Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best when he said “There can
be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.”
Torii Hunter is a Detroit Tiger and a great many Angel fans
are heart-broken today - Cheryl and me included. We are
disappointed like you wouldn’t believe and when I say we, I’m not pretending to
speak for all Angel fans – just my wife Cheryl and me.
The disappointment in the Angels not resigning Hunter is
monumental for us. It is heart breaking
to see someone like Hunter who has had such a positive impact on our fan
experience leave.
What’s worse – we feel like the Angels lied to their fan
base. Arte Moreno intimated that
resigning Torii was important. Mike
Scioscia said it was one of their top priorities. And yet – when push came to shove, it was
reported that the Angels offered Hunter a one-year, $5 million contract that
Hunter found “disrespectful.”
Yes, we know that anyone saying that being offered $5
million is disrespectful sounds silly, but it’s all about context and
regardless of whether or not you think Hunter was politically incorrect is
irrelevant to us right now.
The gaping hole left behind by his departure isn’t likely to
be filled. There’s no mistaking the void
left behind for fans, the community, the Angels clubhouse and more. Torii Hunter is one of those rare individuals
who mere presence brings joy and today a big chunk of our joy was decimated.
Angels’ baseball will be a little less interesting for
Cheryl and me.
There are so many things we will miss about Hunter and to
list them all would take far too long; however, we will try.
We will miss his smile, his sense of humor, his genuine love
of the game and the way he interacted with fans. We will miss his commitment to community, to
helping others, to the way he led by example on and off the field. We will miss Torii Hunter because he made
watching baseball that much more fun and every time he stepped in front of a
microphone he made us smile.
In an era where celebrities are celebrated in some perverse
way for being rude, obnoxious or even deceitful – Hunter was a breath of fresh
air. He was and remains one of the “good
guys” and it’s a shame that he’s no longer an Angel. It’s absolutely a darn shame.
The past five seasons went by too fast and the promise and
potential that they held evaporated into thin air. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Personally; Torii Hunter became my all-time favorite player;
in fact, he’s easily my all-time favorite athlete.
So yes, we are disappointed. We’re heart broken. We are even a little angry.
This isn’t the first time that a fan-favorite was shown the
door in Anaheim. It happens all the time
and that’s part of the business of baseball.
We get that. It doesn’t mean that
we have to like it much.
The silver lining in all of this is that Hunter’s departure
paves the way for Peter Bourjos to get a legitimate shot at having an
impact. The same Bourjos that Hunter
gracefully stepped aside for after 9 consecutive gold-glove campaigns in center
field. Vintage Torii.
We are huge Peter Bourjos fans… but that doesn’t diminish our
disappointment in Hunter’s departure at all.
It’s not that we’re upset that the Angels lost a great
talent in the prime of his career (we know he’s 37). No, it’s the fact that the Angels lost a good
man; a God fearing man who would have a tremendous impact on the world around
him regardless of what he did for a living.
This is going to be a long off season and today, it’s
difficult to look ahead to spring. The only
thing that can make any of this a little easier is if the Angels bring back Joe
Saunders and that would be a nice Christmas gift.
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