MLB: Retiring is hard enough; even harder, depression after retirement
By Jeff Kallman
Former MLB pitcher Dan Haren admits to depression after his retirement. Not every baseball retiree suffering depression endures as he does.
A baseball retirement isn’t simple. Whether you’ve been a pennant-winning player or manager, an umpire, or just another guy who got to play the game at all, stepping away from it often requires its own kind of withdrawal.
Sometimes it’s simple. Sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes you’ve planned well for it, transitioned away from the game just as well, and had your well-laid plan explode out of nowhere. And sometimes, you get thrown into a soul-wrenching depression. Dan Haren can tell you. In fact, he did, late Monday morning.
Not ashamed to admit I called my therapist yesterday. After baseball I had a tough time adjusting, staying home a lot, self-worth, anxiety etc. if you’ve dealt with anxiety/depression in the past I encourage you to make arrangements now so you have someone to talk to.
— dan haren (@ithrow88) March 16, 2020
A reliable pitcher with good if not overpowering stuff (his Twitter handle is @ithrow88) but brains to make it work, Haren has already owned up to punishing enough self-doubt. Three years ago, he surprised the Twitterverse with a kind of running journal while pedaling his exercise bicycle.
I went into almost every start in the last few years thinking… How the hell am I gonna get these guys out . . . There’s was at least 3-4 times I thought the team plane was gonna crash . . . I would count out the days about a month in advance to see if I was gonna pitch in Coors field . . . I had to take Imodium most days I pitched to plug myself up…