Will Venable and Chris Denorfia first teamed up on the 2010 San Diego Padres and shared an outfield until Denorfia was traded to Seattle in 2014. They remained good friends as coaches in various organizations thereafter, but they were careful to keep personal and professional matters separate –– unless the right opportunity came about.
Last month, I wrote about Chris Denorfia’s walk-off home run, a blast that still stands as the only one in MLB history to win a scoreless game in extra innings.
The last weekend of May 2015 was unseasonably cool and rainy in Chicago. When the Cubs defeated the Royals at Wrigley Field May 31, the game-time temperature was just 47 degrees — that’s almost 30 degrees below the average high for the date, 75.