The beginning of the MLB season is a time where hope springs eternal, as the old adage says. Every team is winless and every team has a shot at winning the World Series. The outfield grass is green, the pitching mound is perfectly manicured, and the idea that their team will win pervades through the players.
But it doesn’t take long for us to all find how quickly this can disappear.
After the death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart because of a tragic car crash involving a drunk driver that also took the lives of two others and critically injured another, we were reminded how something that seems to be a mainstay can disappear.
The night Adenhart died, he had pitched six scoreless innings against the Oakland Athletics in his fourth major league start. Angels fans and baseball fans everywhere felt that the 22-year-old was destined to be something special.
It would not be so.
Adenhart showed us a glimpse of greatness. Fans who saw what Adenhart did that night know what they saw. It becomes an “I was there…” moment for those who watched in the stadium, on television, or on the web. They saw his last major league start, hours before his life would be unfairly taken.
This gives a life lesson to all of us, as athletes or as spectators. As athletes, we know we have to give our all every time we step out onto the court, the field, the track or the pitch. A feeling of invincibility can intern itself deep inside us, the thoughts of “I don’t feel like it today, maybe next time” can make us hold back because we don’t feel like performing full out. But there might not be a next time.
It might not be a car crash or a death. It could be a sudden change in team chemistry or horrible weather conditions in the next game. Fact is, things won’t be the same. We need to take advantage of what we have when we have it and give our all when we have the opportunity.
As fans, we can’t take what we’re seeing for granted. A fan watching Adenhart pitch might have thought, “Well, I can change the channel. He’ll do the same thing next week.” But that fan missed out on something special. That fan missed the best performance of a blossoming career about to be cut short.
It’s our job not to be that fan or that athlete who missed out on something special.
Daniel Gallen can be reached at [email protected].