WHO WE BECOME CON'T.

 Just recently a couple of stories have caught my eye because of the different paths peoples lives have taken despite having a lot in common. The first is the story of two baseball players, both left handed pitchers, who played on the same team, who were roommates and fraternity brothers.  Frank Fitzpatrick writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer tells their story. Here is my condensed version.

Steve Gardner was offered $50,000 to play for the Chicago White Sox while still in high school. He was the starting pitcher on USC varsity team and the 1960 college player of the year. After graduation, he went directly to triple A ball for the Dodgers. Pat Gillick was also a good player but always played second string to Steve. Pat’s forte was his mind trap for anything baseball—a whiz at studying and knowing competitive statistics. Pat was good enough to get a major league contract playing for the Baltimore Orioles.

Both men were injured and could not continue playing. Steve’s injury occurred while he was in the army and Pat’s while playing in triple A ball.  After the injuries, these men’s lives took dramatically different paths.

          Pat was quickly promoted to the front office, first as a scout and then as General Manager, leading three different teams to the World Series and finally inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Garner struggled after his injury and was never able to perform at a star level and eventually the Dodgers dropped him from the team. 

         Not playing baseball he grew more and more miserable and finally took his life in the USC stadium. He shot himself surrounded by his diploma and his All American Award.