Most 23 year olds are having the times of their lives polishing up their final years of college or just venturing into that terrifying vortex everyone’s been calling “The Real World” since they were old enough to walk.
Most 23 year olds don’t have to go see a specialist every six months to make sure the cancer that made its residence in their lymph nodes hasn’t called for an encore performance. Then again, most 23 year olds aren’t winning World-Series-clinching games. So Jon Lester isn’t like most 23 year olds.
While it seemed like the rest of the country (not to mention the ever-growing small continent that is Red Sox Nation) was fixated on Jonathan Papelbon’s dance selection during Boston’s rolling rally. The lost story in one of the most dominant stretches in playoff history was the one staring everybody right in the face.
A little more than a year removed from his first ever postseason start, coveted Red Sox prospect Jon Lester found himself in an odd spot. A lefty starter with gas, poise and that absurd confidence all Sox prospects seem to have now, Lester was in line to become the American League’s “Next Big Thing.” Boy Wonder Theo Epstein thought so highly of his second-round southpaw, he awarded him with one million dollars worth of a signing bonus, more than anybody else taken in that round. When trade rumors circulated about the Red Sox swapping Manny Ramirez for Alex Rodriguez in 2004, the Rangers demanded Lester. No deal.
Ditto in 2006 when the Marlins initially approached the Sox in a deal that eventually landed Josh Beckett in the Hub.
Yet still, Lester wasn’t right. A car crash had left his back feeling like a 90-year-old man, aching and easily tired. As it would turn out, that crash had just added insult to a glaring injury. On Sept. 1, 2006, Lester was diagnosed with a treatable form of anaplastic large cell lymphoma. No reason why an athletic, then 22 year old could inhabit such a terrible sounding disease. No warning. It just happened.
Boston sports fans couldn’t help but suffer from widespread flashback to another could-be savior that was swept away before they ever got to know him. It had only been 20 years since Len Bias was found dead in a college dorm room without ever taking the reigns to the Celtics dynasty from Larry Bird. Now, the lefty the Red Sox couldn’t possibly part ways with was being taken away from the game against his will.
For three months, Jon Lester couldn’t even throw a baseball, let alone harbor dreams that he’d be standing on the mound on a cold October night in Colorado. In December of last year, he finished up his fifth and final round of chemotherapy and, like you’d imagine a restless twenty something year old raised on baseball would do, went back to tossing the ball around.
After having his Major League career handed to him on a platter to that point, Lester had to start from scratch in the minors. With some velocity lost off of his fastball, and some control also missing from the lay-off, the ace in the hole was suddenly just the hole. No longer “Jon Lester: future ace,” he was now “Jon Lester: cancer survivor.” Of course it was a great story, a young man coming back from cancer literally months after chemo was finished to play pro ball, but Lester was determined to not let it define his career. He wasn’t going to just be “that guy who overcame cancer and still pitched.” He needed to redefine himself as a potential front line starter. On July 23, 10 months after learning he was sick, Lester returned to the big leagues, pitching six innings of two-run ball against the Cleveland Indians. Talk about a welcome back party.
From that point on, Lester rebounded from the bullpen to the rotation at the Sox’ leisure, filling in gaps for baseball’s best team when needed. When October finally made its way around, Tim Wakefield, who seems like he’s been pitching in Red Sox playoff games since the Berlin Wall came down, was left off the World Series roster with an ailing back and shoulder. In steps Jon Lester, who took the ball for his team in game four of the World Series, blew the Rockies away for five innings and left with his name in the history books as the winning pitcher of the Boston Red Sox series clincher in 2007.
Alex Rodriguez and his agent Lucifer McAntichrist did steal Jon Lester’s spotlight when the sun went down on October the 28th. When Lester’s story should have been rehashed thousands of times over and over again on ESPN, we saw stock footage of A-Rod’s stupid purple lipstick and heard of his insatiable thirst for a quarter of a billion dollar contract instead. Not that the modest Lester even wanted the attention, but in this instance, a half-hour special dedicated to how insanely driven this guy is would have been completely justified.
After the final pitch had been thrown and all the champagne thoroughly wasted, Lester got to reflect on his year: “I think that if people would have been in my situation they would have done the same thing. I don’t think that I’m any different than anybody else. It just so happens that I play baseball and we’re in the World Series and we’re on a big stage.”
I don’t see A-Rod saying anything like that anytime soon. And I sure as hell don’t see any other 23 year olds I know saying it either. From the look of him in the clubhouse after the game, it looked like Jon Lester was having the time of his life. Gallons of beer, his girlfriend hanging off his arm as he danced like an idiot with his buddies. Maybe he’s more like a regular 23 year old than I thought.
By Guest Columnist Patrick Stone
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
