A Prayer for a Shortstop

If an article was written about Alex Gonzalez and how he worked hard to make it to the Majors, no doubt his numerous critics would blast the article. After all, Gonzalez is a no hit shortstop - a waste of money - they say. In fact, articles about Gonzalez received that exact treatment when he was signed and pretty much all spring. (Some would have you believe that no one gets any press coverage except recovering drug addicts.)

Unfortunately, the articles in the Reds media for the next few days may be about Alex, but not about how he worked hard to get to the Majors. No, they will be about his 7 year old son, Johan, who is lying critically ill in a hospital in Venezuela right now.

Most of us take life for granted, don't we? How many of us grumble when the alarm goes off instead of just being grateful we woke up at all? (Of course, we'd enjoy life more if we didn't have to get up so early to slave away for The Man!) It is only when we are reminded of our mortality that most of us stop to reflect upon how precious is each sip of air we take, each heartbeat, each ray of sunshine that warms our skin or forces smiles from the depths of malcontent. (The sociopaths among us are truly unfortunate souls.)

I have no child, so I can't accurately imagine the agony that Alex and his wife are going through right now, but being the sensitive person I am, I feel something painful, and I try to understand. I don't know Alex Gonzalez - probably no one reading this does - but it doesn't matter, because we are fellow human beings, and most of us have been blessed with compassion, empathy, and a true desire for goodness to befall others, even if this desire is buried in the realm of our subconscience.

Though it sounds ludicrous at a time like this because baseball means nothing when a little boy lies in a hospital bed fighting for his too brief life, baseball is such a part of my life that I can't help but feel that Alex is kind of a family member. Forget baseball, damn it. Just get that kid well again.

I hope the religious among us will keep the Gonzalez family in thoughts and prayers and the rest will expend our hope until a healthy little boy named Johan is once again standing on a green field with his little hand around a white leather sphere with 108 red stitches, trying to emulate his big league dad.