In his worst moments, he didn’t want to be a part of a baseball season this summer. Not for 60 games. Not for 60 minutes.
“When you’re in the middle of something like that,” said Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy, “there were times when I thought, ‘There’s no way I want to go back. There’s no way I want to put myself in this situation again. ‘. “
But two weeks after a month-long heartbreaking COVID-19 case, Hottovy spoke about it Wednesday from Wrigley Field, where he plans to be “all set” for his pitchers as MLB tries to navigate the next 3 1/2 months. healthy enough. and intact enough to wrap up a short baseball season, especially motivated, he said, “to be someone they can use as a resource throughout this process.”
As personal and emotional as Hottovy’s description was of an experience that included a trip to the hospital and feelings of depression, it also offered a harsh glimpse of just how daunting the task baseball faces when trying to conduct a three-year Summer Camp. weeks, two -months “season” and playoff weeks.
Click to download the MyTeams app for the latest Cubs news and analysis.
“There will be challenges ahead,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said earlier this week. “You would have to be naive to think that there will be no difficult times.”
Difficulty? Hottovy, 38, is a recent major league pitcher in athletic form with no pre-existing conditions suggesting he would have had such a severe reaction to the coronavirus, a reaction that included six consecutive days of triple-digit temperatures, painful, viral pneumonia. , sleepless nights and continuous tests that did not produce a negative result until the 30th day after showing symptoms.
In an emotional Zoom conference with writers, Hottovy emphasized the message he hopes people will hear from his experience: that this highly contagious virus is so unpredictable that it’s foolish to assume it won’t hit him hard, or even become fatal, just because You are young and healthy, or even a professional athlete.
“No one is immune,” said Hottovy, who “masked himself” and wore gloves the few times he left his home and is not sure where he got the virus. “You hear a lot of stories out there that say, ‘Hey, they’re professional athletes, they’re in great shape; if they succeed, they will be well, they will not die. The rhetoric is always’ They’re going to be fine; they are not going to die. ‘”
Those percentages were in Hottovy’s favor as someone close to the lowest risk group for severe symptoms.
“It obviously affects people differently,” he said, “and if my story and my journey through it helps a person realize how serious it can be, and if that saves a life, then I want my history is heard. “
Even for those tempted to minimize the Hottovy experience or continue to assume that athletes are somehow exempt from dangerous symptoms or death, “people live with family members who are not in the same way as they are,” he said, ” Potentially high-risk individuals. What we have to contend with every day is not only staying safe and protecting our team, but also what we can do to keep our family safe. “
Hottovy, who said his wife and two young children remain virus-free “by God’s grace,” continued Zoom’s regular sessions with the Cubs’ pitchers for much of his illness, a process he said he hopes Make it at least instructive for what’s to come when players reconvene on Friday as a full team for the first time since March.
MORE: How the Cubs’ Tommy Hottovy kept his family safe while fighting COVID-19
“It will be difficult. It will be a challenge, ”he said. “But it’s something I think we’ve all signed up for, and in my case, I want to be here for these guys.” I didn’t want to stop participating just because I had it once. Obviously I don’t want to get it again. I don’t want to go through what I went through again. But I want to be here for them.
“I want to be able to answer those questions and be accessible.”
That applies to what he and his wife can also share with the players’ families and staff, he said.
But he can’t answer many of the questions, including the long-term effects it might have on him, or even be sure how much immunity he has and whether the virus can come back.
He said he lost 18 pounds while sick, still has difficulty breathing, and estimates he is about 80 percent of normal strength.
But as the Cubs and the rest of baseball await the results of the first round of admissions tests across the league, no one knows what level of positive testing they will face. It doesn’t matter how many players can stay healthy long enough to play any game, let alone everything they’ve programmed.
And the big question that hangs over the whole thing: Should they, or any sport, even try this?
If Hottovy’s experience suggests anything, it’s how legitimate that question is.
Already asked before the dramatic spikes in case rates recently in states like Florida, Texas, Arizona and California, home to a significant percentage of players and a third of MLB teams.
Even if we allow ourselves the generous assumption that the virus won’t kill anyone involved in this endeavor, a COVID-19 case similar to Hottovy’s seems to have at least a good chance of ending a player’s season on the spot, something many they might not have. I assumed before listening to it on Wednesday.
But Hottovy is not in favor of closing it. He said the health protocols in place offer a “better chance” for threading the needle required to remove it.
And he said he believes in the value to society of sports starting again.
“But at the same [time], one small misstep, one small contact situation by one person can derail an entire industry, “he said.” I’m not saying it can be that extreme … but all it takes is for one person to walk together someone and be coughing, sneezing or go out to a local place and you’re around someone. “
“And the next thing you know, you lose two or three key players and you are in a difficult situation.” I want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and I want to make sure that we do everything we can to give baseball back to people and fans.
“But we really have to take care of and take care of each other and hold each other accountable or it could easily get derailed.”
SUBSCRIBE TO CUBS TALK PODCAST FOR FREE.
