The dream of every young ballplayer in Winkler just got a little more real. Over the weekend, 25-year-old Tristan Peters stepped onto a Major League Baseball field for the first time, making his debut with the Tampa Bay Rays in Seattle, with his parents, Jake and Gabi, along with family and friends, in the stands to see it happen.
For his parents, it was the culmination of years of hard work, long drives to ballparks, and countless games of catch in their backyard.
“It was surreal,” Jake said, recalling the moment he saw his son run out to center field in a Rays uniform. “Here we are, there’s 40,000 fans there… it’s really just another baseball game, with a lot more people watching.”
The call that changed everything
It was a normal day in Winkler when Jake’s phone rang, and everything changed.
“He just said, ‘Hey, Dad… I got called up to the MLB,’” Jake remembered. “I almost drove off the road I was so excited. It’s something we had hoped for, for so long.”
For Gabi, the news came in the middle of preparing for a dinner party. “He called and said, ‘I made the big leagues,’ and I just lost it,” she said. “I cried. I didn’t know where to leave myself.”
A sprint to Seattle
Within hours, plans were in motion to get the family to Seattle. That was no small task.
“We had to get eight people there, and my parents, and it was 48 hours of no sleep,” Gabi said with a laugh. “But we got there and we enjoyed it.”
The Peters family met in Vancouver before driving across the border to Washington. “It’s an operation,” Jake said. “People don’t realize it’s not just buying a ticket, you’re figuring out flights, passports, cars. But there was no way we were missing it.”
A hug to remember
Before Tristan’s debut, his parents were given special field passes for batting practice. That’s when the moment hit Gabi the hardest.
“That hug was everything,” she said. “That’s when it really felt surreal. Once the game started, it felt like another game, but that hug, that was different.”
Seattle fans and a special game of catch
The weekend was made even more memorable thanks to some unexpected kindness from Seattle Mariners fans. Jake found himself in a standing-room section near center field, just 20 feet from his son.
“Some fans heard I was Tristan’s dad and started making room for me,” Jake said. “Within an inning, I was in the front row. They told me to get a ball from him, and Tristan threw me two.”
One of those throws was a moment Jake will never forget. “He threw me the ball and it came right into my hands. I’ve played so many games of catch with him, but this one was different. The cheering around me was unreal.”
From her vantage point in the “nosebleed section,” Gabi was beaming. “It was very special,” she said. “I got some good pictures. It’s not every day you see your husband and son playing catch on a Major League field.”
A rare Manitoba achievement
Tristan Peters joins a very short list, just five or six Manitobans have ever played in Major League Baseball.
“It makes me realize how significant this is and how much he has achieved,” Jake said. “It’s crazy.”
While Tristan has since been reassigned to the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate in Durham AND then recalled by the Tampa Bay Rays, the debut was a defining moment for the Peters family and the Winkler community.
Winkler pride on the big stage
From Little League diamonds in Winkler to facing MLB hitters in Seattle, Tristan Peters’ journey has been one of persistence, passion, and community support. For one weekend in August, Winkler baseball fans and the Peters family got to witness one of their own reach the pinnacle of the sport, taking the field in Major League Baseball and making memories that will last a lifetime.