From today’s Reds’ Insider:
The Reds’ trip to the U.S. Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., had a major impact on those who went.
“It was a good visit, but it was tough to see,” Adam Dunn said. “To see them laying there like that was hard. A lot of them were younger than me.”
Sean Casey said seeing the family members of the fallen was just as hard.
“You could see the sadness in their eyes,” Casey said.
Casey said it gave him a new appreciation for the armed forces.
“They’re over there fighting for a great cause,” he said. “You walked out of there with an appreciation for what they’ve done. Those guys are real heroes.”
Casey, Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr., Austin Kearns, David Weathers, Jason Standridge, Mark Berry and Jerry Narron made the visit.
A big tip of the cap to Casey, Dunn, Jr, Kearns, Weathers, Standridge, Berry, and Narron for taking the time to do this.
A BIG “What about the rest of you?”…to the rest of the players and coaches that didn’t bother to take the time. Out of approximately 30 players and coaches, less than 1/3 of them took the time to visit these heros…I’m very disappointed in our players.
I don’t know the whole story, but it was mainly the “stars” of the team that went. It could be that the team was asked to keep the group small so as to not overwhelm the staff. I only say this because based on what I’ve read about players like Jacob Cruz, I doubt that he would just skip a trip like that.
I feel the same as Bill and also suspect Joel is right.
An entire baseball team can’t go visit people in a hospital or anywhere else. It’s just too many people. That’s why anytime there’s a visit in the community, a handful of players go. You’re really grasping at straws here.
I don’t think he’s grasping at straws at all. If there’s an innocent explanation, the Reds can release it. Otherwise it looks bad on the players that appear not to have taken the time.
Of course, I agree with the sentiment re: Jacob Cruz. I can’t believe he wouldn’t have gone, given the opportunity.
As for “an entire baseball team can’t go visit people….too many people,” I know that isn’t true, although it may vary depending on the hospital. I’ve been in a hospital when the entire Duke and Virginia basketball teams visited together, and that was well over thirty people.
You dudes are spending way too much time worrying about what Reds are visiting hospitals. It’s very likely that they keep the group to a limited number, if that’s not the case then it’s something that should be determined before calling the players out.
Let’s just say that a bunch of good guys who happened to be Cincinnati Reds went to Bethesda and did something nice for another bunch of great guys. Then lets don’t read into it any farther than that.
If you couple this with the way the team treated young Antonio Perez, I think its safe to say that we have players on this team that we can be very proud of.
Glenn, you brought up a good point. What about the players who didn’t go out of their way to comfort little Antonio Perez when his grandfather died? I mean, Randy Keisler should be ashamed!