The position of catcher, as anyone will tell you, is without a doubt the toughest on the diamond. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.
Foul tips, errant swings, collisions at home, wild pitches ... the major league catcher deals with all sorts of abuse, which is why it isn't unusual to find that many of them suffer through more than their fair share of sprains, strains, pulls, tears, fractures, etc. The season can take a lot out of some players, but being behind the plate for 120-130 games can be downright unbearable.
Jason LaRue hasn't played as many as 120 games in a season since 2001, but he's been through the wringer, nevertheless. LaRue estimates that he's suffered through "close to 20" concussions since high school, though not all were sustained on the baseball field. This latest head injury has led LaRue to announce his retirement after the 2010 season.
"If I was in a different situation, it wouldn't be anything like this," LaRue said, "but as a catcher, you're so vulnerable to getting another [concussion]. All it takes is a foul ball to the head. Even as a backup that happened [three to five] times last year. It's not a question of if it would happen again, it's when."
Even with advances and improvements in catchers' masks, the ever-present danger of head injuries made it "a simple decision" to retire, said the 12-year veteran.
"I was going to retire on my own terms," LaRue continued. "It's unfortunate that the blow that decided it came from someone kicking me in the head with spikes. I wouldn't say I would change things if you could rewrite history. They say things happen for certain reasons. In this case, I couldn't tell you why. Does it suck that my career is over because Johnny Cueto started kicking me in the head? Yes, it sucks.
"I expected to walk away when I felt it was right. The bottom line: it's unfortunate."
Unfortunate, indeed. Johnny Cueto's indiscriminate kicking during the fracas not only caught LaRue (in the face, no less), but also struck Cards pitcher Chris Carpenter in the back. Cueto was suspended seven games and fined an undisclosed amount for his involvement in the bench-clearing melee.
"Riding in a car going to the doctors, I'd have to close my eyes" LaRue said of his lingering symptoms. "It's one of the hardest things in the world to explain. You don't feel right. It's been a little more than a month since it happened and I'm finally starting to feel more normal."
The saddest part of this has nothing to do with whether or not Cueto was punished appropriately, or even how this fight began in the first place. It's the likelihood that Jason LaRue will live with the effects of this, and the other approximately 19 or more concussions, for the rest of his life.
Neurological medicine may, someday, advance to the point at which the effects of severe head trauma may be reversed, but for now players like LaRue and countless others from many different sports must learn to adjust to and cope with memory loss, dizziness, and vertigo-like symptoms, chronic headaches, visual changes, and for some, gradual loss of motor skills and manual dexterity and reflexes, among other deleterious symptoms of repetitive head trauma.
True, this isn't all Cueto's fault. This is a path set upon by Jason LaRue long before the August brawl between the Cards and Reds, one which began when he suffered his first sports-related head injury, and ended with a reckless and potentially deadly assault which could have left LaRue blind or worse.
"He's in a great position as long as he takes real good care of his head," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He's had a very solid major league career, a lot of highlights, and I know one of them is he hit a homer last year that put our magic number at zero.
"He's got a great life ahead of him."
Here's hoping that he'll be able to remember it.
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