CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians’ charter flight from Cleveland to Houston on July 6 was a quiet one. They’d just been swept by the AL-Central leading Tigers to run their losing streak to 10 straight games.
As the plane touched down, first baseman Kyle Manzardo’s cellphone came alive with several calls he’d missed during the flight.
There was a common theme in the missed calls — Come home, a donor heart has been found for mom.
“When I started making calls, they said, ‘It looked like it (the transplant) could happen,” said Manzardo. “Then they said, ‘It’s going to happen.’”
Manzardo talked to manager Stephen Vogt, who urged him to join his family.
“You have to be there,” said Vogt. “You only have one mom.”
The Guardians quickly put Manzardo on the family medical emergency list and recalled Jhonkensy Noel from Triple-A Columbus.
Manzardo was headed toward the airport before dawn the next morning, catching a flight home to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He made the 45-minute drive to Spokane, Washington where his mother’s surgery was performed at Providence Sacred Heart Hospital on July 8.
“I’m just grateful that everything worked out the way it was supposed to,” said Manzardo. “I’m grateful I was able to be there.”
Paul Manzardo, Kyle’s father and high school baseball coach, posted this on X before the surgery: “Praying for a successful heart transplant for Windy! Our family is extremely thankful and blessed for this wonderful gift! Thank you, to the family of the donor.”
Windy Manzardo, a cardiac nurse, started experiencing heart problems in 2021. She was diagnosed with cardiac sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease that attacks the electrical system of the heart.
In 2022, she was placed on the heart transplant list.
Paul Manzardo told cleveland.com in 2023 that his wife held frank discussions with Kyle and his brother Marcus about the consequences of her disease.
“I give both of my boys a lot of credit and dealing with it in a positive light,” said Manzardo at the time. “Windy has been really good with both boys, telling them to follow their dreams and aspirations.
“She wants them to concentrate on what they’re doing, and that will make her happy and stronger to continue to fight and do what she needs to do.”
Said Kyle Manzardo on Friday following the All-Star break, “You just try to deal with it as best you can.”
On Friday, however, Manzardo told reporters that his mother was coming home on Saturday.
“She’s excited, tired, resting and recovering,” said Manzardo. “She’s feeling great.”
Asked about his father and Manzardo smiled and said, “My dad was super excited. He’s been over the moon about it. I think he’s in the same place we all are — grateful and happy.”
And relieved.
When Manzardo rejoined the Guardians in Chicago on July 10 for the final four-game series against the White Sox before the All-Star break, he went 0 for 2 in his first game. In the second game, he reached on a bunt single before homering in the last two games before the break.
When asked how he handled trying to establish himself in the big leagues, while worrying about his mother, Manzardo said, “Now that it’s over, you kind of realize how heavy that was. You carry it over the last couple years now. You’re just grateful that hopefully it’s done with now.”
Manzardo, in his first full year in the big leagues, isn’t hitting for average (.217), but he’s second on the Guardians in homers with 15, second in slugging percentage at .442, third in RBI with 37 and third in OPS (onbase percentage + slugging percentage) at .735.
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