Homeless Crisis

Dodger Blue Shows Compassion

A player who hasn’t stepped on the field since 2018 gets access to the help he needs. It is an example of empathy that we all should emulate.

“Jesus was a socialist.”

– Oliver Markus Malloy

For the Friday edition of its daily blog, Electoral-Vote.com ends with two ongoing series. The older of the two is entitled “This Week in Schadenfreude,” which is an often snarky look at how someone in the news got their comeuppance during the past week. The other is an attempt to end the week on an up note that they call “This Week in Freudenfreude.” It is a feel-good story for the week that revolves around politics.

In celebration of the start of the baseball season, this week’s Freudenfreude centered on Andrew Toles, who they noted has been a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization since 2015 (edited for space):

Toles is an outfielder; he has mostly played left field, but at times he was also asked to man center or right. He was drafted by Florida Marlins in 2010, but didn’t sign. Then he was drafted again in 2012 by the Tampa Bay Rays and spent a few years in their organization before being acquired by the Dodgers. After a year spent playing with the Dodgers’ minor league teams, he got the call to join the big league club.

As a player, Toles had several tools to recommend him. Someone who can play all three outfield positions passably is, pretty much by definition, speedy and endowed with a good throwing arm. He also has a bit of power and a good batting eye. In his rookie campaign in 2016, he played 48 games and showed a lot of promise. He regressed in 2017, though, and made just 31 appearances, followed by even more regression and even fewer appearances (17) in 2018. That year marked the end of his playing career; he last set foot on a baseball field on Sept. 30, 2018, in a 15–0 win over the San Francisco Giants.

This is where the story gets very sad. Lots of major leaguers flame out, of course, and many of those don’t even last as long as Toles did. Heck, there are lots of one-game-only major leaguers. The sad part is why Toles’ career ended. See, he…