TAMPA, Fla. The strips Albert Pujols Jersey of eye black were still perched on Troy Tulowitzkis cheeks as he strolled over to his locker, more than an hour after he left the field Monday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field. This was a day the 34-year-old former All-Star wanted to savor as long as po sible, to remember everything about the moment he finally returned to the field.Injuries and surgeries had kept Tulowitzki away from major-league games since July 28, 2017. In baseball terms, thats a lifetime.MORE: For his little boy, Taz, it was literally almost a lifetime. Taz was only 3 years old for his dads last MLB game, and 3-year-olds dont have long memories. Taz is 5 now, and he was in the stands watching his dad bat leadoff for his new team, the Yankees, against his old team, the Blue Jays. Playing in front of his son was a driving motivation through a lengthy, frustrating and often fruitle s rehab journey.To get back out there and have him see me again, that was probably what I thought about each and every day, Tulowitzki said.Taz had to love what he saw Monday.In Tyler Webb Jersey his first at-bat, Tulowitzki smashed the second pitch he saw from Marcus Stroman a 93-mph fastball over the wall down the right-field line.Welcome back, indeed.Troy Tulowitzki HOMERS in his first at-bat in pinstripes. YES Network (@YESNetwork) And to playagainst the Blue Jays in this first game back? Almost too perfect, straight from a Hollywood script. The Jays dropped Tulo this offseason, opting to pay the rest of his contract two years and $38 million instead of giving him a chance to make the 2019 club.Yeah, the home was cathartic.No doubt. You guys know the story, Tulowitzki told the a sembled media. You know what happened. So, yeah. No doubt about it. That was definitely extra, extra special. That was Dominic Leone Jersey the team that basically told me I couldnt play anymore. It is spring training, it is what it is, but it was a big day for myself.The emotion was obvious. Youll attend a thousand spring training games and probably never see anyone yell as much rounding the bases as Tulowitzki did Monday.I play with emotion. I care a lot about this game, he said. Ive put a lot of work into that rehab. All that rehab I was doing, and all the hours that I put in trying to come lex Reyes Jersey back from my surgery. Those people said Id never make it back on a baseball field again. I know this is spring training, but for me, it was extra emotion on that. It was the biggest spring training home run Ive ever hit in my life. With that being said, yeah, I got a little pumped out there. But anybody who tells you youre done, youve going to have a little extra fire.MORE: Add in a couple of outstanding plays at shortstopand it was a debut that made his new manager, Aaron Boone, pretty happy.Look, hes had that kind of an edge to him, something to prove, Willie McGee Jersey really since the first day we put eyes on him this winter in the workout se sion, Boone said. Again, were a long way from this thing playing out and seeing how he responds to everything, but the one thing we know weve been looking at is a healthy player. To see him go out there for the first time in a long time, Im sure theres some jitters and some nerves that go along with that, even for a guy of his stature, to go out there and throw that at-bat out there for the first time, and to handle a couple plays, one really tough play and make it look very Tulo-y, Im very happy for him because I know this day was a big deal for him.