Since officially retiring from the game in 2018, Andre Ethier has been able to stay involved with baseball in one capacity or another. Still, he's sitting in the stands rather than in the dugout and that HAS to feel weird. Despite not being retired for that long, Ethier is already feeling nostalgic and opened up about what he’s missed from his playing days.
“I miss so much about playing the game. Luckily for me, I get to do a lot of the stuff, fun stuff, that was involved in the game now that I’m done but at the same time, the monotonous stuff that annoys you while you’re playing you miss it. Showing up at 1:30 [pm], getting your uniform on, going to the training room, going to the gym, going to the batting cage, going back and getting your uniform on for batting practice, all that routine all those monotonous days I miss 100%.”
It may take some time for the adjustment period to pass once you've had the same routine day in and day out for 12 seasons. It's perfectly natural to feel as if something is lacking in your life as Ethier does. He went on:
“And then the most [missed], standing in that batter’s box at Dodger Stadium having 56,000 fans around you and getting to have that at-bat. There’s nothing like standing in the middle of that stadium and having that at-bat in front of those fans.”
That's the dream, just like Kobe said. The adrenaline rush of being in the batter's box, which would make many people want to run and hide, appears to be the source of energy for others like Ethier. Fortunately for fans and teammates alike, "Captain Clutch" provided plenty of such moments.
Recently, the former Dodger has been spotted hard at work but it isn't baseball-related. According to Jack Harris of the LA Times, Andre has been spending time with a non-profit called “No Us Without You LA”, whose mission is to provide food security for undocumented families during the pandemic.
The opportunity to play professional baseball is a dream that few people are able to realize. It's one thing to get to the Majors, but carving out a long and successful career is another. In his nine years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Andre Ethier was able to do both.
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