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May 28, 2015Photo: Ohio State QB Cardale Jones appears on ESPN Magazine cover
May 28, 2015Many fans may sometimes forget at times, but professional athletes have actual lives (outside of sports) as well, just like every other person in the world. For Cleveland Indians infielder Mike Aviles, baseball became an afterthought earlier in May, when his four year-old daughter, Adriana, was diagnosed with leukemia.
In support of Aviles’ family and Adriana specifically (who will start chemotherapy soon), Indians players and coaches have began to shave (or at least buzz) their own hair. Starting with Jason Kipnis and Nick Swisher, many other players have began to cut their hair off to support the four year-old.
Kipnis explained how the idea spread through the locker room. From Paul Hoynes at NEOMG:
“It started kind of with Mike Aviles’ daughter, for her, what she’s going through. She’s going to, unfortunately, be losing her hair soon here to chemo and so we all kind of wanted to join in and it started with a couple and then spread throughout the whole clubhouse. … It wasn’t all in one day, just periodically, more guys were getting in on it and going through that,” Kipnis said.
Now, there is a wide variety of haircuts in the locker room. Some players are completely bald, while others got a low buzz cut. Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway, who shaved his head completely, has two daughters, and family members who recently dealt with cancer.
“It’s difficult for families to go through that and we wanted Mike to know that we’re part of his family. We support everything that his family is going through, especially for her, that she can look up and say, ‘Hey, those guys really care about us.’ That’s the point of it all,” Callaway said.
For the first time since receiving the news, Aviles spoke to the media Wednesday morning.
“It means a lot for me,” Aviles said. “It’s kind of cool when you have your whole team on your side. It goes without saying, everybody in here has families and they know how it is. It’s a tough time, but to know that my team, the coaching staff, everybody is on my family’s side and my little girl’s side, it helps out a lot and makes me feel good.”
Head coach Terry Francona (who already has a shaved head), appreciates seeing the guys support their teammate and the entire Aviles’ family.
“A lot of the guys probably don’t even know Adriana, but because it’s Mikey’s daughter, she’s important to all of us,” Francona said. “I think it’s a way to take something that’s very serious and makes you step back and think, take it and turn it into something where, I guarantee you when she sees pictures of all these guys, she’s going to smile.”
More members of the Cleveland Indians potentially know Adriana than would on other MLB clubs though as the Indians are among the more daughter-friendly operations in professional sports. Last season, Jason Giambi helped institute opening up the clubhouse to daughters for Sunday home games and Adriana (and her sisters Kyla and Maiya) were among the girls who took advantage of that opportunity allowing the players to get to know the kids.
“She’s having a blast,” Swisher said. “I grew up in the locker room; it’s the only thing I’ve ever known in my life. Now to be able to give that gift — I guess you could call it a gift — to my daughter. There’s so many guys who have daughters. We said, ‘We can’t be pushing them out and just letting the boys come in.’ ”
Aviles said Swisher once taped his twins’ wrists, so they go straight for the tape.
“They pull it out and think it’s a lasso,” Aviles said.
Aviles said Ryan Raburn’s daughter Taytum, 3, wants to go to the batting cage. Murphy’s daughters love the candy. On the recent Sunday, Corey Kluber cracked a rare smile as his daughters Kendall and Kennedy spun around in the black leather chairs in front of his locker.
“That’s a big day,” Giambi said, acknowledging Kluber’s stoicism.
WFNY’s own, Michael Bode, wrote an incredible story, “For Adriana”, when the horrible news was announced. Here’s hoping something as little as this can put a smile on Adriana’s face during such a tough time.
1 Comment
Pretty cool once again all the best to the Aviles family and especially Adriana in her fight!