WASHINGTON, DC — Moving to another state or part of town is a major ordeal for most of us. We need weeks of notice, beg friends to help us, or contact a moving company.
When a minor league baseball player gets the call to go up, it may be a dream come true, but it also means a dramatic, rapid upheaval in life.
Going back down can be even more disruptive, with chances good that a player will need to come to terms with a demotion while making it to their new assignment within a day.
Tom Cosgrove on the mound with El Paso. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
It’s the dream of everyone in the minors to get the call to the major league – getting a nearly six-fold increase in salary is a pretty nice side benefit as well – but that call comes with no guarantees and no time horizon.
We chatted with Tom Cosgrove and Brett Sullivan, two players who started the year in Triple-A El Paso, about their experiences of having to move their life and lives on a moment’s notice.
MadFriars: So how did you get the news that you were being called up?
Tom Cosgrove: When I got called up, it was more of a last-minute thing than with Sully, where we had this incredible moment in the clubhouse, and his son was there. I had left the field and was in my apartment when Welly called me. He was like, ‘I need you to come back and do this and this, and I said, ‘Welly, I don’t want to do this. Am I going to the big leagues or not?’
Tom Cosgrove got called up the major leagues for the first time in 2023.. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
I get to the field, and he was pretending like I was in trouble, and I’m like, ‘C’mon.’
Then I knew, and he told me. I felt it might happen, but you are never sure.
So you drive back to your place, and you have to get on the first plane. How do you even begin to pack?
Tom Cosgrove: I got about 80 percent of my stuff in my car in El Paso. I threw everything in a bag and put it in my car. I packed a week’s worth of clothes in my suitcase – nearly everything was dirty because I didn’t have time to wash it.
I asked [Michael] Cantu, my roommate, to drive my car to [Southwest University Park] and put it in the parking lot – and he’s a great guy and teammate, so he did it.
When do you decide to move out of the hotel and into your place?
Tom Cosgrove: That’s a good question. I don’t know because you want to get your place, but at the same time, you want to avoid jinxing yourself, too.
Phillip Wellman and Brett Sullivan. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
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Brett Sullivan
So, unlike Tom, you are married and have a kid. How were you able to get packed so quickly?
Brett Sullivan: I mean, it just comes with the lifestyle. You are always living out of a suitcase. When we got the [first] call, my wife and I packed our bags, got our flight, and did it.
We are lucky enough to live in Arizona in the offseason, so she could go back after I came to San Diego – get some other things – and we are just out here and enjoying it. You live with what you have, not too much, but day-to-day. I want to ensure my wife and kid are cared for – and they are – so we are good.
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For others like Cosgrove, that can be a different question.
“I’ve lived in many places every offseason,” said Cosgrove, whose family is from Staten Island, New York. “Air BNBs, friends’ house, couches. I might decide that it’s worth it to stay in San Diego even if I had to end up eating a few month’s rent if I go back down.”
