There’s been a lot of action in Major League Baseball lately, but from a personal standpoint it’s all been centered around one game: the June 20th game between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees.
Pitcher Gerrit Cole will once again delight the fans gathered at Yankee Stadium. If that part is still special to me, it’s because it enabled me to realize a childhood dream.
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The call was rather unexpected, but I had the opportunity to take on the role of analyst at the studio for the broadcast of this game on the TVA Sports network. It was sensational to find my old friend Sylvain Rondeau in the description, but I also thought a lot about another friend who left way too soon: Derek Aucoin.
At Yankee Stadium
Fulfilling this old dream during a game at Yankee Stadium was so symbolic for me since I first met Derek at this mythical place in April 2013. The circumstances of this meeting, your magician, are detailed in his biography La tête haute, published in March 2020 by Éditions de l’Homme, a book that I have had the privilege of writing in the company of the gentle giant.
Joel Lemay / QMI Agency
In short, from that day spent in the Yankees’ den, Derek Aucoin has been a true mentor to me and encouragement in both my personal and professional life. The former Expos pitcher who became a popular figure in Quebec media passed away on December 26, 2020 at the age of just 50 from complications of brain cancer. During game analysis, a pin donated by Expos Fest with a cancer awareness ribbon and a baseball was on my jacket. Nothing random.
Life is short
The profession of sports journalist suits me perfectly, I am very fortunate to be able to practice it. It’s the one I chose, but not far behind there was always this “little ass” from Trois-Pistoles who dreamed of becoming a sports commentator. This item was on my wish list, a list of things I should do before I die that Derek personally advised me to write down. From up there, “Big D” had to smile.
In all transparency, I don’t know if the opportunity will come again, but if this was my only game as a televised baseball analyst, no one could take this opportunity away from me. The night of June 20, 2023 was like a first game in Major League Baseball for me. From there one naturally hopes to return. asap.
A “baseballism” slogan goes: Life’s too short to pass fastballs straight through the middle. After all, it is the words, repeated so often by Derek, that must close this text: “Acknowledgment and Gratitude.”
Our Quebecers
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