And the story continues.....and Marisnick shows nothing but class, as usual.
Jake Marisnick showed us how to live and love on a baseball field last night
Today, ESPN will not show endless replays of a stupid, bench clearing melee’ that happened on a baseball field last night.....They [baseball fans] will not see it because one man stopped it.
In apparent retaliation for the collision between Jake Marisnick and Jonathon Lucroy last week that resulted in injury to Lucroy, Angels reliever Noe Ramirez threw this pitch straight at the head of Marisnick.
Marisnick got up, headed straight to first base, and did not even glance at the pitcher, who was clearly trying to inflict grave injury upon him.
And although Marisnick did not retaliate in any way, not even with a small dirty look, the Angels dugout cleared, and the bullpen cleared, and as the Astros began to come out in defense of their old comrade, this was Jake’s reaction.
With forceful leadership, not mere passivity, Jake implored his own teammates to de-escalate the anger, to quiet their angry words, to sit down humbly and avoid retaliation, to not engage in the silly drama that everyone claims they deplore, but so many secretly crave.
But after a night of cruel taunts and hateful jeers by fans, and even after a fastball aimed at his head struck him smack in his upper back, by his reaction, so completely devoid of guile or anger, Jake deserved a better award. [Astros Heart & Sole Award]
It takes an even greater heart and courage to turn the other cheek like Jake did last night. I have never seen anything like that on a baseball field ever before.
Have you? Where one entire team, dugout and pitchers, all came onto the field ready for a fight, and the other didn’t, because one man implored them not to? Has any baseball player ever done that before?
To the bored Squads....shake hands and PLAY BALL!We all know that Jake did not intend to hurt Jonathon Lucroy. He knows he did not intend to hurt Jonathon Lucroy. And yet it is clear many people hate him because they choose to believe he intended to do just that. The opposing pitcher even tried to inflict physical harm to Jake because he believed that. Yet, Jake’s heart and courage were willing last night to absorb that hate, to end the vicious, seemingly unending cycle of revenge and retaliation. It’s as though he was telling his teammates, “the hate stops here, it stops now. With us. We will not retaliate.”
What a lesson for the whole world. For the feuding nations, for the feuding tribes, for the feuding parties.
