Kiley Bechler and her stepfather had been on the road for a few days, driving a U-Haul trailer from Laurel, Md. to her hometown of Medford, Ore., where she planned to stay for two months until giving birth to a baby girl.



Her newlywed husband, Steve, had already left Maryland for spring training in Florida, and they hadn’t chatted much since. Steve Bechler’s immediate focus in that February of 2003 was on making the Baltimore Orioles’ roster, a team for which the young righty had debuted the previous September.



The couple spoke briefly on Valentine’s Day morning before Steve headed to the baseball complex, and Kiley jumped back into the U-Haul to navigate more treacherous roads.



Two days later, near Salt Lake City, Utah, Kiley’s perpetually roaming Nokia cell phone picked up service, and a message was waiting for her from Orioles Executive Vice President Jim Beattie. There had been a situation involving Steve, and she needed to...