13 months after he lost his right eye in a suicide attempt, Drew Robinson's home run on Tuesday night is just the latest miracle in his remarkable journey. (via JeffPassan)
from 2017 to 2019. He has tried to balance his necessary optimism with the truth that he doesn't have an answer for everything -- that as rosy as he'd love his life to be, as often as he sees steps in the right direction, there will always be bad days.After surviving a suicide attempt via gunshot wound to the head, Drew Robinson is attempting to return to professional baseball. Jeff Passan joins ESPN Daily to discuss his exclusive reporting on Robinson's journey.
"There's going to be a pretty big learning curve with this," Drew says."And it's going to be really uncomfortable and really challenging. "I'm just proof that if you focus on the right perspectives and you focus on the right things, you'll see hints of pure joy for life," Drew says. The first game at Giants minor league spring camp was April 12. Drew woke up early and arrived at the complex at 6:40 a.m. He was often the first one there, embracing the fact that, at 29, he was older than almost everyone in camp and needed to set an example with his toil.
The knowledge that he had survived, that he had been through so much worse than a check swing and some errors and a few strikeouts, heartened Drew through his early struggles at camp. So, too, did the excitement of what was coming: the one-year anniversary of his alive day. Daiana, Renee, Darryl, Britney and Chad came to visit Arizona on April 16 and brought with them a multitude of gifts. Their presence was the best, though what Daiana had done earlier in the week came close.
Drew did everything he could not to wrap Haines in a bear hug. The doubt, the fear, the negativity -- it was all for naught. Drew Robinson was officially a professional baseball player again. And, having cheated and snuck a glance at the River Cats' schedule, he knew what it meant: He would play his first regular-season game in nearly two years in, of all places, Las Vegas.
The fact that the River Cats season opened in Las Vegas meant that Drew's friends, family and even doctors could attend his debut. Drew struck out on six pitches. He struck out in each of his next three at-bats as well. And yet after the game, he was sanguine. They'd made good pitches. He'd missed them. It's baseball. It happens, whether you've got one eye or two.
So he took a deep breath and thought about what he wanted to say. He thought about the past month, absconding from the bubble, reentering the real world. Drew loves to use the word"powerful" -- about his story, about his experiences, about his lot in life. This was powerful. Not just what he told the people in the meeting but the knowledge that he waded into discomfort and emerged better for it. The 10 minutes breezed by.
"This is just where I belong," he says."I feel like I have a lot more in the tank, so getting this opportunity to do this, it just feels so right.
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