George Lombard Jr.'s dad recounts whirlwind day of son's Yankees debut: 'It's like a storybook'
George Lombard Jr., center, with his father George Lombard Sr. and mother Judy at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday after his MLB debut. Credit: Courtesy George Lombard Sr.
George Lombard Sr. still hadn’t fully processed it all.
“It’s a like a storybook,” Lombard, the bench coach for the Detroit Tigers, said shortly after landing in Seattle late Wednesday afternoon. “So many things that happened yesterday.”
That would be Tuesday night, when not just one but two of the sons of George and Judy Lombard made debuts of significance.
And what debuts they were.
MLB prospect Jacob Lombard and his dad, George Lombard Sr., pose for a photo before a game between the Tigers and Yankees at Yankee Stadium on June 29, 2026. Credit: Getty Images/New York Yankees
Jacob, George Jr.’s 18-year-old brother — who, like his elder brother, is a shortstop — was the 14th overall pick in this year’s draft by the Marlins. He made his professional debut Tuesday night for Class A Jupiter.
George Sr., in Seattle on Monday night as the Tigers were set to begin a series Tuesday night, had just arrived on the West Coast.
What would be a 24-hour whirlwind began at about 6 p.m. (PT) when he received a call from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre manager Shelley Duncan telling him there was a chance that George Jr. would be promoted to the big leagues.
As some time passed, George Sr. figured it wasn’t going to happen.
But two hours after Duncan’s call, George Jr. FaceTimed his mother and father.
“I see George’s face, as soon as I saw that smile, I knew,” George Sr. said, speaking to Newsday during his Uber ride from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to T-Mobile Park, where he would arrive a few hours before Wednesday night’s game against the Mariners. “He said, ‘I’m going to the big leagues.’ Judy went crazy. It was 8 p.m. my time (PT), so kind of late there. All plans had to be made then.”
At Jacob’s behest, Judy and plenty of extended friends and family in the Miami area, where the Lombards live, booked flights to New York. George Sr., with Tigers manager AJ Hinch having provided permission long ago, booked a 7 a.m. Seattle-to-JFK direct flight for Tuesday morning that would get him to New York at about 3 p.m.
“Way back in spring training, AJ said, ‘When your son makes his debut, you have to be there. I want you to be there,’ ” George Sr. said.
George and Judy arrived at Yankee Stadium at roughly 6 p.m., missing batting practice but making it to their seats in plenty of time for the 7 p.m. start against the Cardinals.
Jacob’s game started at 6:31, and George Sr. and Judy watched that game on their phones, seeing their youngest son, batting second for the Jupiter Hammerheads, walk in his first plate appearance.
As George Jr. ran onto the field just after 7 p.m. for the top of the first, Jacob came up for his second plate appearance of the night and . . .
“He homers and we’re like, ‘Oh my God!’ ” George Sr., who played six years in the majors, said with a laugh. “Hated looking down at the phone going back and forth. Ten minutes later, George starts a double play. Just incredible.”
It got even more incredible.
Shortly before George Jr. — who grounded out in his first career at-bat leading off the third — came up in the fifth for his second at-bat, Dodgers utilityman Enrique Hernandez sent a text to agent Joel Wolfe.
Hernandez was friendly with George Sr. from their time together in Los Angeles, when the latter was a coach for manager Dave Roberts.
Wolfe, one of the more prominent agents in the game (Giancarlo Stanton is among the many big names he represents), represents Hernandez and George Jr.
“[Hernandez] said, ‘What are the chances of George hitting a homer after his brother just hit one in his debut?’ ” said George Sr., who learned later about the text exchange. “Joel texted ‘one trillion to one.’ That was his response.”
Minutes later, George Jr. crushed a 0-and-2 sweeper from Hunter Dobbins 392 feet to left-center for his first career homer.
“He [Wolfe] screen-shotted the text [exchange with Hernandez] and sent it to me,” George Sr. said. “I mean, in your mind, there’s no way he can hit a home run. The odds of hitting a home run in your debut are not great anyway. Both kids doing it? Just absolutely amazing.”
Hinch, speaking in Seattle to Detroit reporters late Tuesday night, certainly noticed.
“Probably one of the more unique family nights in the sport that you could ever draw up,” Hinch said.
For George Sr., the six-hour-plus flight back to Seattle gave him time to respond to a portion of the “over 500 text messages” he received from the time news broke of his eldest son’s call-up — Derek Jeter, Aaron Judge and Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman were among the many texting — through Wednesday afternoon.
There also was time for, he said, reflective “tears,” with an Instagram post of Judy’s from earlier in the day especially touching.
It was a picture from Lombard’s first job in coaching in 2010 with the Lowell Spinners (a Red Sox affiliate), whom he served as hitting coach. Playing near home plate but pausing to pose were George, then 5, and Jacob, about to turn 3.
“That was the most emotional,” George Sr. said. “You see both boys playing in the dirt and it seems like it was just yesterday. Then, in a blink of an eye, here they are, both playing professional ball.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
