Cleaning out the inbox:Baseball

The inbox is bursting at the seams and I'm going to start the chore of cleaning with an only baseball edition.

Fred Landucci sends me this very poignant article from the Los Angeles Times on the tenth anniversary of the tragic death of local star and Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart from a drunk driver hitting the vehicle he was riding in.
Former Angel teammates are spoken with and Adenhart is remembered by other members of the organization as well.
The article also discusses the tragedy with the driver of that vehicle, who serves a 50-year prison sentence, who offers the standard cliche's used by people that have caused such senseless deaths.
I hope that person is sincere and I couldn't imagine what he has to live with, but in these situations, it's usually all about ministries these folks are involved in or other such works and that's all well and good, but it always smacks of a working rehabilitation in the eyes of others- even if it could be true.

We move to the Athletic for what I could not recommend higher with an article by Emily Waldon on the conditions of minor league baseball for the players that play there.
I know that the Athletic is behind a paywall, but if you can or would take advantage of a trial run sometime, consider checking this out.
Baseball may be glamorous, but the minors are certainly not and even at AAA where cities that host major league teams in other sports, the conditions aren't great with the increased cost of living.
The wages that minor league players are paid (other than a signing bonus when they sign their first contract, which is where the real money is until the big leagues are reached) is downright paltry when you consider the expenses of living the dream.
The article is extensive, so I'm not going to get into details, but they are certainly there.
I know many of us would like to think that with the skills to play pro baseball, we would pay our dues, but would we really all things considered if we were not sure the gold at the rainbow was within reach?
I'm just not sure.

Another Athletic piece discusses the 25th anniversary of Jacobs (don't call it Progressive) field in Cleveland.
This article writes of the dreariness of old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, the process of what it took to be able to build the Indians the Jake, the rumors of where they could have been headed had a vote for a stadium tax failed and the pomp and circumstance of the home opener where the soon to be contending Tribe faced off against the most feared pitcher in the game- Seattle's future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.

Veteran baseball writer Marty Noble writes on the website of another longtime baseball writer, Murray Chass about his conflicting thoughts on another Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver.
Seaver, who we noted recently in another cleaning of the inbox, has been diagnosed with dementia and has retired from public life,
Seaver always had an almost regal aura about him that came off at times as condescending on television (I've never met Seaver) and the article shows that to be true, although it appeared that Seaver mellowed with age.

To An Athlete Dying Young

Not much Pirate news,so I thought that I would share this famous poem by AE Houseman as a tribute to the late Nick Adenhart.
Back later with Pirates-IF the rain ever leaves Cincinnati....

The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.

Nick Adenhart

Tragic news from the world of baseball as Angel righthander Nick Adenhart was killed last night in a hit and run accident in Fullerton California.
Adenhart had pitched six scoreless innings against Oakland last night and was hit by a mini-van that ran a red light.
Nick Adenhart was a local product here,I coached Nick briefly in a youth all-star tournament,Ryan played against him,I know his parents from that time and this will be a big national story,but a huge local story.

Look for a future post on Nick when times permits and heartfelt condolences to the Adenhart and Gigeous families on their devastating and senseless loss...