LAKELAND, Fla. — Kenny and Staci Meadows had just returned home to Georgia from a trip to Florida, where they had helped their sons Austin and Parker get ready for their first Spring Training together with the Tigers while seeing their granddaughter Adelynne. Kenny was still sore from shagging fly balls for his kids as they worked out on a high-school field before they reported to camp.
Then they got a call Friday: Austin and Parker would be in the Tigers’ starting outfield together for the team’s Spring Training opener Saturday against the Phillies — Parker in center, Austin in right. It would be their first game playing as teammates, ever.
So they got back on the road and headed for Lakeland, a nearly nine-hour drive. They had no idea where they would stay Friday night; most places were sold out. But after years of bringing Parker along to his older brother’s games growing up, four years apart in age, the parents had to be there.
“There was no way we were going to miss this,” Kenny Meadows said.
But they didn’t want either of them to know that; they wanted it to be a surprise. The only one in the family they let know was Austin’s wife.
Still, Parker was suspicious.
“Mom texted me last night and was like, ‘Aw, I wish we could be there tomorrow,’” Parker said. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, OK, whatever.’”
They were actually on the road in southern Georgia when Staci Meadows sent the text. Afterward, she worried that the message would show their location, but Parker didn’t catch it.
After checking hotels, they found a room in Lakeland, arriving just after midnight. They arrived at Joker Marchant Stadium early enough to see Parker and Austin playing catch in pregame warmups, bringing tears from Staci.
One pitch, one swing from Parker gave them a reason to cheer and cry, and it gave the Tigers the lead on a solo homer.
Phillies reliever Erich Uelmen had barely been introduced for the bottom of the third inning when his first pitch was crushed.
“Kind of just waiting on a fastball right there, first pitch,” Parker said. “Luckily he kind of grooved one and I got the bat head out.”
Parker hit it at 110 mph, according to Statcast.
Parker bolted down the first-base line, then settled into a trot around the bag. He was jogging toward home when Austin got to the top of the dugout steps.
“I stepped on home and I look up and I saw him running at me,” Parker said. “I thought he was going to tackle me.”
They had plenty of tackles growing up, probably enough to drive their parents crazy. But this was a hug.
“That was pretty special,” Parker said. “I’m definitely going to remember that for the rest of my life.”
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who put the Meadows-Meadows lineup plan together, watched from a few feet away.
“That was a pretty cool moment,” Hinch said after the Tigers’ 4-2 win over the Phillies. “I can’t imagine how that feels, to have a family member do that. His parents were in the stands. Pretty cool moment.
“Parker will have something on Austin now for a while.”
Austin did his best to try to match his younger brother’s feat an inning later, hitting a tape-measure drive down the right-field line. For a second, many thought the Meadows brothers might homer in the same game. Eric Haase tried to will it fair from the on-deck circle. But it was to no avail.
“Mine was fair, by the way,” Austin said as he walked by Parker’s interview.
“From the dugout view, it looked fair,” Parker said. “We told the umpire, ‘You’ve got to call that one fair.’”
They worked together well in the field, too. Parker caught the first out of the game, which he said helped him relax. He also warned his brother about the oncoming right-field fence as Austin tried to run down a Will Toffey drive, then backed up when the ball hit off the fence.
They left the game at the same time, then met their parents just outside the clubhouse. Tarik Skubal, on his way out, volunteered to take a photo of the entire family together.
“Just super blessed that I was able to do that in front of them,” Parker said. “Just super blessed to be out there, especially when they’re here. Pretty cool experience.”