These are dark days indeed for Justin Morneau. The former MVP of the American League continues to battle concussion symptoms and is officially doubting his future.
Morneau spoke to reporters today at the Twins Spring Training complex in Fort Myers and, while attempting to say All the Right Things, hinted that he potentially sees the end of his career in the not-so-distant future.
Next step for all of us: Watching Morneau take BP and work in the field today. Interestingly, will face at least 1 lefty in live BP.
— Jim Souhan (@SouhanStrib) February 24, 2012
All is not lost for Morneau quite yet but the native of Ulan Baatar seems realistic about his chances of making a full recovery. As he told Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis StarTribune:
“ Well, I don’t think there will be a career if it’s something I’m dealing with,’’ he said. “That’s the reality of the whole thing. I’m obviously not going to continue to mess around with this if it continues to be a problem. There comes a point where you can only torture yourself for so long. (Emphasis mine, heartbreak at your leisure.)
Morneau notes he leans heavily on his wife as well as fellow Canadian concussion-sufferer Corey Koskie.
Koskie, as you might remember, saw his career evaporate after a series of head injuries and lingering symptoms ended his career at just 33 years-old. Souhan hints that the way Koskie’s health declined scares Morneau quite a bit.
When asked how long he was symptom-free, Morneau was slightly evasive while trying his hardest to be positive.
“Everything has been pretty good since January, I’d say. Somewhere in there. I don’t know. It’s hard to tell. There’s times Where I won’t feel that good and wake up the next day and feel fine, just knowing it may have been a little extra fatigue or I did too much that day or whatever it is. I can’t really remember the last time that was. So it has been good for awhile.’
With any serious head injury, the fate of the team falls a distant second to the thought of a 31 year-old man suffering crippling pain and anxiety for the rest of his life. That Morneau is Canadian shouldn’t make us root for him any more. Concussions aren’t epidemic in baseball as in other major sports but that doesn’t make their impact any less frightening. We can only hope Morneau gets the best advice and is able to make the soundest decisions with all the information at hand.
If Justin Morneau is unable to continue playing baseball, hopefully he enters the next stage of his life knowing he did the right thing for his future and his family.
If he does return to the baseball, hopefully he gets traded away from the Twins because they are just the worst.
“If he does return to the baseball, hopefully he gets traded away from the Twins because they are just the worst.”
Oh, it’s on you Tim-Horton’s-loving, wrong-bacon-eating, lumberjacking hoser.
Ha! Mission accomplished!
“Wrong-bacon-eating” …
Oh, you mean Canadian bacon – basically cold cuts of ham heated up. You do realize that only exists in the US, right?
Hey, the Twins aren’t that bad. They have a pretty cool stadium that I would like to visit this summer.
For a second there, I thought it read that Justin Morneau is married to Corey Koskie and I was like, “When did that happen???”
Something about that picture makes Morneau look positively Stanton sized. I fully expect him to pick up a miniature Jack Black and tell him what a terrible movie he’s made.
This was a refreshing read and demonstrated a level of compassion that is often absent in analytic circles.
Agree with Go U Birds’ comment. I find Drew’s work often hits that: Well written and analytical, without completely ignoring the human element. Keep it up!
Thanks, dudes. That is too kind.
Stuff like this should only happen to douchebags like Chris Pronger. Just isn’t fair
someone should give this information to Sydney Crosby, reminding him that he’s already accomplished pretty much everything anyone could ever dream of doing on the ice asides from breaking all-time records…
Nice article Dustin. But this sentence is a tad misleading:
“Morneau notes he leans heavily on his wife and fellow Canadian concussion sufferer Corey Koskie.”
He is not married to Koskie, is he? haha
I mean Drew*
Sorry. Haha.
Native of Ulan Bataar? Since when is New Westminster, BC in Mongolia? Is there a joke I’m not getting…?