HOUSTON — Three years ago, a Houston Astros fan’s sign caught Kyle Tucker’s attention from right field at Daikin Park.
Grace Gonzales, then 6, held up a poster next to her dad, Antonio, down the right field line during Houston’s game Aug. 27, 2022, that conveyed to Tucker that he was her favorite player. Written in multi colors, “Tucker you’re my bestie!” popped off the white board. As he finished playing catch with the ball boy between innings that day, Tucker noticed the message and tossed the baseball to Grace. It cemented Tucker’s status as her No. 1 player — even after the Astros traded him to the Chicago Cubs in December.
“When I picked her up from school, I told her, ‘I forgot to tell you, Tucker got traded,” Antonio Gonzales of South Houston recalled to the Tribune. “She said, ‘Grandma already told me. I looked up the Cubs, and their mascot is a bear, and I like it. I said, ‘What?’ She goes, ‘I think I’m going to be a Cubs fan.’”
While Grace, wearing a gray T-shirt with “King Tuck” written across the front, continues to support the Astros, the Cubs have become her second-favorite team thanks to Tucker. With the Cubs in town for a three-game series this weekend, Antonio, who is in his second year as an Astros season ticket holder, knew they needed to be at the games for Tucker’s return and watched the series opener from the first row in right field where Tucker started Friday against Houston.
Grace remade the sign Thursday night to bring to Friday’s game, featuring a slight edit: “Tucker you’re still my bestie!”
During pregame batting practice Friday, Tucker spotted Grace, now 9, holding the sign next to her dad, 45, and grandma, Frances, 65, in the fan area near the batting cage. He made sure, as he stopped to sign for fans, to ink her poster with his signature, creating another indelible memory for the Gonzales family.
After spending seven years with the Astros and winning a World Series title in 2022, the impact on fans isn’t lost on Tucker.
“We wouldn’t have a job or be able to come out here and play every single day if it weren’t for the fans,” Tucker said before Friday’s game. “They come out and support us every single day, and Houston has a good fan base in that sense. I just try and come out and play in front of the fan base and do what I can out on the field and then also stuff outside the field just to show some support back from a personal level.”
The Astros honored Tucker and veteran reliever Ryan Pressly in their first game back in Houston with a 4-minute pregame tribute video that recognized their accomplishments with the organization. After watching the montage from the visitors’ dugout, Pressly and Tucker stepped on the field, tipped their caps to the fans giving them an ovation, and gave a wave of acknowledgement to the coaches, staff and players who watched in the Astros’ dugout.
The series matchup also featured two of the key players the Cubs sent to the Astros in the deal. Isaac Paredes started at third base and batted second while rookie Cam Smith, the Cubs’ 2024 first-round draft pick, played right field and hit in the cleanup spot.
Asked whether Friday would feel like more than a regular-season game, Tucker downplayed it.
“I’ll be all right,” Tucker replied. “I still got to go out there and compete and kind of try to push that to the side and go out there and compete. We’ve got a job to do. Our job’s to win games.”
A trip back to Houston for Pressly means getting a couple of nights to sleep in his own bed. The 36-year-old right-hander and his wife made Houston their year-round home, complicating the offseason decision to waive his no-trade clause to go to the Cubs. Pressly tallied 111 saves and had a 2.81 ERA in seven seasons with the Astros.
“It’s kind of emotional being back here, but at the same time, you’ve still got to go out there and do a job and try to get them out,” Pressly told reporters before the game. “But I’m happy to be back here for sure.”
Tucker and Pressly fittingly share their first trips back to a city that has meant so much to them. The two were already forever connected in Astros history: Pressly was on the mound when the final out was recorded to capture the ’22 title against the Philadelphia Phillies, the World Series ending when Tucker ranged into foul territory and caught the ball near the netting to set off the celebration.
“I’ve got it,” Tucker said of the baseball from the final out. “It’s a cool memento.”