SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Champ Pederson was working his job at a grocery store here when he got a text from his brother, Joc, then another. There was a photo and a video. When he opened them, Champ was just as gobsmacked as Joc was when he walked into the home clubhouse at Scottsdale Stadium for the first time that morning.
Next to Joc’s new locker, boxes of sunflower seeds were piled high in the adjacent stall, almost reaching the nameplate attached to the wood paneling above: Champ, Joc’s oldest brother born with Down syndrome, had a spot reserved just for him.
“Phenomenal,” Champ said, from the family’s seats behind home plate a few days later for Joc’s debut in a Giants uniform, in attendance as they have for his first games at each of his previous three major league stops. The difference this time: Champ, Joc and their two other siblings grew up in Palo Alto, attending Giants games.
