Friday, April 23, 2004

NBUA First Person
Tragedy at Rainier Playfield

By John Philbeck
NBUA Umpire

Rainier Beach Playfield. April 22. 3:45 start. Inglemoor vs Franklin.

I arrive at the Community Center about 2:45 and am sitting in the south lot waiting for Paul Pioli when a car of young ladies parks across from me all chattering excitedly about the events they just witnessed in the northeast corner of the playfield. There's clips overheard about blood and a gun and a fight.

About two minutes later cruisers start showing up at and around the field. Some with lights and sirens, some silent. The Community Center goes into lockdown. Franklin players move from the dugout area into center field but they all keep looking up toward the corner of the park.

In the Community Center the kids are all hyped and nervous. They saw the young man, lying face down in the grass with a hole in his back and blood all over. Several of the kids obviously know the victim.

Paul and I meet in the parking lot. I tell him about the events. Inglemoor still hasn't arrived but Franklin is still on the field getting loose. The police cordon off the block from the community center north. Paul and I see the Inglemoor bus drive by, stop and talk to Tim Moody then drive off.

Paul and I see the Franklin players leaving the field. We walk over to talk to Tim at the dugout.

Tim tells us the game is cancelled. There's been a serious shooting which he and the entire team witnessed.

The victim is a player for Tim that had graduated just two years earlier. He is a great kid that is in college and is trying to transfer to UW for his last two years of school closer to home, the Rainier Valley. He's nineteen years old!

Tim tells us the background. The boy has a sister. His sister has a boyfriend that beats her up. He has broken up their fights on at least two previous occasions. Apparently, he couldn't stop the fight this time.

The boy, he's called Big Mike by the neighborhood kids, is a role model for the entire community down there. I saw several kids interviewed on the news last night and they all obviously and sincerely felt the tragic loss of a true friend and inspiration.

Big Mike played for Tim Moody and Franklin. Tim knew Big Mike. This is the second former player Tim has lost in the last two weeks, the first was the result of a stabbing.

We sometimes scoff at Franklin and their teams. They lose a lot of games and they were probably going to get killed by Inglemoor yesterday. But that's not why we go out there.

We play this game because it gives kids like Big Mike, and who knows how many others, an opportunity to belong to a community that isn't centered around drugs, gangs, fights, guns and knives. There is a safe group they can join which promotes the truly important life lessons about supporting one another and respecting everybody's efforts, skills and abilities.

Next time you're caught in a three hour, five inning fiasco remember, Big Mike may be playing on the team that's getting crushed. But by God, Big Mike is still out there and he's still giving his best effort. He deserves our respect and admiration and support for that!

God, thank you for Big Mike. He deserves a home with you. Give him a spot in your starting lineup.

With respect and condolences for Tim Moody and the Franklin program,

Stonewall