The Story of Simon Curtis | MLB 2K12

[WWF80sKid]

This is a story about a sport. A story about a family. A story about happiness, success, drama, tragedy and depression. This is a story about my life.

My big brother Tommy Curtis was one of the better catchers that the Tipp City High School baseball team had ever seen. He called great games, he always protected the plate, he hardly ever let anyone steal a base on his watch, and he could knock the hell out of the ball.

But that all came to a crushing end on April 13th, 2004. It was the eighth inning in a tie 5-5 ball game. The other team sent a guy home. The centerfielder fired the ball to Tommy. He caught it, turned, prepared for the hit, and boom.

The two high school baseball players collided. The ball rolled out of Tommy's mit. Immediately, everyone knew something was wrong. Tommy was stretchered off the field and taken to the hospital via ambulance. He was pronounced dead later that night. Trauma to the brain. Something about blunt force trauma. I don't really remember exactly what was said. I was in shock. I just lost my brother. My best friend.

I fought depression. Mostly by spending time with friends and playing baseball oddly enough. Mom cried a lot. Dad cried and drank. But things eventually got better. They never got back to the way they were. They never would be able to. But we all began to go about our lives.

Dad was a high school umpire. He took a year off after Tommy's death, but felt like it was time to get back to work. That is until May 4th, 2006. On that date, dad was on his way to a game at Indian Lake High School, which was about an hour away from our town.

About ten minutes outside of Indian Lake, dad's truck collided with a semi-truck going the opposite way. He was killed on impact. Driving to umpire a baseball game.

Baseball. It's torn my family to shreds. It's taken away my father and my big brother. It's left my mother a lonely widow who barely speaks. So why do I love the damn game so much? I guess because it's all I've ever known.

My name is Simon Curtis, and this is my story.

[WWF80sKid]

Thought about switching to catcher after Tommy died, in honor of him I guess. But I didn't want to put my mom through that. Besides, right field had been my favorite position throughout little league and school baseball.

I graduated from Tipp City in 2008. I did pretty well there. Led the team in homeruns my junior and senior year. And was second in stolen bases senior year. The kid who led us was this super fast kid named David Baxter.

I ended up getting a scholarship to play ball at Purdue. I had a few MLB scouts looking my way. To be honest, I think they were interested in me, but I also think they were interested in my story.

"His family was torn apart by baseball, and he still plays."

Anyway, mom didn't want me to be one of those guys to jump from college to pro too soon. Like most parents, she wanted her boy to get an education first. So I did. Four years at Purdue, got a Bachelors Degree in Human Resources. I met Lindsay sophomore year. Became good friends with her. After a few failed relationships with other girls, and with Lindsay watching and giving me advice, I realized I liked her more than any of the girls I had dated. Funny how it works like that.

I didn't see much playing time my first year at Purdue. But I climbed my way up and finally became a starter. I led Purdue in hits and homeruns my junior and senior year.

On graduation day I kinda wondered if maybe I wasn't going to end up playing Major League Baseball. I wondered if maybe Lindsay and I would just get married, have kids, and I'd have some boring desk job for a big company like GE or Fifth Third Bank.

But it's funny how life will make you wonder. Make you second guess yourself. Lindsay and I went for a walk a few days after graduation. Lindsay lived in Michigan, but didn't have a good relationship with her parents so she moved back home with me. Mom loved having a girl around.

Anyway, at the park we were holding hands, talking about our future. Lindsay was telling me that I still had a chance. That I could even go to some open tryouts if I wanted. I only lived an hour away from the Cincinnati Reds. And only a couple more hours from Detroit and Cleveland.

As we discussed this, my cell phone rang.