On Labour Day, moments after he learned he was going to the big leagues, Rowdy Tellez grabbed his phone to call his dad.



When he opened his contacts, there was his mom.



“The first number that pops up always in my contacts is Mom’s,” he said. “I saw that, and told my dad, and we just started crying. It was pretty emotional. This was definitely something I wanted to share with Mom. And I believe she was there for it.”



In spirit, she was.



Lori Tellez battled brain cancer for almost two years. Remission had brought a period of hope. She was cancer-free, they said. But this year, her decline was steady. She died on Aug. 19, aged 53.



Two weeks later, after the triple-A Buffalo Bisons played their final game, manager Bobby Meacham summoned Tellez and told him the Blue Jays were bringing him to The Show.



They gave him a jersey with No. 68 on the back and a locker in a far corner of the clubhouse, just across...