Maybe it's the fact that the Cubs won their third game in a row today, the first time they have done so in as long as I can remember this season. I'm really not sure why. But I thought I would share with you something I wrote after returning from seeing the Cubs play the White Sox at spring training in Arizona this April:
I have lots to write about my trip to Arizona and Cubs spring training, and not much time in which to write. But I wanted to touch on this before it slips away . . .
I read tonight that Marquis Grissom, a guy who was trying to make the Cubs' roster by playing well in spring training, retired today. My heart ached a bit on reading this. Not because I have long loyalty to Marquis--I really don't know much about him at all. But yesterday, I saw the last game he ever played, a spring training game between the Cubs and the White Sox.
Marquis played all nine innings in right field, and for some reason, I happened to see him often and really notice him, whether I was sitting in my seat behind home plate watching him bat or whether I was hovering near the end of the first base line, near his spot in right field, to peek at the guys in the bullpen and take in the whole scene from a different angle. And each time I noticed Marquis, I saw a certain expression on his face, a slight wistfulness, and saw that he kept looking around at the crowd when he was playing in the field. I didn't realize it then, but I think now that he knew it was his last game and he was trying to burn into his brain the memory of the sounds of the crowd, and the faces, and all of it, so that he will remember always what that feeling was like, even if the memory only came from a spring training game.
Today, he said: "When it's time, it's time," . . . "I think this is the best thing for me, at this point, to officially hang the cleats up and go home and enjoy the second half of my life and do things I've always wanted to do" . . . "The best thing about [Monday] was I played nine innings and I felt good" . . . "I'm at peace with myself," he said. "I'm happy. I feel the whole world has been lifted off my shoulders. I don't have to do it, I don't have to commit the time. It took its toll. This is the way I want to go out."
Grissom is, according to the linked article, "one of seven players in Major League history to record 2,000 hits, 200 home runs and 400 stolen bases. He was fourth on the active leaders list with 429 stolen bases and is 55th on the big league list, having stolen 20 or more bases in 10 of his 17 seasons." But what strikes me about him is his love for the game and his generosity in supporting the younger players. Today, when I realized the reason for the expression I saw on his face at yesterday's game, it touched me in a way I cannot quite explain. I hope this player who experienced so much on the field will find a new, but equally satisfying, fulfillment in the second chapter of his life off the field.
Postscript: It is interesting to me that, three months after Marquis' retirement, there are so many recent articles that mention him, according to this Google search. I feel somewhat comforted to know that players like him are not quickly forgotten.
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