The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

All Baseball, All the Time: Luis Estrella keeps a hectic schedule as a professional baseball player but tries to see the Harbidge family as much as possible.

S.J. Giant becomes a big brother to two Glen girls

Host family regards baseball player as role model for kids

By Michelle Ku

About 8 o'clock every morning, Luis Estrella is awakened from a deep slumber by two giggling little girls. Before Katie and Tricia Harbidge, ages 7 and 5 respectively, leave for school, they go into Estrella's room and jump on his bed to say good morning before they leave for school. Estrella gives them a hug and a peck on the cheek and then returns to sleep.

Even though Estrella doesn't get home until 2 a.m. and doesn't usually get up until 10 a.m., he loves the fact that the girls feel the need to say goodbye to him in the morning.

"I don't know how Luis does it," says Craig Harbidge, Katie and Tricia's father. "I don't think I'd be as good-natured as he is."

Estrella says the love and affection the girls show him reminds him of home and makes him feel like part of the Harbidge family. "My 10-year-old sister [Eshell] does it to me back home," he says. "It's kind of a ritual now, and it makes me part of the family."

Estrella, 23, a professional baseball player with the San Jose Giants, has just begun his second season living as an adopted member of Shauna and Craig Harbidge's family in Willow Glen.

The San Jose Giants, a high A team in the San Francisco Giants' minor league system, has been using host families for its players for the past 15 years, says Linda Pererra, sales director of the San Jose Giants, who is in charge of housing.

Since minor league players travel a lot and are often moved from one team to another, having host families is a logical way to provide them with a place to stay.

"A lot of the players are young and away from home for the first time. These guys don't make the money you hear the big-leaguers getting, and it provides the families with an interesting experience. When we place them, we're looking for a family atmosphere. It comes down to whether the family can open up their hearts and their homes," Pererra says.

Last April, Shauna and Craig, who had hosted foreign exchange students, were intrigued by a notice in the San Jose Mercury News that the Giants were seeking host families.

"Parents are the primary role models, but if you can bring in other role models for your kids, it's great," Shauna says. "Luis is a young man living his dream. He's gone to college and has set goals for himself. He talks to [Katie and Tricia] and really cares about them."

Estrella, a long relief pitcher who was born and raised in Santa Ana, Calif., wants to play in the major leagues one day but has back-up plans. He is four or five classes away from graduating from California State University, Fullerton, with bachelor's degrees in criminal justice and public administration. He plans to go to law school and says he wants to have a political career.

About a month into the five-month San Jose Giants season last year, Pererra, matched Estrella up with the Harbidges.

At his initial meeting with the family, Estrella was impressed by Katie's knowledge of Spanish. She was then a first-grader at River Glen Elementary School.

"I saw Katie and Shauna in the front office of the San Jose Giants. Katie asked me if I knew Spanish, and when I said yes, she full-on started talking in Spanish," Estrella said. "She caught me by surprise. Her Spanish is better than most I know, and even better than people who have known it from birth."

Despite living in the Harbidge home, Estrella doesn't have that much contact with them. Half the time he's away on road trips, and when he's home, he's on a different schedule than the family.

Estrella usually is at San Jose Municipal Stadium by 2 p.m. for practices and games. Since San Jose Giants games typically end around 10 or 11 p.m., he doesn't get in until 1 or 2 a.m. The Harbidges, on the other hand, are up and out of the house while Estrella is still asleep, arrive home while he's at the ball park and are asleep before he gets home.

"During the week we don't see him, but on weekends we see him from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., unless he's on the road. His schedule is very brutal. It's nice when he's able to sit down and chat," Craig Harbidge says.

"[The girls have] started to check the newspaper to see how the team did before they wake him up in the morning," Shauna says. "I hold them off as long as I can before I let them say goodbye to Luis in the morning."

Katie says, "We like him. He's like our big brother. We play with him and jump on him."

To help form the bond with the family, Estrella has been calling Shauna and Craig "Mom and Dad" as a sign of respect since the first day he spent in their home. He's a veteran of living with host families, having lived with four other families for as short a time as a week and a half to as long as three months.

The only drawback to living with the Harbidges is the fact that Katie and Tricia are both so young, he says.

"When they come to my games, they have to leave early to go to sleep for school. Because I'm a reliever, I don't often get into the games before they have to leave. It makes it harder for them to see me play," Estrella says.

For information about hosting a San Jose Giants player, call Linda Pererra at 297-1435.

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