Nice to Know Some People "Get It"

The following notice appeared in the sports section of the Cape Cod Times yesterday. It's nice to know there are people like this in the world. I'm quoting it verbatim.

Sam

Royals pitcher Gil Meche retired on Tuesday at age 32, walking away from a $12 million salary rather than face shoulder surgery that could have ended his season before it ever started.

Meche signed a $55 million, five-year deal with Kansas City as a free agent before the 2007 season. But the right-hander had shoulder problems last year while going 0-5 with a 5.69 ERA.

There was a chance Meche could undergo surgery and come back in the bullpen. There was no guarantee, however, that he would be able to pitch at all in 2011.

"I didn't want to go try it again for another season and be the guy making $12 million doing absolutely nothing to help their team," Meche said. "Yeah, a lot of people might think I'm crazy for not trying to play and making this amount of money. I don't think I'm ever going to regret it."

He retires with an 84-83 record in 10 seasons with Seattle and Kansas City. With the Royals, he was 29-39 with a 4.27 ERA in 111 games, including 100 starts.

At a principle, kudos to him.

Will probably be some other "douche bag" happily absorbing those 12m instead. Maybe he should have taken the money and used it for charity.

Sam

No one can say what goes on in ones mind if you have the skill set to make it in PRO sports. It's a level so very few can achieve.

Love of the game vs the pain of a surgery and rehab with no guarantee that he can pitch again even if surgery is successful. Tough choice regardless of the money esp if you have a deep love of the game.

He apparently knows what his body (shoulder) is telling him and it's saying NO MORE.

beat

Nice to have a bit of a baseball story with it about 10 degrees outside and colder temps looming for the weekend!

mrkleen09 wrote:25 Days to Pitchers and Catchers!!!

LOVE IT!!

beat