He Gone

Clare called me sounding so excited I thought maybe she’d found a roll of hundred dollar bills on the ground.  To my daughter, it was even better.  “Did you hear?” she asked excitedly.  “The White Sox cut Danks.”

Indeed, the team gave starting pitcher John Danks his release.  As you might expect, players expressed sadness at the news.  Carlos Rodon called Danks a mentor while Chris Sale said he was a major influence.  The temptation, of course, is to hope Danks’ influence can be minimized, but that’s unfair.  Seriously.

Fans will never know what players do; they’ll never see what players go through.  If John Danks was Carlos Rodon’s mentor, good for him; again, I mean that.  If he lent a positive veteran presence in the clubhouse, I can only hope someone steps in fast to fill that role.  The players know that, without admitting it to the cameras, what happened to their teammate yesterday will befall them, as it does everyone, from Ernie Banks to Joe DiMaggio.  Such is life.

John Danks didn’t need the tweets or jokes centering on his performance to know where he stood.  It’s always open season on underperforming, overpaid athletes, but a high ERA doesn’t lessen John Danks’ humanity.  On the other hand, athletes can’t know the sacrifices fans make, how money gets saved and moved around in order to afford going to a couple of games, let alone season tickets, or how many if not most fans live vicariously through a team; that becomes impossible when a player dogs it.  And I wonder, when was the last time Chris Sale worked the third shift or begged for overtime?

There are things we’ll never understand about professional ballplayers, and there are things they’ll never know about everyday fans.  Good luck to John Danks.