His wife, Cabernet, sent the video to his phone while he was still at the ballpark, their 2 1/2 year old son, Camden, jumping up and down in celebration in front of the TV while 5-month-old Colter looked on.
“He kind of understands what happened,’’ Michael Conforto said, “but not really.’’
His dad Mike understood. He was the one who had pitched all those Whiffle balls in the backyard where the script was always the same — bottom of the ninth, little Michael connecting for the walk-off home run. Eleven years and four teams into his big-league career, that make-believe moment had finally arrived.
It landed 405 feet from home plate in the left-center field bleachers Tuesday night, accompanied by the unmistakeable roar of exultation from 32,997 at Wrigley Field. On the 3,845th at-bat of his big-league career, 33-year-old Michael Conforto, pinch-hitting with two outs in the ninth and down to his last strike, hit his first walk-off home run. Cubs 5, Cincinnati Reds 4.
Dad texted.
“He was pumped,’’ Michael Conforto said Wednesday afternoon. “I haven’t been out there a ton, and this is a new role for me. But he was just sending the message, like, proud of how you’re always ready, gracious, and thankful for the opportunities that come, and just the best thing you can do is just be ready.’’
No, Michael Conforto said, he doesn’t think he gave much thought to whether this moment would ever come for him. And when it did, he viewed it through a different prism than the one he might have had it arrived earlier.
“I do find myself thinking more about, like, what’s important to me in my playing career?’’ he said. “Now that I’m closer to the end of my career than I am the beginning, it’s like more and more, it feels like I just to want to win games and be a part of something special.
“Whatever capacity that is like, what means the most to me is being part of a group of guys that are committed to something, pulling in the same direction.’’
Michael Conforto was once the toast of New York with the Mets, a first-round draft choice who made it to the big leagues within a single year. Called up at the end of July, 2015, he helped lead the Mets to the World Series, where he hit two home runs. He was 22.
A year later, he was sent down to the minor leagues, then rebounded in 2017 to make the National League All-Star team. Two years later, he hit 33 home runs, his third straight season of 25 or more home runs. While in Mets spring training, he encountered a precocious teen-ager in camp named Pete Crow-Armstrong.
“How could I forget Pete?’’ Conforto said. “He was the same way he is now—fiery, competitive, energetic, speaks his mind.
“When he was with the Mets, there were some older guys that were old school — [rookies should be] seen, not heard. I never really felt that was the right way to do things. I was like, this kid is gonna help us. Everyone could see the talent he had. I remember we’d be in outfield drills, he was running circles around me.’’
The success he’d enjoyed in the first half of his career deserted Conforto, his decline accelerated by a shoulder surgery that cost him the 2022 season, when he was line to cash in as a free agent. He eventually signed a two-year, $36 million deal with the Giants but underperformed over the course of that deal. Last season, he signed a one-year, $17 million deal with the Dodgers, but batted .199 and was left off the postseason roster.
His big paydays appear to be over. So, too, his days as an everyday player. But he is determined to claim his place in the game.
“I feel like I’ve gotten away from the inward energy and put more into my teammates and just wanting ti have a role in the game, in the attack, to win the game, rather than go out there ad get my hits and my homers.’’