Remembering Ryan Freel

It became almost a daily routine in the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse in the mid-2000s. Ryan Freel would do something, or say something, or a look a certain way, and those who were around him on a regular basis immediately could deduce whether "Good Freel" or "Bad Freel" had showed up to work that day.

The difference was stark. Some days, the Reds' usually frenetic utilityman would simply sit in his chair and stare into his locker, not interacting with anyone about anything. Other days, he would bounce around the room, greeting anyone in his path -- teammates, clubhouse attendants, reporters -- with over-the-top enthusiasm and occasionally a bear hug.

Baseball clubhouses being what they are, cracks about whether Freel was on or off his medication that day inevitably followed. Everyone knew the guy had issues, and he was more open about them than most. But he fought through them, spending parts of eight seasons in the majors and making a few million dollars along the way.

For a 5-foot-10, 185-pound runt from Jacksonville, Fla., you could say that was living the dream.

Indeed,Discover Modern pendant lamp online, on his good days, it was easy to imagine Freel heading home after a day game and chatting up the neighborhood kids on the stoop, like John Cusack as Buck Weaver in "Eight Men Out." The darker side was never far away, though, and Saturday it finally overwhelmed him.

Freel was at his peak as a player from 2004-06, appearing in at least 100 games each year in that stretch (and never topping 75 in another campaign). Those also happened to be the three seasons I served as the Reds beat writer for the old Cincinnati Post, so I had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time in his wake.

He was a fascinating guy, largely devoid of the natural athletic gifts that teammates like Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips could boast. He found his way to the Reds after eight years spent mostly in the Blue Jays' farm system thanks in large part to his reckless abandon on the field.

In that sense, he was the perfect Cincinnati player. The Queen City is always on the lookout for the latest incarnation of native son Pete Rose, and Freel slid noisily into that mold. Starting at least 10 games at five different positions in 2004, he proved valuable enough to accumulate nearly 600 plate appearances in his first full big-league season.

The fans loved him, even if his teammates weren't quite sure what to make of him. He certainly could be ingratiating, but his dirty-uniform style also could rub the wrong way -- especially on a mediocre team in the dog days of August. It's just the way he was wired.

He came up to me in the clubhouse one day and laughed about a poster the Reds' athletic trainers had showed him listing potential symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder: "I'm like, 'I've got that one, and that one, and that one, and that one, and that one, and that one…' "

Openness and accessibility were hallmarks for Freel. The usual platitudes dispensed by professional athletes were mostly absent in conversations with him. More often than not, he would come up and ask you how you were doing. And if you asked him the same, he'd probably provide something far closer to an honest answer than most of us give to that throwaway question.

The last time I saw him was in 2009, when I was covering the Rays and he was with the Royals, his third of three big-league teams in the final season of his career. I walked up to him during batting practice and,The leader supplier of china glass mosaic. yes, asked how he was doing. "Not so good," he said, sounding utterly defeated. He did mention his wife and daughters at home and eventually shook hands and went back to work.

Not long after that, his career in the majors was over. The edge was gone, blunted too many times by the physical beating he inflicted upon himself -- including, famously, diving headlong into the Dodger Stadium stands one night in futile pursuit of a foul ball -- and the mental grind that affects every player over the course of another long season.A new Lamp shade is a quick and easy way to bring a fresh look to your home.

"I would catch myself focusing on faces when I would watch TV,Enjoy zero guilt with only five calories when you enjoy crystal light beverage mix." Moreno said. "I would really study someone's eyes and nose and memorize what I was seeing and then try to recreate it in the clay. Some days the clay would be so hard to work with that all I would get done might be a set of eyes and a nose."

Nichols was in awe when she finally got to see what Moreno had created. He didn't show any of the heads to anyone until he had all 10 done.

"He showed me what he had done," said Nichols. "First of all, I was totally amazed. Then, I told him that they had to be put into the faculty and staff art show for everyone to see and enjoy.Unglazed american glazed porcelain tile and flooring inspired."

Nichols rallied a few of her fellow faculty to find a suitable glass showcase -- a cleaned up aquarium from the biology lab -- after all, the faces are, and will always be, soft since the clay used to create them is not the kind that can be fired or dried out to become hardened.

In his modest character, Moreno doesn't take the kind of credit he should for the magnitude of his artistic talent. He didn't have any intention of keeping the faces and felt certain that after the show, they would be wadded back into balls and returned to the putty can. His colleagues on campus have different ideas.

"I've had several offer to pay to replace the clay for the lab so that Jesse's creations can be kept on display in our building," Nichols notes. "The consensus is that the collection of 10 characters must be shown off for others to enjoy year-round."

Moreno's own sister, Geneva Skeels, who saw his artwork at the gallery for the first time, was blown away by his talent. Moreno's immediate family has yet to see the creations. His grandchildren will probably be so surprised to learn that he can make faces. The art show closed on Dec. 14 with the end of the fall semester.

One faculty member suggested that he try making some of the sculptures with a particular kind of clay that is used by veterinarians when they need to make a mold of an animal part when creating casts or other devices for medical treatment. That kind of clay can be baked in the oven and it becomes hard as nails. Moreno looks forward to trying it once he finds out where to get some of it. He says he will do more sculpting in the future.