'Baseball brought us together': Brewers' Garrett Mitchell, softball star wife Haley cherish MLB life

PHOENIX — Those lost passports are now safely secured in a brightly-colored folder in their home.

There will be not be a third postponed honeymoon.

Garrett Mitchell and his wife, Haley Cruse Mitchell, can now go back to being like any other couple that happens to consist of a major-league outfielder and a softball star. Their teasing of one another (after a walk-off homer) goes viral. Haley has over 850,000 followers on TikTok.

Yep, life is good for the newlyweds. Garrett is off to a dazzling start for the surprising Milwaukee Brewers, Haley announced her retirement from the USSSA Pride softball team after starring five years at the University of Oregon, and the couple just welcomed Dash, their new Dachshund puppy, into the family.

“It’s been pretty wild,’’ says Garrett, who was hitting .324 with three homers, six RBI and a 1.054 OPS entering Tuesday, with the Brewers leading the NL Central. “Crazy, really.’’

The whirlwind will continue this weekend when the Brewers play a four-game series against the San Diego Padres, where a huge family reunion awaits. Haley, whose family is diehard Padres fans from San Diego, and Garrett, who’s from a family full of Angels fans in Orange County, will be getting together for the first time on the West Coast since he was called up to the big leagues last August.

They’ll all get together after Saturday's day game, sit back and relive the summer of 2020 when the COVID pandemic accelerated their relationship, talk about Garrett’s walk-off homer and the friendly taunting of his wife for missing it, Haley’s hilarious retort, life in Milwaukee, and, yes, those missing passports.

“We’re loving life together,’’ Garrett says. “It’s been a beautiful one year and four months.’’

'Baseball brought us together'

OK, so maybe there were a few hiccups getting here, like the time they were two days away from leaving for their honeymoon in Cancun after being married in December 2021, only for Garrett to lose his passport.

He searched and searched and searched again, and finally gave up, leaving Haley no choice but to cancel the entire honeymoon to avoid charges.

Wouldn’t you know it, Garrett found it the next day, in the exact spot it belonged – but it was too late.

“I didn’t lose my passport,’’ he says. “I just couldn’t find it. The sad part is it was exactly where I left it, but I didn’t look for it. I don’t know why.

“I never heard the end of it for a year. She told me, “Now you have to take me somewhere every year now.’ ’’

A year later, the delayed honeymoon was set for Cabo San Lucas

This time, Haley couldn't find her passport. Matter of fact, she still hasn’t found it.

“When that happened,’’ Garrett said, “I laughed, and said, 'Hey, I’m off the hook now.’ It really circles back now. At least I found my passport.’’

Believing it was simply meant for them not to leave the United States, they wound up having a mini-honeymoon last winter, driving to Joshua Tree National Park in California and simply chilling out.

Next winter, the plan is for Europe. Maybe Japan.

Then again, maybe a World Series parade trip would be perfect for this marriage.

“It’s amazing how baseball brought us together,’’ Garrett tells USA TODAY Sports. “I mean, I just never thought I’d ever be with a softball player. Never. And now being with her, being able to be with someone who grinds like you do, or puts in the type of effort and time that it takes to perfect your craft, it’s pretty cool how we can relate.

“It’s nice to have a wife understanding exactly what you’re going through.’’

While Haley was an All-American center fielder at Oregon, Garrett was a star outfielder at UCLA. They had mutual friends between softball and baseball, who believed they would make the perfect couple.

“They were insistent on matchmaking us," Haley says.

They met and began getting to know one another in November 2019 with Haley preparing for her senior season, and Garrett beginning his junior year where he was a projected first-round draft pick.

Then everything came to a grinding halt in March 2020.

Their baseball and softball seasons were over. They suddenly had nothing but time on their hands.

“The world just shut down,’’ Garrett recalls , “you couldn’t go anywhere and you couldn’t do anything. So, it’s like we just had this undivided attention with each other. We were on FaceTime for seven or eight hours, and the next thing you know, it’s 3 or 4 in the morning. We were spending so much quality time just talking.’’

The typical dating scene was non-existent during COVID , so there wasn’t a whole lot of entertainment available. They were left meeting halfway between San Diego and Orange County, grabbing take-out meals, hanging out on the beach, and yeah, playing a little catch.

“Our options were limited,’’ Haley says, “but at least there was sunshine.’’

Says Garrett: “Really, it was the perfect way to get to know each other.’’

Haley found out that Garrett was a diehard Angels fan, his family having season tickets in left field, where his favorite player was Angels left fielder Garret Anderson. Haley was a passionate Padres fan, and her all-time favorite was pitcher Jake Peavy.

They became inseparable, got married a year later, moved to McKinney, Texas, found an apartment in downtown Milwaukee, and then decided to become a single-athlete household with Haley announcing her retirement this week.

“She understands and acknowledge what it’s like playing the same sport, so it’s nice to get that perspective, to get the hard truth," Garrett says.

The best advice he’s received from Haley?

“Just to be myself,’’ says Garrett, 24, who had the fastest sprint time to first base, 4.01 seconds, last year according to Statcast. “I mean, I got myself up here by being me, so there’s no reason to change that. Don’t try to be someone you’re not.

“I know what it takes to be successful, so I have to be comfortable and confident doing that.’’

Just like any good teammate offering advice, Haley knows you better have a good sense of humor, too.

When Garrett hit a game-winning home run in their opening homestand against the New York Mets, with a celebration raging on the field, he blurted out to the TV audience that he knew something special would happen because Haley wasn’t at the game. Haley had gone out grocery shopping since he wasn’t in the starting lineup.

Well, she just got home when her husband homered off Adam Ottavino. Haley turned on the TV set and listened to the postgame interview.

“When my wife doesn’t show up to the games, usually something good happens,” Garrett said. “Going into that at-bat, I was like, 'Man, she’s not here. So, I might as well do something fun.'

It didn’t take long for Haley to tweet: “YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO CALL ME OUT LIKE THAT.’’

Haley later joked she would start sneaking into the ballpark. And went on to tell her husband that he wouldn't say it to her face.

'Sky's the limit'

Just a few days later, when the opening homestand ended and the Brewers hit the road, Haley sent out a message to her followers: She was retiring from softball.

"It was tough,’’ Haley says. “I thought I had come to terms with it, but once I made it official, it was emotional with people who were around my entire career commenting on it.’’

Now, without games to play herself, Haley finds herself pacing when Mitchell is at the plate, feeling more anxious than she ever was as a player, wanting to pick up the bat herself.

“I’m an absolute nervous wreck,’’ Haley says, “whether I’m in the stands, watching the game on TV, or listening. I don’t know if that will ever go away.’’

Haley, 24, laughs like everyone else watching a teammate put a cheesehead on her husband’s head when he homers. She feels the euphoria when the Brewers win, the frustration over losses, and the burden, too, of her husband playing this game as a Type 1 Diabetic, diagnosed at the age of 9.

“There's going to be people who tell you that you can’t do things, and it's not going to be easy,’’ says Garrett, who carries an insulin pump in his back pocket during games. “But I'm an advocate of someone who's always says that you have to believe in yourself. If you truly think that you can do it, there's nothing stopping you.’’

Besides, now there’s two of them going through this journey with each other. A softball player and baseball player who grew up just 80 minutes from one another in Southern California, played in the Pac-12 at the same time, and believe together they can conquer anything.

Garrett could become an All-Star with his speed, defense and power, while Haley has a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s in advertising.

“You know, the sky’s the limit for her, whatever she wants to do moving forward,’’ Garrett says. “She’ll always have the ability to impact a lot of people no matter what she chooses. And I know that whatever she does, she’ll always be there for me, just like I’ll always be there for her.

“You know, that’s a pretty special feeling.’’

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brewers' Garrett Mitchell, wife Haley are baseball's new power couple