Hall of Fame Magazine Your Connection to Greatness December 2017 It's a Wonderful Life...Finally! by Gene Frenette, Jacksonville, FL careers, but none of them returned to league games and four home runs HOFMAG.com Exclusive Shea Stadium on that momentous is still battling in life's trenches. occasion with the same perspective as "I don't even know what normal When the 1986 Hearn. is," Hearn said. "At 46, I feel like what assembled at Shea Stadium in Sometimes, it's hard to see the real- I think a 65 or 70-year-old would feel. August for a 20th reunion of the life Hall of Famers from the ones My body feels it's at a point, medically championship, the inducted for merely their athletic skills and physically, that I'm about to retire. loudest cheer was reserved for the and productivity in the game. final player introduced who had It's a chore just to walk up stairs." It wasn't until Hearn left baseball battled countless off-the-field Hearn doesn't want sympathy. But that he discovered the true meaning of problems through his own bad he does want to impart on those willing getting up from a knockdown pitch. choices - . to hear his message that a lot of good Through unfathomable circumstances, can still come from years of physical Another of the high-profile Mets and before smaller audiences now than suffering and living in a perpetually and a Strawberry running mate, he had in those Mets' glory days, hope-challenged state. pitcher , was unable to attend the reunion because he's His medical résumé isn't a pretty still serving time in a Florida prison for sight: three kidney transplants, violating his probation by using overcoming head and neck cancer, cocaine. radiation treatments for the tumor that Less conspicuous among these has been surgically removed, sleep '86 Mets - a collection of players that apnea, weekly IV treatments for achieved almost as much notoriety hypo-gamma globulin anemia, for their excessive lifestyle away from lingering pain in his feet, constant the game as their 108 regular-season headaches that make it difficult to victories - is the backup who sleep, and taking 25 pills a day to has become a different kind of Hall of Ed, Tricia and Cody at the 1986 combat various maladies. Famer during his two decades out of World Series Reunion in NYC But in living through his own

the batter's box. Hearn has become a bigger hero personal hell, which included briefly Ed Hearn never signed a lucrative to people than he ever imagined. Not contemplating suicide back in 1993, big-league contract. After an eight- as a baseball icon, but as a Hearn has also taken advantage year struggle just to reach the majors, motivational speaker who relishes the of another career opportunity that has Hearn's stay on the baseball opportunity to uplift people. Hearn brought him more fulfillment than any mountaintop ended before he had a does it with humor, with frankness, World Series ring or ballpark ovation. chance to really take in the view. and mostly, with a powerful story that Approximately 30-50 times a After his rookie season with the comes from his daily struggle to year, Hearn goes around the country '86 Mets, he played in only 13 more overcome all the medical challenges giving motivational speeches to games during the next two years with thrown upon him. Fortune 500 companies, state & the because of a A few months after he left regional conventions and various painful shoulder injury that never fully baseball for good in 1991, Hearn, corporate groups that are genuinely healed. then 31, was diagnosed with kidney moved by his willingness to mix humor with hard-hitting anecdotes Hearn was part of the infamous failure and began dialysis treatments. about his medical ordeals. trade by then Royals' executive John His 15-year journey since then has Schuerholz that sent future All-Star been a monument to perseverance, Two decades ago, Hearn thought pitcher to the Mets. And too often preceded by so much getting two hits off Los Angeles Hearn has seen his life after baseball despair that it's a wonder Hearn even Dodgers' pitcher in his take a different plummet than the made it to that Mets' reunion or even major-league debut on NBC, with alcohol and substance abuse his 46th birthday. announcers Vin Scully and Joe nightmares endured by Gooden and Ten years ago, I co-authored Garagiola on the call, was the thrill of Strawberry. Hearn's book, titled Conquering Life's a lifetime. When the ball rolled through Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Virtually all of his former Mets' Curves, and not much has changed. Buckner's legs to end of the most mates enjoyed greater baseball The catcher who played in 62 major- team memorable World Series game and the Mets were basking in champagne He has received numerous letters Hearn almost didn't attend the two days later, Hearn believed nothing from people telling him, in so many Mets' 20-year World Series reunion could be so gratifying. words, that his talk either saved their because, though he cherished seeing old friends again, he felt awkward about He couldn't have been more wrong. lives or turned them around. Hearn receiving adulation for accomplishments It took a lot of pain and misery for still gets chills talking about the that didn't seem as meaningful as they Hearn to realize that his baseball Fortune 500 CEO who took him out once did. journey, while enriched by a one-year of public sight after a speech and stint with one of the game's most bawled on his shoulder because "he And maybe, too, it was a painful famous ball clubs, could never saw the light" about rearranging his reminder of the baseball career that compare with the satisfaction that priorities. never reached full bloom because of comes from uplifting people without a his health problems. But Hearn bat in his hand. relented and returned to Shea Stadium, if nothing else to let his son "Teaching and encouraging experience the joyous, rock-and-roll people today is bigger than anything I atmosphere that was the '86 Mets. achieved in baseball," Hearn said. "It's more important to me as a person. Not only from the perspective of making a difference in other people's lives, but mainly, it gives purpose to all of the stuff that The comeback…passion in action happened in my life." "I absolutely don't know if I could The essence of Hearn's message have handled all I went through is encouraging people to move away without it. I'm often considered a from self-centeredness to serving lifeline in my speaking, but it's also others, in whatever form that may ves that attitude will been a lifeline for me. I've done public take. He belie Cody takes in the memories speaking at times when I've felt like make for stronger businesses, Besides, what really matters is not the world had caved in on me. One of stronger families, stronger self-worth who Ed Hearn was 20 years ago, but the strengths of my talks is I don't and a stronger country. how he has persevered through a sugarcoat it. If I'm hurting that day, I "Ed used to get fan mail that was mountain of medical challenges and often let my audience know it." autographs and signing mostly about become a different kind of hero. Hearn understands the risks. He baseball cards,'' said Tricia Hearn, Of the '86 Mets, the only player to knows he's being paid to motivate the Ed’s wife and a pediatric nurse. "Now attain Hall of Fame status was crowds that come to hear his he gets notes from people about the Hearn's mentor and the team's speeches. But the Florida native, who difference he's made in their lives. To starting catcher, . now makes his home in Shawnee, do it now from a different platform, I Kansas with his wife Tricia and 12- think it gives him a sense of purpose." You'll never see a bust of Ed year-old son, Cody, is convinced that "Maybe it's a reason why he had to Hearn in Cooperstown. But in a people relate to his message endure all this, so he could help others humanitarian sense of the word, he because everyone faces personal with their struggles, no matter what belongs in anyone's Hall of Fame. struggles they may not readily share they are. It's a sense of validation." Learn more about Ed Hearn's with friends or co-workers. triumphs at www.edhearn.com /edhearn/ After all his talks, Hearn tries to stay around and converse with his audience. The feedback he has received during the years has given him greater satisfaction than anything he ever did on a ball field.