A Story with "Heart"

Did you hear the story from the Major League Baseball Draft earlier this week?

The Texas Rangers drafted two players from the University of Georgia Bulldogs: Zach Cone 37th over-all in the fifth round and Jonathan Taylor 1,000+ over-all in the 33rd Round. The two have been teammates since their years at Parkview High School. They were both quality players for the Bulldogs program.

But what is newsworthy in this story is that Jonathan Taylor, a Junior outfielder, will probably never be able to play baseball again. He is paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair after an on field collision with his teammate and friend, Zach Cone, in early March.

The Rangers selection of Taylor was to show a token of support for his rehabilitation process. It was also a way of acknowledging the talent he possessed. An honor roll student his first two seasons, Taylor had a .312 career batting average over 117 games for Georgia and may have had a future on the diamond.

The story is that Taylor was in rehab when he got the Ranger’s phone call. His mother described the news as “awesome” and said her son’s face “lit up” when he heard about the pick.

Baseball fans will know that teams often use the last rounds of the draft to symbolically draft players who may never play for them. The most famous might be from 1987 when Tommy Lasorda used a 62nd-round pick on a little-known catcher as a favor to a family friend. (Guy by the name of Mike Piazza.)

As of this writing, it is noted that in the 40th round, the Houston Astros selected San Jacinto College reliever Buddy Lamothe, who had a 0.86 ERA before being paralyzed in a recreational accident.

These kinds of stories remind us that dreams do come true. And they give us confidence that even organizations like Major League Baseball have a heart to do what is right.

I hope it’s a trend that will spread into other areas of our society and lives.