Left fielder Will Robertson (Left fielder), he plays at home wherever he goes. His Loose Creek (Missouri) native wife, Morgan, and young daughter, Jonnie, travel with him to watch him play baseball, and live his dream. With the Toronto Blue Jays, and now the Chicago White Sox, he says "faith and family are No. 1."
On June 11, after playing minor league baseball, Will was called up to the Toronto Blue Jays. But almost a month later, Toronto traded him to his favorite team of the Pope Leo XIVThe Chicago White Sox, according to a July 10 report by Sportsnet, a Canadian news outlet.
Will graduated from Immaculate Conception School in Loose Creek, Fatima High School in Westphalia, Missouri, and Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB draft. For the past two seasons, he played for the Buffalo Bisons, Toronto's Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. He got the call "to the bigs" while the Blue Jays were in St. Louis playing the Cardinals.
Debut in the major leagues
"I didn't play in the game, but I was on the active roster," he said in a late June interview with 'The Catholic Missourian,' Jefferson City's diocesan media outlet. "It was a very special moment to be at Busch Stadium.
"I've attended a lot of games at Busch," he noted. "But experiencing it from the opposing dugout is a very different feeling."
Will Robertson made his major league debut two days later against the Philadelphia Phillies, and earned his first big league hit in the less-than-friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park.
Proud Central Missouri Catholics
Will's wife and daughter were in the stands in Philadelphia when he took the field. "When we started going long distance, we said, 'No matter where, we're taking our family with us to these wonderful places we'd never get to without baseball," Morgan said.
"We've decided to make it all about family." she said. "So, home is not just a place for us. It's where we are when we're together." "We're very proud to be Central Missouri Catholics," added Will, who said his faith is paramount: "I wouldn't be here without it."
The couple grew up in an environment of large Catholic families. "Morgan and I were raised very traditionally by our parents," Will said. "The small German towns in central Missouri."
"And with both of us belonging to very large extended families - grandparents, aunts and uncles who grew up in the church - everyone has played a role in our upbringing over the years," he said.
Love of sports in family life
The two first met while in kindergarten. The lesson was, "Teach your children to be kind to other children," she said. "Sometimes, your kindergarten crush could be your wife!".
Will has "something like 18 cousins on my dad's side and about 12 on my mom's side."
"We all play sports," he said. "Baseball and sports in general are definitely deeply ingrained in our families".
He believes his first "home run" (note: 'home run,' a play in which the batter hits the ball and manages to go around all the bases (first, second, third and home) to score a run), came during a family game of 'wiffle ball' in his grandparents' backyard. "Growing up with a bunch of cousins, we played a lot of wiffle ball," he recalled. "Even in the field behind the church on Loose Creek. It was definitely a family affair. That's where it all started." Everyone played for fun.
Baseball and education
Only while playing varsity baseball in high school did he begin to think it might help him further his education, and perhaps turn into a career. His mother and father were around to encourage him. "Growing up, your parents are always on top of you," he said. "They're the ones who help you reach your goals."
Will is convinced that kids learn valuable lessons and forge lifelong friendships while participating in sports together. "I still have a lot of connections with kids I played ball with from the time I was 10 years old."
Robertson went to Creighton on a baseball scholarship, learning to navigate the challenges of balancing school, faith and America's hobbies. "For the first time, you have to fend for yourself," he says. "A lot of your maturity comes from going out on your own and figuring things out for yourself."
Later, he suffered serious injuries after embarking on his professional baseball career. "It was certainly a setback, and I wasn't sure what the future would hold," he recalled. He chose to trust God and keep working at it.
"God has a plan."
Morgan said her husband's mental and emotional strength is one of the things that attracted her to him. "Baseball is not for wimps," she noted, having played softball and basketball. "Until I started traveling with Will, I really didn't understand the magnitude of what he does every day."
"Baseball is a sport where you fail a lot and it's a mental game," he continued. "Most of the time, you get knocked out. And you have to go out on the field and deal with it. It's hard for me just to watch it, let alone have to go through it. But Will always walks off the field with his head held high."
She recalled something Will's father often tells her, "God has a plan." "I think Will takes it seriously," she said. "It's made him the guy he is. How mentally strong he is. That's why I'm with him."
Having a daughter has helped Will reinforce the idea that God has a plan, and it's much bigger than the present moment. "Some days you can hit 5 out of 5 or miss 5 out of 5," he said. "You just have to keep doing your best and focusing on what really matters."
Travel: the challenge of sacramental life
"Whatever happens in baseball, I still have my family and I still have my faith," he said. Will added that participating in the sacramental life of the church can be difficult with all the travel and a 162-game season.
"Sometimes, you have a Saturday night game at 6:30 p.m., followed by a day game at noon, and you have to be at the stadium by 9," he said.
Technology helps the couple find the closest weekend Masses they can attend. When it doesn't work, the couple finds a Mass where it is streamed online, and they make a point of attending Mass the next day. Being in the car gives them time to pray their daily rosary together.
Bearing witness as a baseball family
Morgan said they don't want people, especially the friends they grew up with, to treat them differently. At the same time, Will firmly believes that people in the public eye need to set a good example.
"I think you have a clear responsibility to the next generation," he said. "As an athlete, you have a responsibility to project a positive image."
He said baseball has given him a lot: "the opportunity to meet a lot of incredible people and live experiences that I would never have been able to live. So, you have to give back what you have received."
A good partner
Morgan said the proudest moment so far in her husband's career was an award that his baseball teammates on the Blue Jays' minor league teams voted to bestow on him: for being a good teammate.
"That tells me a lot about him," he said. "And at the end of the day, what people are going to remember is your character and how you treat others and how you stay on the field."
Will wears his gratitude on his sleeve. "I wouldn't be here without my parents, without Morgan, without my grandfather, certainly not without God," he said.
Of all people of faith, he asks for prayers for health and safety on the road, and also for people in central Missouri who are "fighting some tough battles," with hardship and illness.
One thing the couple loves about home is that the major league baseball player is just Will to everyone who knows him.
"We are normal people returning home."
"We're normal people and that's what we love most: coming home and spending time with family and friends, and having stability with our parishes, going to mass at our church on Sundays," Will said.
Morgan said it's good to know that when her husband's career comes to an end, there's a lot waiting for them at home.
Her husband agrees.
"We have a family that loves us, a great community, a great parish," he said. "So, if the worst thing that can happen to us is that my baseball career comes to an end, our worst day might actually be our best day."
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Jay Nies is editor of 'The Catholic Missourian'. This story was originally published by 'The Catholic Missourian', a media outlet of the Diocese of Jefferson City, and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.
This report is a translation of the original OSV News report that you can see here. here.
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