Tragic Mistakes - Nick Adenhart & What Was Taken Away

A nightmare began April 9th when Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others were killed by a drunk driver.  It's not just a shame because Nick was a big league pitcher.  It's not just a shame because he had pitched the game of his life just two hours before.  It's not just a shame because two other people died as well.  It's a shame because of what will never be. 

There's a great line Clint Eastwood says in his film "Unforgiven" (written by David Webb Peoples).  Eastwood's character, Bill Munny, says this about death and murder: "It's a hell of a thing, ain't it, killin' a man.  You take everything he's got...an' everythin' he's ever gonna have."

That's the damn shame of what happened.

What's the appropriate reaction?  Most of us never knew the man or the other two taken with him.  Most of us had never heard his name before.  We care, face it, because he played baseball.  We care because of the six shutout innings he'd just thrown in front of his father.  We care because the driver's blood-alcohol level was far over the legal limit and to top it off, he tried to get away.  We care because the only one who had the power to stop any of this gave up the power the minute he got behind the wheel that night.  Three lives weren't just taken in that fatal mistake.  All of the lives those three persons would ever touch were also taken too, from the children Nick would have had one day had, to their children and down the line.  It's all extinguished because a man didn't have the character, the dignity, the personal responsibility to not drive knowing he was drunk.  So many times the worst tragedy is the one that could have, no, should have been prevented.

There's a loyal reader of Jimmy Scott's High & Tight named Anita Tsuchiya.  In Utah, where the Anaheim Angels AAA affiliate, the Salt Lake Bees, plays, Anita is better known as BeesGal.  She wrote this to me yesterday and very nicely granted permission to reprint it for you:

"A triumph-over-struggles-into-tragedy story. Projected as 1st-rounder until he had Tommy John surgery while still in high school. Angels picked him up in the 14th round. Had a cup of coffee with the Angels early last season and sort of imploded. Ended up getting sent back down to AAA and struggled all season, until his last three appearances. Showed it wasn't a fluke this spring training and earned a spot on the starting rotation due to injuries to Lackey, Escobar and Santana. Last night, his 1st start this year, only his 4th in the majors, he pitched 6 innings of shutout ball. A few hours later he's dead.

"We never spoke. But you know how it is, I spent a whole summer "hanging out" with him. I
cheered for him through the worst summer of his career. I followed his progress through
spring training.   I'm trying to figure out what to write for the blog. I don't think I can do it today. Gotta go to the game tonight. What a lousy opening day."

BeesGal's blog is called The Sporkball Journals.  Keep an eye out for what she eventually posts there in the coming days.  As you read, she follows the Bees on a regular basis and is attached much more emotionally than us to this tragic event. 

Just the other day, I wrote about how lucky Joba Chamberlain was when he was caught DUI last October.  I wonder if Joba thought twice when he lost his license for 60 days and was sentenced to probation.  I wonder if Joba thought twice again when Nick Adenhart was taken from his family and friends and team.  I wonder if Joba can fully comprehend how lucky he is, and was, for not killing anyone that dark Nebraska night.  I wonder if anyone around him had the guts to tell him, to his face, that on October 16, 2009, he was the luckiest man in the world.  Because not only was he caught by State Troopers before killing anyone else, he was caught before killing himself.  Joba Chamberlain is not a lucky man because he's built like a horse.  He's not lucky because he's got an electric arm.  He's not lucky because he wears a New York Yankees uniform.  Joba Chamberlain is lucky because he's alive today.

Do you think he thinks about that? 

There are others.  How many other professional athletes, famous actors, high-class business people, politicians...  How many college kids, how many neighbors, how many priests and doctors and teachers... How many of these people know how lucky they are to have been caught DUI before killing someone?

When I was four years old, I was part of a carpool to nursery school with Susie Johnson.  Mrs. Johnson drove me a couple of days a week and my mom drove Susie and me a couple of days a week.  I remember sitting in the back of Mrs. Johnson's VW Bug, crawling as close to the rear window as possible, and watching the cars behind us, almost like they were following us, making sure we were safe on our journey to Mrs. Blank's class at the local Methodist church.

Susie wasn't safe.  My mom got a call one morning.  Mrs. Johnson wasn't going to pick me up then, or ever again.  Susie had been killed the evening before by a drunk driver.  She'd been playing on the lawn of a local college, about 50 yards away from the road.  The driver lost control of his vehicle and killed her.  Like I said, she was four years old.

Tell me it's not more than a hell of a thing to kill a four year old, who had a sister and parents, who had an entire life in front of her.  An entire life.  Everything she was ever going to have, taken away in a heartbeat.  Why couldn't that driver have been lucky that day.  Why couldn't Susie have been lucky that day.

Most of us never knew Nick Adenhart.  Let us not forget the others taken with him that night, or all of the others who have died from drinking and driving.  Let us do all in our power to stop tragic mistakes like this from ever happening again.  

Please.