Rest in Peace

Growing up in a small Texas town, the little league baseball park was our main source of social connection. TH lived next door to the park. His dad was the LL president. You know the family I'm talking about. Hard-working, middle class father sires a badass ballplaying son. The kid had a bucket full of homerun balls in his room. The kind of kid who made opposing 12 year old batters cry. He pegged me in the ass with a tennis ball during a game of WallBall once. The bruise was there for days.
I played on TH and his father's team several times throughout the course of my LL career. If I was lucky enough to be on his team, we won 1st. It was a no-brainer.
TH was the most amazing baseball player at 12 years old that I or anyone in my small town had ever seen. Homers, no-hitters, 70-mph fastballs. No kidding, this kid was going to be a major leaguer for sure.
At 15 he was invited to play in Amsterdam with some college-age guys in an international tournament. Kid batted about .400, hit a few homers, and threw a few shutouts. 3 years younger than all the other guys. BMF.
It looked like our high school team was going to be awesome.
Until TH got sick. What began as a minor illness quickly worsened to the point of death. Bacterial meningitis is no joke. The story goes that TH died on the helicopter for 3 minutes and came back. But he was not the same.
The cells in his fingertips had died. His Herculian strength was gone. His spirit was still very much alive, however.
After missing all of his sophomore year, TH rehabbed and came back midway through his junior (my sophomore) year. We wrapped a towel around the the handle of his bat and taped over it to cut down on the reverberations and protect his still-tender fingertips.
With his homerun power gone, the guy started slapping singles and doubles around. Eventually getting his average back into the .400's. His fastball had lost a lot of the velocity it once had, but the control was still there.
After his senior year, no colleges were intersted in him. Never the pessimist, TH went to work in the oil fields and gave up the game he loved. He planned on settling down and having a few badass ballplayin' sons of his own. Continue the legacy and all.
We lost touch for a few years. Last I'd heard he bought some land north of town and was engaged to his high school sweetheart, a girl I've known since my first day of kindergarten.

TH was killed yesterday on a dirt road outside of our hometown. He was riding 4-wheelers with his fiancee and cousins. A man with a gun threatened his friends and family for trespassing on his property when riding and a scuffle ensued. TH was shot in the head and another friend was shot in the neck (he is currently in critical condition).
The world lost a very good man yesterday for no good reason at all.