A Bullet to the Temple or Something Better?
August 6, 2009

Today we welcome freelance writer Mike Wright. Mike helps us to see that hardship opens the gate to two paths ...

The long wait for suffering Angel fans like me was almost over.

Leading the American League Championship series against the much-hated Boston Red Sox three games to one, the Angels were one strike away from advancing to the 1986 World Series. One Strike.

I sat with my young family in front row seats, just over the Angels dugout, for what was going to be a historic day for Gene Autry's team. The Singing Cowboy was finally going to the Series. One more strike.

In the top of the ninth inning the sell-out crowd at the Big A was on their feet, holding their collective breath while waiting for the final out. I began to get worried about the crowd stampeding onto the diamond, so I gently guided my family out of their seats and up the stairs towards the exit. We could watch the celebration from a safer vantage point, without getting trampled on. After all, they just needed one more strike.

With the Angels leading 5-4 and the Red Sox rallying, Angel manager Gene Mauch inserted All-star closer Donnie Moore. With the count 2-2, Moore's forkball, his "money pitch," hung over the plate for batter Dave Henderson.

ABC-TV's Al Michaels called the game - The pitch ... To left field and deep, and Downing goes back. And it's gone! Unbelievable! Astonishing! Anaheim Stadium was one strike away from turning into Fantasyland! The Red Sox lead 6-5! You're looking at one for the ages here. The Red Sox get four runs in the ninth on a pair of two-run homers by Don Baylor and Dave Henderson.

The fans stood in stunned silence. No one in the stadium was more devastated than Donnie Moore. He had needed just one more strike.

Although the Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox went on to win 7-6 in eleven innings and then the final two games in Boston to advance to the World Series.

Battling injuries and boos from fans for the next two seasons, Donnie Moore was traded to the Royals where he was assigned to the minor leagues. His 14 year baseball career ended when he was cut by the team in June of 1989.

At his Anaheim Hills home that July, while in the presence of his four children, Moore shot and wounded his wife, then held the gun to this temple and pulled the trigger.

Moore's wife Tonya survived. Donnie Moore did not.

While the tragedy unfolded in Anaheim, San Francisco Giant Dave Draveky was rehabbing his pitching arm in the minor leagues.

Draveky's 1987 season ended prematurely when doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in the deltoid muscle of his pitching arm. In an effort to eliminate all of the cancerous cells, doctors removed half of his deltoid muscle and froze the humerus bone in his left arm.

The doctors told Draveky that he'd never pitch again. Draveky had other ideas.

On August 10th 1989, Dave Draveky walked out to the pitcher's mound at Candlestick Park. In an electric atmosphere similar to a World Series Game, Giant fans welcomed Draveky back with one standing ovation after another.

Draveky responded by pitching eight innings to defeat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3. Dave Draveky had come back to the majors.

In his next start five days later against Montreal, Draveky pitched three no-hit innings, but in the fifth inning, he began to feel a tingling sensation in his pitching arm.

After giving up a lead off homer in the sixth, then hitting the next batter, Montreal's Tim Raines came to bat for what has been called "the pitch heard around the world."

In Draveky's own words - It's the sixth inning and I'm back out on the mound and I rear back to throw a fast ball to Tim Raines who's at the plate and all of a sudden as I let go of that pitch my left arm snapped in half. There was this incredible explosion in my left ear from my arm snapping in half. I had fallen to the ground ... almost went into shock.

The shocking image of Draveky's final pitch and his rolling around on the ground in agonizing pain was replayed on television stations for days, weeks and months.

After two more unsuccessful surgeries on his left arm, on July 18th 1991, doctors amputated his left arm and shoulder. There would be no more comebacks on the mound for Dave Draveky.

Again, Draveky had other ideas - There was something going on in my life that was a whole lot bigger than baseball ... so much bigger than baseball ... God has given me a platform through baseball, ultimately to share His love with those around me. And that love revolves around what happened to be in Amarillo, Texas, when I responded to His call to become a follower of Jesus Christ and be a part of His family.

Draveky and his wife Jan founded the Outreach of Hope Ministries in 1991, providing hope, love, encouragement and resources to those suffering from cancer, amputation or serious illness.

Their ministry was founded on this verse, 1 John 3:18 - Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Dave Draveky - "I can't offer anyone hope that they will survive while they're here on this earth. But one thing that I can offer through Jesus Christ is a hope that will last forever."

Donnie Moore and Dave Draveky; two All Star major league pitchers that suffered enormous setbacks while on the mound.

One taking the narrow gate. One taking the wide gate.

Note: If you like Mike's writing you can check him out at: www.michaelwrightonline.com