A Note on Greinke - His Comeback Was Two Years Ago

Obviously, national baseball writers are writing about Greinke now because he’s become so good that he stands out on a national level. But when you write about a player, you write their story, and the “overcoming depression” angle is a great story. It’s just old news for those of us who have followed it the last 3 years. Even Posnanski’s continued telling the story because it’s a great story. It’s old news to an extent in Kansas City, it’s certainly old news on a Royals blog, but it’s not yet old news nationally. It’s going to keep coming up frequently this season as long as Greinke’s good because (1) it’s a great story, (2) there are a lot of people who still haven’t heard it, and (3) there’s a lot of space to fill. I’m sure Rangers fans grew weary of the Josh Hamilton story too. It’s not like he suddenly overcame the drug addiction in Spring of ’08.

Plus Greinke being in a mental home last year and escaping to become this great pitcher the past month sounds alot cooler

Cliff Lee got a lot of press too and Indians weren’t contending. His story was, “wow this guy was such a loser last year he was axed off the playoff roster, and now he’s a the Cy Young winner!”

“I guess we should all be inspired or amazed that a millionaire and a multi-million dollar investment for a professional sports team was treated well and got help, I’m sure a 55 year old secretary would be treated the same way when she told someone she hated work”

If you’re comparing what Greinke had to someone ‘hating work’, maybe you ‘re the one guy who really OUGHT to have paid attention to those stories about his comeback. Mental illness is just about the only thing it’s still all right to discriminate against in this country, and that’s too bad. I for one do find Greinke’s comeback inspiring, and not in the usual ‘inspirational sports story’ way. Few inspirational sports stories really are. But however much help one gets, something like this can spiral into not just being unable to play ball, but being unable to live, period. A kind of hell. So it’s good to see Greinke do this. But it’s also worth noting that if he had not been a ballplayer, or had not had the means, or a family that cared, this country would have let his brain eat itself alive, or would have let him get so messed up he killed himself. That’s the story. The more sympathetic stories we get in this country about mental illness, the better. It should be brought up constantly and shoved in people’s faces. In the meantime people with mental problems will continue to be allowed to die quietly, locked out of American society.