Trayce and Nyls

Clare called Monday night to ask if I was watching the finals of American Ninja Warrior.  I told her I was taping it to watch later in the week for when I rode the exercycle (along with “They Were Expendable” with John Wayne and Robert Montgomery).  Why?  “Somebody’s going to climb Mt. Midoriyama.”  In other words, a contestant—two, actually—had survived an obstacle course in equal parts brutal and capricious to rope climb a 90-foot tall set of monkey bars.  Or is it an Erector Set on steroids? A rather odd fellow who says he lives free and may even be able to spell “libertarian” is now a million dollars richer.

We were talking on the phone as I watched White Sox right fielder Trayce Thompson roll over on his left arm trying to catch a fly ball in the top of the ninth inning in a game against the As.  “Oh, my God, it’s broken!” I said.  No, not the mountain, the wrist.  I had a long-ago flashback to White Sox phenom Nyls Nyman.  The 20-year old started his big-league career going 9 for 14, with two doubles, a triple , 4 rbi’s and five runs scored in a September 1975 call up. Then Nyman broke his wrist (I think) and was never the same again.

Clare was luckier.  She broke her arm as a nine-year old, but it didn’t affect her swing.  In fact, the day the cast came off she insisted on going to Mustang baseball practice, and, yes, she hit a home run.  Thompson may be as blessed.  X-rays were negative, and he’s listed as day-to-day with a hyperextended elbow.