SPORTS THOUGHTS ⚫ BY MIKE KILLBREATH

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Sunday, August 18, 2026

Watching Brett Callahan race around the bases for a triple in his first big league at bat for the Detroit Tigers today was heartwarming. His big grin of satisfaction after standing up was a fun moment. Watching his family members celebrating in the seats at Comerica Park was priceless.

How poignant and moving to see everyone taking such joy in Brett's big moment — a culmination of his childhood dream that included so many sacrifices by all those family members jumping up and down, so happy and elated for him.

Sometimes we see big stars and forget all those so important in his or her life to reaching the biggest heights on their chosen sports stage.

My two oldest grandsons are chasing dreams in travel baseball (as well as other sports they excel at) as young stars at their age levels. One was a .529 hitter and ace pitcher for the South Oakland A's who finished the regular season as the No. 2 ranked team in Michigan. His older cousin was coming off three straight state championships with Foutch Baseball when leading his team to the national championship game in 11U travel ball this summer.

Friends often ask about my favorite moments from a fun summer. As an old coach, it's satisfying watching them pull off feats from skills honed by drills I've taught them. It's fun watching them deliver in the clutch with big hits. But watching the pride and emotion of joy on the faces of their moms? That's exactly what I saw in the thunderous celebration show put on by Brett Callahan's mom Sunday at Comerica Park.

But my favorite moment of my summer of travels to the baseball diamonds of Michigan and beyond?

It was wasn't even from a moment at the ball park. It came while watching my oldest grandson via Game Changer snapped to my big screen from the national tournament. Game Changer is one of the greatest inventions in youth sports history by this Dick's Sporting Goods company transforming signals from a cell phone video to a magic feed states away.

But back to my most magical moment of the summer. It came from my 10-year-old granddaughter.

It was a text, saying, "Oh grandpa, they are bringing my brother in to pitch in the last inning with the bases loaded and nobody out! Oh, I am so so nervous for my brother!"

 I thought of that text as I watched Brett Callahan's sister jumping up and down with absolute elation at her big brother roaring around the bases for a triple in his big league debut. I think it  epitomises the deep love and emotion of siblings watching a brother or sister chasing their sports dreams.

I often feel sorry for my two granddaughters being carted away to ball games of their brothers since they can remember. They will tell you they don't like it. Even though they enjoy getting to discover good friends and visit neat cities with nice attractions, today's travel ball routine is exhausting for family members.

That's why it was so heartwarming for me to watch Brett Callahan's family celebrating Sunday in the stands as the Comerica Park fans in a near capacity crowd let out a rousing roar for the new kid in town.

As a side note for TIgers' fans, it's the fifth time this season we've seen a rookie called up from the Toledo Mud Hens Triple-A farm team to get a hit in his first big league at bat.

We haven't seen so many do that since 1963 when Willie Horton, Don Wert, Mickey Lolich and Gates Brown all did it that summer. The Gator belted a two-run homer in a pinch hit appearance that became his heroic habit in the late innings as he and his trio of friends were together five years later on the 1968 World Series champion Tigers. 

Let's just hope we don't need to wait five more years to celebrate winning it all again but I believe it's a good omen about the future of our Tigers.

Brett Callahan might not get to stick around too much longer with the big league club while filling in a for a slew of injured outfielders (unless he copies fellow rookie and former Mud Hens teammate Edwardo Valencia's red hot hitting since putting on the big league jersey and keeps right on delivering!)

I guess I need to find the social media accounts of Brett Callahan's family members and keep updated on his status between Toledo and a big league city destination to play for the Tigers.

One of my real joys is scouring over the Facebook pages of parents and relatives of Detroit's big league prospects as well as those from our area I've had an opportunity to connect with over following the athletic dreams of their sons, daughters, siblings or relatives.

Take Rich Thompson from Fenton. Just yesterday, his son Josh suited up in a NFL pre-season game for the Kansas City Chiefs. As game time Saturday neared, Rich posted an old photo of Josh with his teammates on the Fenton Tigers football team. He was an all-state offensive lineman in high school, winning a full ride to Northwestern where he rose to become an all Big 10 Conference before hitting the transfer portal transferred and going to LSU for his graduate season after four seasons with the Wildcats.

Dad's post said: "I don’t think you could have convinced this pudgy 15-year-old kid that 8 years from now, on this day, you’ll be running out of the tunnel at Arrowhead stadium in the NFL.  LOL.  Just shows that anything is possible for a kid with a dream who commits to hard work, determination and sacrifice.  The 6 am lifts.  The not going out when all your friends are.  The getting up to train when other kids are sleeping in.  Success is rarely an accident." 

 It has been so refreshing to follow Josh's successes through dad's posts on social media.

So many others have done the same.

John McKenney kept us abreast of son Trey as the Flint kid won a state title at Orchard Lake St. Mary and became Mr. Basketball in Michigan before helping the Michigan Wolverines to only their second national championship in history. 

It's been the same way with the father of Mike Schubart's son, Nolan. 

Dad reported updates often on his Durand son's journey as he won three state titles at Orchard Lake St. Mary while training for years as Foutch's Strike Zone in Flint Township, then smacked tape measure home runs as an All-American slugger at Oklahoma State, became a high draft choice of Cleveland, was assigned to their low level single-A club for the final months of last season when helping them win a league championship in the minors and then was promoted to high level single-A ball in Dayton where his first half included eye popping numbers that included leading the Midwest League in RBI with 67 and tying for the league lead in home runs with 20 to earn a promotion to Double-A ball in Akron. He smacked a grand slam homer in his second game.

Then there's David Lally Jr., of Grand Blanc. The star baseball pitcher led the Bobcats to the school's first ever baseball state championship, turned down more than $1 million as a signing bonus to go pro, went instead to Notre Dame, struggled there, then transferred to the University of Michigan and starred for the Wolverines for two years. He honed his craft, too, in summer wooden bat action with the Royal Oak Leprechans. I admired how dad stayed so positive when his son didn't hear his name called on Draft Day in June despite twirling a one-hitter at UM this season and an impressive showing in a MLB Draft League before the big day.

Dad had comforting words about it all being "God's plan" when not hearing his name called on Draft Day. He was then signed to a free agent contract by the Baltimore Orioles' organization on the day after and dad 

 issued a moving and encouraging send-off message to all his family and friends who had followed his social media tales of son David's journey.

I salute Rich Thompson, John McKenney, Mike Shubart and David Lally Sr., for letting us in on the journeys of their boys with social media posts, photos and videos.

I thought about each of them today while watching Brett Callahan's family celebrate as he raced around the bases like a locomotive to a triple in his first time at bat.

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Mike Killbreath is an award-winning newspaper sports columnist. He appears on Metro Flint News/Talk Radio via The Daily Gazette Sports Weekend Show Sundays from 6-8 pm, The Daily Gazette Sports Night Show weekdays at 6 pm and on The Morning Gazette Radio Show weekday mornings from 8 am until 9:30 am. He's an award-winning news columnist and investigative reporter who is the former long-time owner of the local Metro Flint area chain of 14 community newspapers. This fall will be his 50th year as a journalist. He also hosts a new weekly national TV show known as The American Crusaders on cable TV and various OTT TV live streaming platforms.

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