(The Chief, circa 2006. Photo by @misschatter.)
For as long as he can remember, Chad Cordero would wake up on a late January morning like this and start thinking about throwing a baseball. But the winter of 2012 has been like nothing Chad Cordero has ever experienced in his life. “Very weird” is how Cordero described it in a phone call on Monday. “This time of year I’d be thinking about getting ready for Spring Training, throwing bullpens, playing catch, trying to get in shape. It’s very different.”
Instead, the greatest closer in the (albeit brief) history of the Washington Nationals is enjoying life at home in California with his family and coaching high school baseball. And that’s exactly where he wants to be at the moment. Words can’t properly do justice to describe the hell Cordero has been through over the past year; he retired from professional baseball in June after attempting another comeback from shoulder surgery (don’t underestimate the impact of those 224 appearan...
Original Story:
