Nick Adenhart, a young up-and-coming pitcher for the Angels, was killed by an allegedly drunk driver on April 9, 2009. The days after the event, ESPN showed numerous interviews with the Angels, who all expressed their sadness at losing a teammate, but more importantly, a friend.
After a few weeks passed, the media stopped covering the story, and I simply forgot about Adenhart.
Then, on September 29th, the Angels won the AL West. In the customary fashion, the Angels celebrated in the locker room lined with plastic and showered with champagne. But the team, obviously still feeling the void Adenhart left behind, chose to shower their fallen teammate's jersey as well. It was one of those moments you don't expect to see: Baseball locker rooms, foul mouthed and boorish, don't seem like the place for an act both powerfully symbolic and wonderfully respectful.
After trouncing the Red Sox, the Angels are having a hard time against the Yankees in the ALCS. Today, on the verge of going down 3-0 in the series, the Angels looked in control in the 8th, up 4-3. Then, Yankee Jorge Posada hit a home run directly over Adenhart's memorial banner in center field. Angel Torii Hunter futilely chased the uncatchable ball. The Yankees had tied the game, potentially crushing the Angels' hopes of making it to the World Series.
In futile defeat, Hunter slowed to a trot, and placed both hands on the banner, perhaps asking Adenhart for a victory, perhaps apologizing for failing him.
I've seen athletes thank God for touchdowns or for crossing home plate, but this moment was not routine prayer; this was the true intersection of spirituality and reality. Outside of So. Cal, I'm sure much of the world, like me, has forgotten about Adenhart. But Hunter, at the center field wall, showed that life and death permeate even the most crucial moments.
I'm glad the Angels won tonight. I'm rooting for Adenhart and the Angels. How can you not?
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