A Joyful Loss at Minute Maid Park

Tonight I left Minute Maid Park smiling from ear to ear. Was I happy that the Astros lost 13-2? Certainly not. But I was incredibly happy nonetheless.

Let's back up a bit. Just two months ago, my life took a very unhappy turn when the owner of my company died very unexpectedly. Alan was more than the boss. He was a friend. Alan had a knack of finding a connection with everyone with whom he dealt. Our connection was baseball. Astros baseball.

He stopped by my office every single day and asked me what he would read that day when he looked at my blog. He would quiz me non-stop about players that intrigued him. He took particular interest in Joe Sclafani because they shared a Dartmouth education in common. His very last email to me included detailed information about the draft class with his thoughts about who the Astros should draft 1.1. (By the way, he wasn't a fan of Rodon. He wanted Kolek, but Aiken was his second choice so I think he would be happy with the results.)

As I made my way into the office this morning, all I could think about was how much Alan would have loved to drop into my visitor's chair and riddle me with questions about Kiké and Domingo. Sometimes I would become exasperated with him because I had work to do, and he wanted to talk baseball (ironic, huh?). But I would have given anything to have been able to answer all of his questions today.

I had no plans to go to tonight's game, but once I heard that Kiké and Domingo were being called up, there was no question but that I would go. And as much as I like Domingo Santana, he was not the main reason that I made sure I was in attendance tonight. I had to be there for Kiké.

I believe that Santana was on every top ten Astros prospect list over the off-season. Kiké wasn't on any of them. I don't remember even hearing the front office mention his name despite the tremendous year he was having in Oklahoma City. When he got the call, I was mildly surprised. Not because I didn't think he deserved it, but because I wasn't sure the current regime recognized that.

But knowing he was on the way, I had to be there. Because once I met Kiké two years ago in Lancaster, I fell in love with him. To know Kiké is to love Kiké. He's one of a kind.

I knew that he had been injured and had missed some time, but he was starting to really take off in Lancaster. Lancaster Manager Rodney Linares told me that year, "He's not going to hit 40 home runs, but he's got a chance to hit 40 doubles." He was on my short list to talk with, but when he came out of the clubhouse to talk with me, he noted the confusion on my face when I saw this mane of dark blonde hair. "I'm not your typical Puerto Rican," he said with a huge grin, and he put me completely at ease with that statement.

And that's what Kiké does. He puts people at ease. If you need a court jester, look to Kiké. If you need comic relief, look to Kiké. If you need a goofy smile to brighten your day, definitely look to Kiké. If you need someone to entertain the crowd during a lights-out delay, look to Kiké to dance with Andy Simunic and the Hooks mascot on the field.

And during that interview two years ago, when I asked him to tell me something about himself that most people don't know, this is what he told me, “Only my teammates would know I’m a guy you always see with a smile on his face. I like to see people happy. Whenever someone’s not having a good day, I always try and go and make their day better. I like to see people happy, people around me happy, people I care about. This is my family right here. My teammates are my family when I’m away from home so I just want everybody to feel like they’re home. We get pretty homesick sometimes and miss our families because it’s a long road, six months away from home. We’ve been getting new guys pretty much every week and you just want to make those new guys feel comfortable. That’s pretty much what I’m here for, making everybody feel better.”

So I had to be there for him tonight. I wanted to make him feel comfortable. I wanted to make him feel better. I wanted to make him feel at home in Houston. I got to the ballpark early. As it turns out, I got there before his family and his girlfriend had arrived. And I got there before his adopted family from Corpus had arrived (his host family when he played in Corpus).

When I saw Kiké leaving the field after BP, I quickly walked over to where he was signing autographs. I caught his eye, and my reward was a big hug. We spoke briefly and we hugged again, and he gave me one of his goofy Kiké grins.

I soon found his host family from Corpus, which led me to seeing his beautiful girlfriend again and to meeting his family as they arrived from Puerto Rico.

And then the game started, unfortunately without Kiké in the line-up. It was a tough game. Fast forward to the 7th inning. The Astros were down 13-1. Jose Altuve left the game. Kiké came in to the game. Then this happened.

That was the first major league at-bat and the first hit for one Kiké Hernandez, an RBI double. Of course it was a double. That's what he does. He went on to hit a single in his second appearance.

Which brings me back to Alan. When he first died, I didn't go to a single game for three weeks. I just couldn't. It reminded me too much of what we had shared and of what I had lost. I finally made my way back, but a certain amount of the joy in watching a baseball game was still missing.

Then, at some point during tonight's game, I looked out on the field. And I saw several young men that I knew, young men that I cared about working their hearts out on the field in front of me. And tears started to slowly drip down my face as I thought how baseball gives us so much pleasure, and helps us so much when times are hard.  Baseball is timeless. It is waiting there for you even if you have to leave it for a while.

Watching Kiké achieve his dream tonight, alongside other young men that I've gotten to know just a little bit during this journey of mine, reminded me of that. So, yes, when I left the ballpark tonight I was grinning from ear to ear. A big goofy Kiké grin.