ANAHEIM, CA - JULY 12: Teammates wearing #45 mobbed Felix Pena #45 of the Los Angeles Angels after getting the final out as the Los Angeles Angels throw a combined no-hitter and defat the Seattle Mariners 13-0 during a MLB baseball game at Anaheim Stadium on Friday, July 12, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
(Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
MLB can be beyond poetic. The game can shine a light during the darker and more difficult times of life. Moments occur that seem like they have to be coincidental, but end up being fate.
MLB players use their performance as a way to express emotion. After all, sports are an athlete’s platform to express themselves.
The Angel’s franchise, Major League Baseball, and the whole sports community were still suffering from the tragic, mysterious, and sudden loss of Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
Skaggs, who was only 27, was originally drafted by the Angels in 2009 and returned to the club in December 2013.
On Friday, July 12th, baseball’s latest poem was written.
The Los Angeles Angels threw a combined no-hitter and defeated the Seattle Mariners, 13-0.
The whole team was wearing their forever teammates’ jersey, “Skaggs, #45.”
They felt him in the stadium during their first home game since losing Skaggs. He was honored by the team, his mother threw out the first pitcher, and his face is displayed along a portion of the outfield wall.
Mike Trout, this generation’s superstar, has been the voice of the Angels and has done an outstanding job, treating the situation with immense humility and respect.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” Mike Trout would tell a crowd of reporters, “I’m speechless.”
Trout is not wrong. This cannot be made up.
Despite that, this has not been the first time baseball has flashed its poetic side. Here are three other instances when baseball has shown to be a very special sport.
Dallas Braden, who pitched for the Oakland Athletics’ from 2007-2011, has a 26-36 career record with a 4.16 ERA. Even though he is remembered for being a fierce competitor, he was never known as being a dominant force.
His best season was 2010 campaign. He went 11-14, had a 3.50 ERA, and threw five complete games.
However, there was one day in his career where Braden displayed complete and utter dominance.
On May 9th, 2010, he threw the 19th perfect game in major league history, which happened to be Mother’s Day. His performance had much more significant because it was in honor of his mother.
Braden was pitching with a heavy heart that day. He was raised by his mother. Jodie Atwood, until she died from cancer his senior year of high school. After her death, his maternal grandmother cared for him.
Landon Powell, the A’s catcher that day, described the moment: “When we first finished the game and celebrated and I saw Dallas hugging his grandmother, I was tearing up…He’s had a lot of things happen in his life, even in the last couple of years in the game of baseball, and it couldn’t happen to someone who deserves it more.”
This is a prime example where baseball is shown to be a special force in people’s lives. Baseball is a family sport.
Michael Lorenzen, a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, had a great game on August 19, 2016. The meaning of his performance was much more significant, as it was his first game after the death of his father.
Lorenzen unexpectedly lost his father, Cliff, two days beforehand. This was catastrophic to Lorenzen, as his father was a huge influence in his life. After only taking one day away from the Reds, the 24-year-old pitcher returned to the team for their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the 19th.
The Reds took an early lead, going up six to zero in the fourth inning. Their starting pitcher, Tim Adleman, exited after five innings, meaning that Cincinnati would need multiple relief pitchers. Prior to the game, Lorenzen told his manager, Bryan Price, that getting back to work would be very beneficial to his grieving process and that he wanted to pitch.
With one out in the top of the seventh inning, there were runners on first and second base. The Reds called the bullpen and brought Lorenzen into the game. As a tribute to his father, he switched his entrance song. He jogged to the mound while his father’s favorite song (“Who Are You?” by The Who) blasted throughout the entire stadium.
The packed-crowd in the Reds’ stadium, Great American Ballpark, was overcome with emotion, as they understood Lorenzen’s situation and how difficult of a time he was going through. Lorenzen was able to get the next two Dodgers out and the Reds returned to the dugout.
Bryan Price met with the reliever in the dugout and told him that he would pitch the next inning, but if his spot in the lineup were to come up, the team would need him to hit. Being a relief pitcher, Lorenzen’s only job is to pitch, and he rarely practices hitting.
There were runners on first and second base with two outs and Lorenzen’s spot in the order came around. He saw one pitch and swung. The ball traveled 403 feet to right-center field and over the wall. It was a pretty magical time for Lorenzen’s first career home run.
The crowd erupted into a celebration of not just the Reds’ scoring three more runs, but for Lorenzen. Keeping a straight face and maintaining his emotion while rounding the bases, he pointed up to the sky and clapped as he crossed home plate. Greeted by his teammates as he returned to the dugout, his emotions are still kept until he finds his best friend on the team, Ramon Cabrera. He hugged him and let all of his emotions out. The stadium chanted his name and he went onto the field and did a curtain call, waving to the fans. The Reds went on to win the game, 9-2.
Lorenzen showed Reds fans and baseball fans everywhere that athletes are humans too. They have emotions, rough days and difficult situations that they need to deal with.
The world lost two-time All-Star starting pitcher Jose Fernandez in a horrific boating accident on Sunday, September 25, 2016, in a boating accident near the coast of Miami Beach in Miami, Florida. Fernandez played for the Miami Marlins from 2013-2016.
The whole baseball community was devastated by the death of the young, up-and-coming superstar. MLB canceled the Marlins’ game against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, and teams throughout the league paid tributes by having moments of silence and hanging his jersey in their dugouts.
Multiple players honored him by writing his initials and his number 16 on their hats with a sharpie, as well as sending out tweets about his significance to the league and how he will be missed.
One of the biggest tributes came during the Marlins’ first games after they lost their ace.
In the first inning of the New York Mets, Miami second basemen, and one of José’s good friends, Dee Gordon hit a home run. Gordon is not a home run hitter in the slightest. It was his first of the season, as well as being the farthest ball Gordon ever hit. He was the first Marlins player to go to bat after Fernández’s death.
“I told the boys, ‘if y’all don’t believe in God, y’all might as well start. I ain’t ever hit a ball that far, even in batting practice…we had some help.”
Next. A record-breaking bomb squad for week-15. dark
Gordon believes he felt the help of his good friend José when he hit that home run. This is another magical moment that baseball has provided after times of tragedy.
