Every time Brandon Morrow reels back and lets his fastball fly, he knows he isn’t just pitching for himself or the Blue Jays: He’s throwing for every kid who has been told he couldn’t.
He’s throwing for a generation, millions of kids, who grow up and learn to live with diabetes.
“I hope I’m a good example for kids with diabetes, showing them you can still lead an active lifestyle, still participate in sport, still compete if you take care of yourself,” said Morrow, still walking on air after the one-hitter of last Sunday.
“To me, it’s all about routine and looking after yourself. Once you have that routine, once you understand what’s it all about, it makes everything a lot easier.”
Morrow was a senior in high school, having already committed to the University of California, when he started not feeling so well. Typically, he and his family weren’t sure what it was. Typically, he was stunned to learn at the age of 18 that he was diabetic.
Diabetes is a disease unlike any other. It takes over your life. In ways, you become a slave to it. Everything in your life becomes about timing. When to eat, when not to eat. When to exercise, when not to exercise. When to take insulin, how much to take, and in between you test your own blood several times a day — just to make sure you’re on the right track.
The disease can be so consuming that it’s been a mountain too difficult to climb for many athletes. A Bobby Clarke or a Catfish Hunter or an Arthur Ashe come around only so often. It’s hard enough to make the major leagues in any sport without having a needle attached to your hip. It happens, just not that often, and Morrow is the latest with a chance to be great. Before he got to the Jays he was considered a bust of an early pick in Seattle. No one talked about whether he was failing or not because of the disease. It never got mentioned, nor should it have.
But now that Morrow is looking like the real thing, like a guy who could be the ace of a staff, he becomes a significant figure. He represents hope for a city starved for baseball contention and hope for youngsters — and maybe oldsters — who want to live an athletic life and may be afraid to do so.
Morrow has a routine on the days he pitches. He eats a submarine sandwich of some kind around 1:30 in the afternoon, just to get in the appropriate amount of carbohydrates and protein. Then at around 5 p.m. on a night of a
7 o’clock start, he takes a Metrix protein bar to load up on more carbohydrates. Then he pricks his finger to checks his blood-sugar reading. Before the game. After the first inning. Again after the second inning.
Just to get it to where he needs to be.
“Sometimes in the bullpen when I’m warming up, I start to go low,” Morrow said. He says it as if most people would understand but most people wouldn’t have a clue. When you start to go low, you sweat, your hands shake, your vision can blur, your co-ordination gets wonky. A little drink. A little food. A little sugar can bring him back to where he needs to be.
“Once I get past the second inning, I don’t seem to have problems. I just focussed on what I’m doing and it seems to carry me through.”
Morrow threw 137 pitches in that masterful 17-strikeout performance against Tampa on Sunday afternoon. He never felt weak. He never worried about his sugars until the game ended. But that doesn’t mean others, like trainers, aren’t monitoring. Even Cito Gaston admits he’s had to learn a little about the disease, having had both Morrow and Dustin McGowan the past few seasons.
“Sometimes I worry about, just because I worry,” said Jose Molina, who has become Morrow’s personal catcher. “I know what he has. I know the symptoms. But I never ask him about it when he’s pitching.
“He’s the one who has to tell me how he’s feeling... When we’re outside somewhere I’ll ask him ‘Are you OK? Tell me you’re all right?’
“And he’s usually all right. He’s a smart kid. He knows how to take care of himself.”
He’s a smart kid with a huge right arm, still so very excited after Sunday. “It was a fun day,” Brandon Morrow said. “My first complete game. My first shutout. Seventeen strikeouts. Yep, I’m pretty proud of that.”
steve.simmons@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @simmonssteve
