His oldest son, Jose, shares a love of the Astros with his dad. On Saturday, Oct. 12, Jose and his sister were both on their way to the ALCS game when suddenly the phone rang.
"It was around 4 o'clock or so," recalled Jose. "I got a call from my mom. She told me not to worry, but that my dad was having a heart attack."
Jose called his sister and both cancelled their Astros plans, going straight to the hospital to be with their dad. The younger Vazquez, though, came prepared.
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"I had my backpack, my laptop," said Jose, who said he was not going to miss the game.
As medical staff was about to implant a stent into Roberto, they noticed a problem: he was wearing an Astros polo shirt.
"The (nurse) who was going to cut it realized it's bad luck to cut an Astros shirt," said Roberto, who was wearing that shirt when he spoke with ABC13. "So, we're not going to cut it."
The medical staff carefully removed the shirt, and Roberto's stent procedure was successful.
He was in recovery to watch part of the game that night, and the next day, he had only one request for his kids: go to the next game.
"The funniest thing he told me is, 'You have to go, because if they lose, I'm going to have another heart attack,'" recalled Jose, who dutifully went to the next game with his sisters.
The Astros ended up defeating the Yankees in ALCS Game 6.
They are now facing the Washington Nationals in the World Series and are just one win away from clinching the title.
In the meantime, Roberto was released from the hospital. He recovered well enough that he has already returned to work.
So, Jose decided on another surprise.
"I said to myself, if there is a Game 6, I'm going to take my dad," he said.
Jose bought tickets online Monday night and called his dad. The father and son are attending Game 6 together at Minute Maid Park.
"I'm glad I'm going too," chuckled Roberto. "Because he paid for it, because it's a lot of money!"
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