Early last Thursday morning, just hours after the best game of his MLB career, Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a horrific car crash with a suspected drunk driver. By all accounts, Adenhart was a promising young athlete who had worked hard to break into the Angels starting rotation—the kind of kid who deserved it.
Postponing Thursday’s game against Oakland, Los Angeles returned to the diamond on Friday to face the Boston Red Sox. Before the game, Adenhart was quietly remembered as MLB team Angels teammates Torii Hunter and John Lackey carried his jersey to the pitcher’s mound for a brief moment of silence. The flags in center field flew at half-mast, Adenhart’s picture was emblazoned on the right field wall, and a small 34 was stenciled into the dirt behind the mound.
Against Boston, Los Angeles tried its best to get back to the business of playing baseball. Angels starter Jered Weaver scattered just four hits through 6 2/3 innings and struck out eight. Bobby Abreu went 3-4, Vladimir Guerrero was 2-4, and Jeff Mathis drove in two RBI. The Angels MLB team secured an emotional 6-3 win on a night when baseball was, perhaps, the furthest thing from their minds.
As sports fans, we are too often forced to inject a dose of harsh reality into our sports fantasies thanks to the arrogance or stupidity of the athletes we admire. It seems crazy to think that any kind of sense can be made of Nick Adenhart’s death, but maybe, in some small way, his passing will remind us why we idolize professional athletes in the first place—there are still some guys out there who deserve it.
