PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mason Black and his younger brother woke up the morning of Oct. 7, 2011 and were surprised to find Phillies tickets for a playoff game that night resting on a dresser.
Their dad had said he wanted to take his sons — Mason Black was not only a die-hard Phillies fan, but his favorite pitcher, Roy Halladay, got the ball that night in Game 5 of the NL Division Series.
“They found them and came running downstairs and were like, ‘What are these?’” the boys’ father, George Black, said.
“I said, ‘We’re going tonight!’ They almost came out of their shoes.”
Thirteen years later, George Black and his sons were back at Citizens Bank Park and Mason was very much in his shoes — more like his cleats, as the right-handed starting pitcher made his major league debut for the San Francisco Giants against the Phillies.
The Giants rookie had parents George and Tara, younger brother Dixon, and more than five dozen other relatives and friends rooting him on Monday. The Blacks sat in section 126, pretty much right behind the plate — a few sections to the left of their seats seven rows off the field behind first base the night the Phillies lost 1-0 to the Cardinals in the playoffs.
Mason Black received a standing ovation from several sections of the ballpark after he was lifted with one out in the fifth and the Giants trailing 5-0. His line: eight hits, five runs, three walks and four strikeouts.
Mason Black was raised in Archibald, Pennsylvania, and attended Valley View High School in the same town located about 20 miles northeast of Scranton and 140 miles from Citizens Bank Park. The 24-year-old Black — named the seventh-best prospect in baseball, per MLB.com — was the Giants’ third-round pick in the 2021 draft out of Lehigh University.
Much like George Black surprised his sons with tickets in 2011, Mason had a surprise for his parents when he texted on the family chain Saturday he was getting called up from Triple-A Sacramento (where he went 2-1 with a 1.01 ERA and 29 strikeouts).
