At first, it was faint. As Angels reliever Cam Bedrosian roamed around his rural Georgia property late one November morning, he heard a single meow. He turned his head, but he couldn’t find the source. He wandered, and the noise amplified. Finally, he looked up. His calico cat, Maverick, had lodged himself far, far up on the branches of an oak tree, 60 or so feet in the sky.

The cat was only months old, brought home from a local shelter in October. So, for a half hour, maybe more, Bedrosian shouted out his name: “Maverick! MAVERICK!”

Maverick didn’t budge. Bedrosian went inside, brought back treats, and placed them next to the stump.

Maverick didn’t budge. Hours had passed and available sunlight was fast becoming a concern.

“I don’t want to leave him up there all night,” Bedrosian said. “I have a big heart, man. I can’t do that to my cat.”

So, he did the only thing he could think of: He phoned the authorities.

“I hate to say it, calling the fire department to save a cat out of a tree,” Bedrosian said. “But I didn’t know who else to call.”

He explained the situation. As Bedrosian recalled, the local fire chief calmly listened, then suggested he wait it out.

“You’ve never seen a cat skeleton in a tree, right?” the chief asked. “Eventually, they come down.” Yeah, Bedrosian thought. If they die, the skeleton will fall to the ground.

He hung up the phone. Sundown loomed. He called his father, former big league closer Steve Bedrosian, and together they went to a local equipment company to rent a bucket lift. They towed it back to the house while Tammy, Cam’s mother, affixed a basket to a lengthy piece of PVC pipe. The idea was to fashion a sort of cabin in which Maverick could safely travel back to the ground.

Up the two men went in the bucket until they reached Maverick. They extended the pipe and waited. After a minute, the cat tiptoed inside. The Bedrosians slowly, safely lowered themselves to the grass.

Bedrosian does not handle heights particularly well, he said, and his heart raced the entire trip. In all, he estimated it was an eight-hour endeavor, from the first audible meow until Maverick came back to earth.

“It was an adventure, for sure,” Bedrosian said. “It was pretty nuts.”

As the pitcher told the story this week in the Angels’ spring-training clubhouse, fellow reliever Blake Parker approached.

“Are you still talking about the cat?” Parker asked.

Bedrosian brought up the story to many teammates as soon as he arrived at spring training. The details drove them into fits of laughter, some of it directed at him, some to the strain of the situation. Bedrosian has long received ribbing for his love of felines, which dates to childhood, and he has long responded that he does not mind.

“For me, it’s not that weird,” Bedrosian said two years ago. “But to other people, I guess it is. Most people associate guys with liking dogs and girls with liking cats, but I love them. I like dogs too—cats are just my favorite.”

So that November day was stressful, but recounting the story has proved to be a joy. In another productive result, Maverick is much more grounded now. He hasn’t climbed a tree since, at least as far as Bedrosian has seen. But should Maverick get into trouble again, Bedrosian will do whatever it takes.

“It’s my cat, man,” Bedrosian said. “It’s my family.”

Notes

Ballplayers tend to arrive at spring training with stories about how they worked themselves into their best shape yet over the winter. Usually, there’s a new workout or a new diet involved. Usually, it will not last. But in the category of sustainable shapes, enter Angels non-roster left hander John Lamb, who has gained more than 30 pounds since last spring. “There’s some muscle,” Lamb said. “There’s some fat, too, not gonna lie.” … The Angels had a scout in attendance at former Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum’s showcase, held Thursday at Driveline Baseball outside Seattle. One scout there said his fastball sat at 90-92 mph and his curveball looked better than it had in his disastrous nine-start stint for the Angels in 2016. At that time, his fastball averaged only 88.4 mph, according to BrooksBaseball.net. A reunion remains unlikely, but Lincecum’s stock is trending up after his performance, and if he is now willing to relieve, he should have a job soon. Starting has been a sticking point for him throughout his career.

(Top photo of Cam Bedrosian: Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)