Sad homecoming for Rizzo
Cubs 1B went to Stoneman Douglas
MESA, Ariz. – Of all the messages of support and condolence Anthony Rizzo has received since learning about Wednesday’s mass shooting at his old high school, perhaps none carries as much empathy as Kris Bryant’s words.
It was less than five months ago that Bryant experienced an eerily similar nightmare to the one Rizzo and so many members of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High community in South Florida are enduring now. Bryant’s sister-inlaw and several friends were among those who escaped the shooting rampage at a Las Vegas concert in October that left 58 dead and hundreds injured.
The Chicago Cubs teammates, bound together by their friendship, prominent roles on one of baseball’s marquee teams and even the nickname Bryzzo, now share an unwanted bond as players impacted by an unspeakable tragedy.
Shortly after Rizzo left the Cubs camp and returned to his hometown of Parkland, Fla., where alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 17 students and school staffers, Bryant said hearing the horrifying news took him back to that awful night of Oct. 1.
“When something like that happens, it’s so gut-wrenching, you don’t really even know what to think. You’re just there,” Bryant said. “Hearing stories of them (his friends) running over people trying to get out any way they can, jumping in anybody’s car, knocking on any hotel room, people were scared.
“Just to hear those stories, I cannot imagine being in that situation. Yesterday, hearing that, just terrible news, es- pecially at a school. You’re supposed to feel safe there. It’s just a crazy world we’re living in nowadays.”
The concertgoers Bryant knew escaped unharmed, but the tragedy had a major impact on his hometown, much the way Wednesday’s shooting is affecting Rizzo’s community.
Rizzo might be impacted more directly. ESPN reported that he played football for Aaron Feis, the assistant coach and security guard who died trying to shield students during the attack.
Rizzo, winner of the Roberto Clemente Award for his community service last year, not only still lives in Parkland but retains ties to the school. In November he donated $150,000 for the installation of lights on the baseball field. He also took batting practice at Stoneman Douglas High during the offseason, according to teammate and fellow South Florida native Albert Almora.
On Wednesday, Rizzo tweeted a message of support and a call for action that said: “Parkland and Coral Springs please stay strong! This is out of control and and (sic) our country is in desperate need for change. I hope In this darkest of times back home this brings everyone together and we can find love. You’re all in my prayers.”
Almora echoed Rizzo’s desire that measures be taken to prevent such tragedies, without specifying which ones. He learned about the shooting on a call from his parents and asked which school was involved.
“They told me Douglas, and I’m, ‘Oh, my God, that’s where Rizz went,’ ” said Almora, who looked visibly shaken when addressing reporters and later shared a heartfelt hug with Bryant. “I had played there. I personally don’t know anybody there, but still, it’s part of the South Florida family. It’s super unfortunate. Not having a son yourself and putting yourself in parents’ situation right now, it’s miserable.”
Manager Joe Maddon traded texts with Rizzo and told him to take as much time off as he needed. The first workout for position players is not until Monday, although Rizzo and other hitters had already arrived in Arizona.
Maddon, who referred to Rizzo as the team’s “rock,” is rarely afraid to offer an opinion but treaded lightly on the topic of whether stricter gun-control laws are needed to at least reduce the country’s proliferation of mass shootings.
“You read so many different things about that, and of course, then you start being clumped into different mindsets,” Maddon said. “There’s got to be something to be done about that. There has to be. More specifically, I don’t know enough, except it doesn’t make any sense that an automatic rifle has to be in anybody’s hands. I don’t understand that.”
At least two of his players probably agree.