Former Mets closer Jesse Orosco reunites with Steven McDonald's family 40 years after 1986 World Series glove toss
Conor McDonald, right, son of the late NYPD detective Steven McDonald, hands former Mets closer Jesse Orosco's 1986 World Series glove back to Orosco during a movie screening on Thursday in Manhattan. Orosco initially gave Steven McDonald the glove in 1986 after McDonald was shot in the line of duty. Credit: Ed Quinn
Jesse Orosco took eight seconds to find his words while trying to hold back his emotions.
“I felt I did the right thing,” he said, fighting through tears.
By that, Orosco meant he made the right decision when he donated the glove he famously threw in the air after closing out the 1986 World Series to Steven McDonald. After meeting the NYPD detective in July 1986, Orosco knew the glove’s “right place” was with him.
The two met at Bellevue Hospital in October after McDonald was shot in the neck, hand and face in Central Park on July 12, 1986. The shooting left McDonald paralyzed and attached to a breathing apparatus for the rest of his life. McDonald was 59 when he died on Jan. 10, 2017.
“I remember some of my teammates and friends were saying, ‘Hey, how come you’re doing that? It’s your glove,’ ” Orosco, 69, told Newsday. “And I said, no, it may be my glove, but it’s what I wanted to do. I felt like it was the best thing for me to do.”
Forty years after winning the World Series and meeting McDonald, Orosco reunited with McDonald’s family and his glove during Wednesday night’s screening of the new documentary “Saint of the City” at the Marymount School of New York in Manhattan.
The documentary explores the inspirational story of McDonald’s life. He remained an active member of the NYPD after the shooting and became one of its most world-renowned members.
“I can’t really describe to you the amount of pain and suffering my dad went through for 30 1⁄2 years,” said McDonald’s son, Conor, who is 39. “[Orosco] is one of the individuals that my dad would go back in time to remember how much love we had in our family, and really pushed us through some dark, dark times.”
Orosco and Conor McDonald met for the first time on Wednesday, greeting each other with a handshake and a hug. The former relief pitcher, who holds the MLB record for most career pitching appearances (1,252), described it as emotional. Both cried.
Conor McDonald, who is an NYPD captain, was born six months after his father was shot. He said his father was a big Knicks, Rangers, Giants and Mets fan, adding that he was at a Mets game the day before he nearly lost his life.
Mets closer Jesse Orosco drops to his knees after the Mets defeat the Boston Red Sox in World Series Game 7 at Shea Stadium on Oct. 27, 1986. Credit: Newsday/Audrey C. Tiernan
When Orosco, a Met from 1979-87, closed out the World Series, he flung his glove high in the air and never touched it again because he was at the bottom of a dogpile. The glove was briefly displayed at Shea Stadium before Orosco helped arrange for the McDonalds to receive it.
It became one of the family’s most cherished items.
“There’s a couple pieces of my dad’s life that he kept near to his heart, and this glove was one of the closest things he had after the shooting that kept him going,” Conor McDonald said.
The glove also is close to Conor’s heart. He remembers running around with it when he was 3 years old, which is why his dad often kept it locked away. Conor and his wife, Katie, still keep the glove locked away, and he said he has a poster in his office of Orosco throwing the glove.
Conor McDonald brought the brown lefthanded Rawlings glove with him on Wednesday and Orosco held it for the first time since launching it. He said he was “kind of shivering” holding it, adding it was a strange feeling. But above all, he was happy to see the McDonald family doing well.
“I thought about your dad, I thought about everything, all my teammates, and everything like that,” Orosco told Conor, “and to see you here supporting, being up with all your family, I’m very happy for you.”
Orosco, who now lives in San Diego, will be back in New York for the 1986 champion Mets' 40-year reunion celebration at Citi Field on Aug. 1. He said he hadn’t seen anyone from the McDonald family since visiting Steven in the hospital. That’s what made Wednesday — and the hugs and tears that came with it — a night 40 years in the making.
“Forty years, I’m very grateful for his friendship, even though it might have been a quick meet with my dad in Bellevue Hospital,” Conor McDonald said. “It meant the world to my family and I and kept us going for almost 40 years.”
