Yankees and Angels Are Haunted by Painful Events
ANAHEIM, Calif. — When the Los Angeles Angels packed their bags Wednesday morning and headed to the airport for a flight to New York, the jersey of pitcher Nick Adenhart went with them, just as it has all season.
Since his death in April in an automobile accident, the Angels and many of their fans have kept the memory of the 22-year-old Adenhart with them in various ways. One is to hang Adenhart’s jersey in the dugout during each game. Another is the makeshift shrine of flowers and other offerings that fans have erected in the plaza outside Angel Stadium.
It is those small gestures that, in effect, have provided the backdrop for the Angels’ season. And it is a backdrop that their opponent in the American League Championship Series understands quite well. For as divergent as the histories of the Yankees and the Angels have been, the emotional adversity both teams have encountered over the years has created a real, if painful, link.
For both teams, the list of unexpected deaths and illnesses is a long one.
Donnie Moore, the reliever who was one strike from sending the Angels to the World Series in 1986, had his career derailed after allowing a homer to Boston’s Dave Henderson. Three years later, Moore shot and killed himself.
Lyman Bostock, a marquee free-agent signing by the Angels, was shot and killed late in the 1978 season while riding in a car. Bruce Heinbechner and Mike Miley, each a prized prospect, died in separate car accidents in the mid-1970s. Those followed car accidents that killed infielder Chico Ruiz and left pitcher Minnie Rojas paralyzed.
“This organization has certainly had a lot of things happen,” said Tim Mead, the vice president for communication, who is in his 30th season with the Angels. “Sadly, we’ve had a lot of passings.”
As have the Yankees. Two seminal moments in Yankees history are the early deaths of Lou Gehrig, from an illness, and Thurman Munson, in the crash of a plane he was piloting. Both were the soul of championship teams. More recently, pitcher Cory Lidle died in a plane crash just after the conclusion of the 2006 season. And during the second half of the 1990s, the Yankees continually encountered illness and death as they closed in on one world championship after another.
One of Manager Joe Torre’s brothers, Rocco, died during the 1996 season. Months later, another brother, Frank, survived a heart transplant just as the Yankees were winning their first of four World Series titles in five years. During the 1998 playoffs, outfielder Darryl Strawberry was found to have colon cancer, a development that left teammates in tears, and a year later, the father of right fielder Paul O’Neill died on the morning of Game 4 of the World Series. O’Neill, shielded by teammates, played that night as the Yankees completed a sweep of the Atlanta Braves.
“Sometime we look at athletes like you sort of wind them up and send them out there to play,” Torre said earlier this week as he recalled those moments. “But they’re more than that. When you’re on the inside, you share a lot of things with them. My job is to try to understand that and understand what a player needs from me.”
Teammates put their arms around one another when they learned of Strawberry’s illness. The drama of Frank Torre’s heart transplant seemed to rally New York, and perhaps the Yankees themselves, in 1996. And then there was O’Neill, sobbing after the Yankees beat the Braves for the final time.
“I talked to his wife earlier in the day,” Torre recalled. “She said to me, ‘We’ve got to find a way to get him to the ballpark.’ ”
Torre added: “I remember after we won, he just bawled out there on the mound. It was something he needed to do.”
Torre cited that moment as an example of how a player can use baseball — or any sport — as a refuge from the realities of life.
But such reprieves are only temporary, as the Angels have discovered. Anger is an emotion that many in the organization have had to work through, upset as they are that the man who is charged with causing the accident had previous drunk driving convictions.
Meanwhile, the pitching coach Mike Butcher said there was some concern that the efforts by the Angels to remember Adenhart not be co-opted and made maudlin.
“Everybody handles it in their own way,” said Butcher, who talks to Adenhart’s parents on the phone. “Nobody has steered us in one way. Everything that is said is very heartfelt and individual.”
The Orange County Register reported that the Angels voted Adenhart a full playoff share, which would go to his family and could amount to more than $350,000 if they win the World Series. But no players have publicly acknowledged the vote.
The Angels celebrated their division title by pouring beer and Champagne on Adenhart’s jersey — just as they would do if he were there, said reliever Kevin Jepsen, one of his closest friends. They then left the clubhouse en masse and jogged to center field, where an image of Adenhart is on the wall.
That celebration raised questions by some, including a Los Angeles Times columnist, about whether it was appropriate given the circumstance of Adenhart’s death.
Torii Hunter, the Angels’ center fielder, said such criticism was misplaced because none of the players were drinking and driving. He said he expected some of the displays commemorating Adenhart to be scaled back next season. By then, there will be new additions in the clubhouse; for now, Adenhart remains a familiar face.
“Nick started the season,” Hunter said. “And he’s going to finish the season.”
ANAHEIM, Calif. — When the Los Angeles Angels packed their bags Wednesday morning and headed to the airport for a flight to New York, the jersey of pitcher Nick Adenhart went with them, just as it has all season.
Since his death in April in an automobile accident, the Angels and many of their fans have kept the memory of the 22-year-old Adenhart with them in various ways. One is to hang Adenhart’s jersey in the dugout during each game. Another is the makeshift shrine of flowers and other offerings that fans have erected in the plaza outside Angel Stadium.
It is those small gestures that, in effect, have provided the backdrop for the Angels’ season. And it is a backdrop that their opponent in the American League Championship Series understands quite well. For as divergent as the histories of the Yankees and the Angels have been, the emotional adversity both teams have encountered over the years has created a real, if painful, link.
For both teams, the list of unexpected deaths and illnesses is a long one.
Donnie Moore, the reliever who was one strike from sending the Angels to the World Series in 1986, had his career derailed after allowing a homer to Boston’s Dave Henderson. Three years later, Moore shot and killed himself.
Lyman Bostock, a marquee free-agent signing by the Angels, was shot and killed late in the 1978 season while riding in a car. Bruce Heinbechner and Mike Miley, each a prized prospect, died in separate car accidents in the mid-1970s. Those followed car accidents that killed infielder Chico Ruiz and left pitcher Minnie Rojas paralyzed.
“This organization has certainly had a lot of things happen,” said Tim Mead, the vice president for communication, who is in his 30th season with the Angels. “Sadly, we’ve had a lot of passings.”
As have the Yankees. Two seminal moments in Yankees history are the early deaths of Lou Gehrig, from an illness, and Thurman Munson, in the crash of a plane he was piloting. Both were the soul of championship teams. More recently, pitcher Cory Lidle died in a plane crash just after the conclusion of the 2006 season. And during the second half of the 1990s, the Yankees continually encountered illness and death as they closed in on one world championship after another.
One of Manager Joe Torre’s brothers, Rocco, died during the 1996 season. Months later, another brother, Frank, survived a heart transplant just as the Yankees were winning their first of four World Series titles in five years. During the 1998 playoffs, outfielder Darryl Strawberry was found to have colon cancer, a development that left teammates in tears, and a year later, the father of right fielder Paul O’Neill died on the morning of Game 4 of the World Series. O’Neill, shielded by teammates, played that night as the Yankees completed a sweep of the Atlanta Braves.
“Sometime we look at athletes like you sort of wind them up and send them out there to play,” Torre said earlier this week as he recalled those moments. “But they’re more than that. When you’re on the inside, you share a lot of things with them. My job is to try to understand that and understand what a player needs from me.”
Teammates put their arms around one another when they learned of Strawberry’s illness. The drama of Frank Torre’s heart transplant seemed to rally New York, and perhaps the Yankees themselves, in 1996. And then there was O’Neill, sobbing after the Yankees beat the Braves for the final time.
“I talked to his wife earlier in the day,” Torre recalled. “She said to me, ‘We’ve got to find a way to get him to the ballpark.’ ”
Torre added: “I remember after we won, he just bawled out there on the mound. It was something he needed to do.”
Torre cited that moment as an example of how a player can use baseball — or any sport — as a refuge from the realities of life.
But such reprieves are only temporary, as the Angels have discovered. Anger is an emotion that many in the organization have had to work through, upset as they are that the man who is charged with causing the accident had previous drunk driving convictions.
Meanwhile, the pitching coach Mike Butcher said there was some concern that the efforts by the Angels to remember Adenhart not be co-opted and made maudlin.
“Everybody handles it in their own way,” said Butcher, who talks to Adenhart’s parents on the phone. “Nobody has steered us in one way. Everything that is said is very heartfelt and individual.”
The Orange County Register reported that the Angels voted Adenhart a full playoff share, which would go to his family and could amount to more than $350,000 if they win the World Series. But no players have publicly acknowledged the vote.
The Angels celebrated their division title by pouring beer and Champagne on Adenhart’s jersey — just as they would do if he were there, said reliever Kevin Jepsen, one of his closest friends. They then left the clubhouse en masse and jogged to center field, where an image of Adenhart is on the wall.
That celebration raised questions by some, including a Los Angeles Times columnist, about whether it was appropriate given the circumstance of Adenhart’s death.
Torii Hunter, the Angels’ center fielder, said such criticism was misplaced because none of the players were drinking and driving. He said he expected some of the displays commemorating Adenhart to be scaled back next season. By then, there will be new additions in the clubhouse; for now, Adenhart remains a familiar face.
“Nick started the season,” Hunter said. “And he’s going to finish the season.”
Source: New York Times
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