Eddie is sometimes too depressed to care about baseball.“The game means everything to me,” he admits. “But there’s nothing good in my life right now so it just reminds me of what I don’t have anymore.”
He is sitting on a plastic crate and hoping to pick up a few bucks during the morning rush. His sign reads: Looking For Work.
“I’d love a job,” Eddie says, “but I’ll be happy to collect enough for breakfast. I just want to get through the day because people are more generous on their way home.
“That’s easy to understand,” he continues. “I was always in a better mood coming home from work.”
Eddie was a sheet-metal worker. A Union man who helped put heating and cooling systems in buildings all over the city. But the work slowed down and he got behind on his rent and started drinking too much.
It didn’t take long to blow the best job he ever had.
“It was my fault,” Eddie admits. “I didn’t handle the little bumps very well and things got a whole lot rougher. I’ve learned my lesson though. Maybe you can’t really appreciate anything until you’ve had nothing.
“It’s probably like that with baseball, too,” he reasons. “I miss the games at Yankee Stadium and I love following the team day in and day out. I want to get back there.”
It begins with a decision.
“I’m gonna get my life straightened out,” Eddie says. “Spring Training has started and I need to get back to baseball.”
3 comments:
That is a very humbling story. Most of us are one step away from this.
There are so many people without jobs and places to live and it doesn’t sound like it is going to get better anytime soon.
For better or worse this blog always makes me think.
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