AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > October > 16 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USRockies dedicate play to Coobaugh
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
The Colorado Rockies haven’t been playing just for the World Series, but also for Amanda, Joey and Jake. Amanda, Joey and Jake are the family of Mike Coolbaugh. The late Mike Coolbaugh. It was a tragedy that weeks later still gnaws at the insides of any of us who has a love for baseball.
Here was a guy who had clawed his way through the minor leagues, a “family man,” a term so often wasted on some dupes. Mike Coolbaugh had a nightly prayer relationship with Joey and Jake. But baseball hadn’t been good to him. In 17 seasons, only twice had he even had a teasing relationship with a major-league team. Between “a cup of coffee” with the Brewers and the Cardinals, his major-league career consisted of 82 times at bat and two home runs.
Finally, it was over, and he went home to San Antonio in resignation last year. He was preparing himself for a career in business, but his heart wasn’t in it, the story goes. Then one day the phone rang. The Tulsa Drillers, a Rockies farm club, was offering him a job as hitting coach. He would replace Orlando Merced, an old major-leaguer who had taken his leave in mid-season. Mike said nothing to Mandy until the job was his.
“He didn’t want to jinx things,” S.L. Price wrote in Sports Illustrated. “It felt like we were always being jinxed,” Mandy said. If she only had known what was ahead.
Only July 4, Mike reported to the Drillers. Eighteen games later he was standing in the coach’s box at first base in Little Rock, where the Drillers were playing the Travelers.
You and I and thousands of us who have watched baseball being played, pregame practice, infielders aiming throws at first base, batters rapping line drives about the field. And heard some player cry, “Look out!” Then going about what they were doing, never giving thought that serious injury might have been inches away.
One reason Mike answered the Drillers’ call, Joey and Jake, five and three years old, liked going to the ball park and seeing their dad in a baseball uniform. Being in San Antonio and dad in Tulsa, there wasn’t a lot of chances for that, but there were pictures, and they could visit, and that was enough. At least they could have a few swings with him in the backyard when he was home.
It was the ninth inning that day. The Drillers had a runner on first and a 28-year-old utilityman, Tino Sanchez, a left-handed hitter, at bat. Mike was busy, concentrating on the baserunner and his lead. According to reports, Mike told him, “If you’re going from first to third, you’ve got to be sure,” and those were his last words. Sanchez pulled an inside pitch and it traveled like an arrow straight at Mike, struck him behind the left ear, and in the words of an attending doctor, he was dead by the time he hit the ground. It was a freak. An inch either way or the other, the doctor said, and he’d still be alive.
Now, I’ve read that the only other time a baseball player has been killed in a professional game was in 1920, when a pitch from Carl Mays struck Ray Chapman, Cleveland Indians shortstop, in the head and injured him fatally. But I was reminded of a story, when I was a kid, on the front page of the Greensboro Daily News of shortstop Jake Batterton taking a pitch to the skull in a Piedmont League game, and that the pitch killed him. Several years later, in the Georgia-Alabama League, a pitch by Jack Clifton struck a batter named Otis Johnson in the head, killed him and a serious hostility broke out between the neighboring towns of Dothan and Headland.
But this was now and a different time. News travels faster and in graphic form. You see a small line crawl across the bottom of “SportsCenter” one afternoon, and a tragedy such as this strikes at the hearts of people who’d never heard of Mike Coolbaugh. Two small boys and a pregnant mother are thrust into the public eye, and players who never met or saw them respond with admirable generosity. The Rockies opened their hearts as if this was one of their own.
Mike had been one of them, if only for 18 days. Joey and Jake were invited to throw out the first pitch at one of the playoff games. When the Rockies convened, as major-league teams do, to vote on how the postseason money should be split, they included the Coolbaughs in a touching way. They voted Amanda and Joey and Jake Coolbaugh a full share, just like a player. They’ve made the World Series now. I’m pulling for them to go all the way, and if they do, it could amount to about $120,000 for the Coolbaugh family Mike left behind. You have to break out the tissue for a story like that.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves / MLB, Furman Bisher
Comments
By Go Rockies
October 16, 2007 10:58 PM | Link to this
What a sad but touching story and what unselfishness on the part of the major league team. We all have to be somewhat Colorado fans now.
Go Rockies!
By LivininAL
October 17, 2007 8:32 AM | Link to this
Touching tribute. Occasionally, we are reminded that the grand old game of baseball is still more than just a business.
By Buz
October 17, 2007 8:57 AM | Link to this
I did not have a horse to ride in the World Series’ race. Now I am in it all the way for the Rockies. Thanks, Mr. Bisher, for this moving story.
By Buz
October 17, 2007 8:59 AM | Link to this
I did not have a horse to ride in the World Series’ race. Now I am in it all the way for the Rockies. Thanks, Mr. Bisher, for this moving story.
By Gene
October 17, 2007 9:32 AM | Link to this
With all of the bad stories about sports—from Mike Vick, to crooked refs, to steroids, this is something good. It probably has something to do with the Rockies’ success. Thanks for sharing it with us, Mr. Bisher.
By JUST LISTENING
October 17, 2007 10:23 AM | Link to this
SOUNDS LIKE THE ROCKIES HAVE A OWNER AND GM THE BRAVES COULD USE. PROOF THAT BASEBALL IS MORE THAN JUST A BUSINESS. ALL THE WAY ROCKIES. THANKS MR BISHER FOR THIS TOUCHING STORY.
By Cincy Brave
October 17, 2007 12:17 PM | Link to this
Stories like this put things into perspective. While winning is nice, there are more important things in life…..whether you win the World Series or not, you are all winners in the game that counts the most! GO ROCKIES! Thanks for the story….
By Jerry
October 17, 2007 2:55 PM | Link to this
Good column, and a class act on the part of the Rockies. Who said professional athletes are totally self-centered?
By Ryder
October 17, 2007 3:04 PM | Link to this
I understand that no matter what happens to the Rockies it won’t bring Coolbaugh back to his family, but kudos to this organization for stepping up to the plate and assisting his wife.
GO ROCKIES!
By David Tucker
October 17, 2007 7:10 PM | Link to this
I don’t think this is unusual for the Rockies organization. Didn’t they provide a private plane for Walt Weis to travel back and forth between Atlanta and Denver a few years back to attend to his critically ill son while he was with the Braves. He had previously played for the Rockies. Class.
By Ken Stallings
October 17, 2007 10:16 PM | Link to this
Part column and part news article. I did not know about this story until now, Furman. Once again, you prove a master at telling a compelling story.
Thank you. Please don’t retire! The AJC needs you now more than ever. You restore the confidence in sports readers that there are still writers out there who understand their craft and rise to the level of professional journalist.