Take me out of the ballgame

Colby Ryan Rasmus, age 31, out of Columbus, Georgia, is trying to tell the world something.

He signed a pro baseball contract after attending college at Auburn and then went on to make the major leagues after the obligatory tour of the minors, and as a big-leaguer played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, and Tampa Bay Rays.

While a member of the Rays last year, he suddenly felt the need to step away from playing baseball in July, and went home to reconsider his future. He was coming off a left hip injury at the time but was supposed to be ready to play again, but quit instead. That meant walking away from $2.2 million in salary. Rasmus, back home, said: "Man, it wasn’t fulfilling me with all the happiness in the world... Chasing the dream, chasing the money – leaves you kind of empty. So I wanted to go home and just enjoy the time away."

Over the past winter, as a free agent, came a change of heart, and he said, "Just felt like I wanted to give it another go," so he signed with the Baltimore Orioles for $3 million for the 2018 season, with another $2 mil in incentive pay if he achieved certain levels of accomplishment.

That did not occur. Rasmus started the season as right fielder, complained of more hip problems, went on the disabled list for two months, came back and played a little bit, and last Sunday, called out sick.

Monday was an off day as the team traveled to Philadelphia to play the Phillies, and Tuesday afternoon, Colby told manager Buck Showalter he was throwing in the towel on his career again.

"Colby talked to me this afternoon, and said he made a decision to go home and discontinue playing, and we’re going to honor that and give him the privacy that he’s due,” Showalter told the Baltimore SUN. “I hope everything is for the best. We wish him well, and we’ll see what the future brings. But I’m not going to get into a lot of details in our conversation.”

I can't think of a more clear example of the old saying about walking in another person's shoes. Nature gave this man the ability to play the greatest game on earth, and he doesn't want to play it anymore.  Chances are that even as a player who was never considered a star of any sort, he has made enough money to preclude having to run the register at Dollar Tree anytime soon.


Not that there's anything about working at the Tree to look down upon! The point is, millions and millions of American kids dream of playing major league ball, and there are 750 jobs like that in all the world (30 teams x 25 players each.)

An opening presented itself on the Orioles roster, unexpectedly, and outfielder Joey Rickard will come up from the minor league to be one of the 750, and Rasmus will go home to his wife and children and ponder what's next.

F. Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American lives, but time after time, we see proof of how wrong that cynical statement is. For all we know, Rasmus is happier now than he's been for years, and will enjoy decades of happiness with his family, and maybe he will get to a point at which we can say that being a big league ballplayer who gave up being a ballplayer is the SECOND most interesting thing about him.