Adrián Morejón remembers the sacrifices his parents made to get him baseball equipment as a young boy in Cuba.
“It was hard for me to find a pair of cleats or gloves,” Morejón said. “It was hard, especially for my dad. He was working a lot to find me cleats for (many) years.”
Those humble beginnings were never lost on Morejón. So, when the Padres’ star reliever and his wife Melany saw a social media post about a boy whose glove was stolen at Petco Park, he wanted to help.
“That’s the reason I do a lot of things for the kids here,” he said.
Ten-year-old Chase Orellana of Lakeside was playing on the wiffleball field in Gallagher Square before a Padres game in July. He set his glove down for a few minutes near the other kids’ gloves.
When he came back to retrieve it, it was gone.
“I was very sad,” Chase said. “I was crying.”
The glove — green camouflage with his name stitched on the side — was a gift from Chase’s dad, who was in the military. He gave it to Chase after he hit his first home run for Lakeside National Little League last year.
“It means the world to him,” said Chase’s mom, Nicole. “He is on the autism spectrum. He’s really attached to camouflage.”
Nicole posted about the missing glove on social media, begging for the glove’s return with no questions asked.
Nicole didn’t get the glove back, but she did receive a message from Melany Morejón, who coordinated a visit to Petco Park.
The Morejóns hosted Chase and Nicole before Saturday night’s win over the Astros. At batting practice, Chase shouted to players as they passed from the clubhouse to the field, many of them stopping to sign his binder of baseball cards.
After Morejón finished his pregame work, he disappeared to his locker for a few moments before coming up the clubhouse steps with a white-and-gray marbled Mizuno glove, marked by Morejón’s signature.
“For you,” Morejón said to Chase.
“What?” Chase squealed. “Whoa. That is so cool!”
He hugged Morejón, who asked him if he liked it.
“Yes,” Chase said. “Thank you.”
Morejón wasn’t the only Padres player to reach out to Orellana and his mom. Shortly after the glove disappeared, Samad Taylor met Chase at a local sporting goods store and bought him a replacement glove — green camouflage. Taylor also paid to have Chase’s name stitched onto the glove.
“I’m very happy,” Orellana said as he showed off the glove Morejón gifted him. “It’s very thrilling and exciting.”
The gesture brings joy to Morejón.
“Right now,” he said, “I have the chance to make a lot of kids happy.”