a rare birth defect in which organs such as the heart and stomach are in different arrangements than usual.
Trenton can’t play sports and so instead of going on the field with his older brother, Colton, he asked for an umpire uniform and started making calls, his mother said.
“He’ll stand behind the screen behind home plate, calling strikes and balls and gets into it,” said Trenton’s father, Eric Garrison.
MLB umpire Doug Eddings asks to meet Trenton after NLDS
Doug Eddings has been an MLB umpire for 20 years. When he’s not on the field, he’s home in Las Cruces with his wife, Margarita.
It’s where he was over the weekend after working the NLDS between the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers won the series, 3-1. Since the Garrisons were in Las Cruces for a baseball tournament, the Eddings asked to meet them.
“For him to follow, not really athletes, but umpires was really humbling and I was looking forward to this day and meeting him,” Eddings told the station.
Trenton arrived at the Eddings home in full uniform and received one for later. Eddings gave him an NLDS game-worn mask and jersey as well as caps, game balls and tips.
“When people ask if you can count, tell them just to three,” Eddings told Trenton. “We like strikeouts, not walks.”
The two may get together again soon. Eddings wants to make arrangements for Trenton and his family to see him in Arizona for Spring Training, according to KTSM.
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