John Odom was a 26-year old minor-league pitcher scuffling through long bus rides and taunting fans--all for a chance to play baseball. He will ever be known as the player traded from the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League to the Laredo Broncos of the United League for ten maple bats.
Both the Golden and United leagues are independent circuits--what used to be called "outlaw" leagues, meaning they are not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Outlaw leagues are located in, as sportswriter Jimmy Cannon once said about boxing, the red-light district of sports.
Having been signed by the San Francisco Giants, and having been released by one of their lowest minor league affiliates, and finally ending up in an outlaw league, John Odom, a self-described "lost cause," was clearly working his way down the ladder of success.A young man once possessed of a blazing fastball, knee-buckling curve, and wicked guitar, John Odom struggled to find the path to redemption. Notified of the trade, he drove 30 straight hours to get to his new team in Laredo. Odom tried to take the trade in stride but some teammates said being the punch line to a sports joke eventually got to him. Last July he left his team and went back to Georgia. In November he was found dead from an overdose of heroin, meth and alcohol.
Funny thing is, many of his former teammates didn't know about his death. After the fact, many talked about how he good naturedly bore being the butt of countless jokes about the trade, but how on the inside he died a little every day.
Eventually it got to be too much and he left the team. His manager and former teammates shouldered on, focused on their careers. Most were oblivious to the pain John Odom lived with and quickly forgot him when he left. Most were unaware he had died until contacted by the press.
How many John Odoms are there out there? Folks that soldier on carrying excess bagage that we never make an effort to find out about or help with. We get up, go to work, and come home and never really know the people we meet along the way. In one way or another, we're all lost causes like John Odom.
It wasn't until the Medical Examiner's staff saw John Odom's elbow that they realized his former profession. The ballplayer bore a snake-like scar where he had had reconstructive elbow surgery--the punishment for pitchers who tax the joint too much. Tatooed across the scar were the words "Poena Par Sapientia."
Latin for "Pain equals wisdom."
Just thought you might like to know.
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