I think the last time I did this was when Rany went ballistic on the Royals' training staff. Just go read this thing...
I would highly recommend reading Amy Nelson's new piece on former Royal Willie Mays Aikens that was published at SB Nation today. The story talks about Aikens's incredible rise and fall and his relationship with the Royals. The story and video below, which is also highly recommended, includes interview with Aikens's former teammate George Brett.
The story touches on the demise of the 1980s Royals, the drug scandal that rocked the team, and the larger issues involved. Just highly, highly recommended.
"It was frustrating for us, a lot of us, because they were good players," Brett says. "Willie Wilson was a great player. Willie Aikens was a great player. Jerry Martin, decent player. Vida Blue, former Cy Young award winner. So you take those guys out of our lineup and we weren't the same team."
For someone like Brett, who was one of the most intense, competitive players of his era, the loss of talent was deeply felt. Perhaps that was in part why Brett never responded to Aikens' letters from prison. Perhaps that's why he didn't reply to Aikens' desperate letter asking for help in petitioning the president for a pardon. And perhaps that's why Brett, since Aikens' release from prison in 2008, has done everything in his power to help his former teammate recapture his life.
Finally, as one of the oldest members of SB Nation, it's incredible to see this kind of work being done here.