Incredibly, Danny Farquhar was back at work Tuesday.
He won’t actually be working again this year — doctor’s orders — but the fact that just 18 days after suffering a brain hemorrhage the White Sox pitcher was visiting his teammates in the home clubhouse at Guaranteed Rate Field is just plain amazing.
Or as Nate Jones described it:
“Where he’s at, he’s a walking miracle.”
Farquhar was discharged from the hospital a day earlier, tremendous news considering the mystery that surrounded every aspect of his future after he collapsed in the third-base dugout during the sixth inning of that April 20 game against the Houston Astros. But his doctor believes he will be able to pitch in a major league game again someday, even if it’s not this season.
For Farquhar’s teammates, it was a joy to see him again, considering the last time he was in that clubhouse he was being wheeled out of it after suffering a ruptured aneurysm.
“He was just happy to be here,” Miguel Gonzalez said. “He was like, ‘Man, I’m so excited to come back and see you guys and be around you guys.’ It’s something special for him to be here. And to go through all of what he did, we’re very happy to see him.
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“He’s like, ‘I don’t know how I long I’ll be out, but I’ll be throwing some live BP soon.’ That’s what he told us. We’re happy to see him, and it was fun to be around him. He came to his locker and saw his locker. There’s really not many words that we can say having him around.”
The tributes have been numerous while Farquhar has recovered. Teammates have written salutes on their caps, worn “Pray for 43” shirts around the clubhouse and hung his jersey in the bullpen. But now the jersey, at least, might need to come down, that is if Jones feels like honoring the promise he made.
“I said we would keep it flying until he walked in here,” Jones said, “and sure enough he walked in here.”
Teammates didn’t want to put too much on Farquhar, who supposedly only visited for about an hour. But they were happy to report that he was acting like the same guy he was before, joking around, talking baseball and looking for something to eat.
That normalcy is what’s so astonishing. And relieving.
“You just never know. Going through (what) he did, that he’s walking and being like a normal person now, it’s crazy,” Gonzalez said. “It’s fun to have him back. We’re excited that he’s doing well now, and hopefully he’ll be able to come and play baseball again.”
That’s a long road, obviously. But the confidence of his doctor and from his teammates makes you think that it’s nowhere near an impossible one.
“I wouldn’t limit Danny to anything,” Rick Renteria said. “You can’t place a limit on the size of a man’s heart, and he has a lot of drive and we’re just glad that he’s out of the hospital now and recovering well. He still has to take it easy for a couple more weeks, just monitor himself, but I wouldn’t put anything past Danny in terms of what he may or may not be able to do.”