Speaks at vigil for victims of shooting at his alma mater
While his teammates lent their support from 2,330 miles away, Cubs slugger Anthony Rizzo assisted in the healing of his Parkland, Fla., community in grief over Wednesday’s mass shooting that left 17 dead.
“I grew up at Stoneman Douglas (High School),” an emotional Rizzo said Thursday night at a vigil remembering the victims. “I played on those fields. I went to those classes. I studied in those classrooms — the same school we saw on videos yesterday for all the wrong reasons.”
Rizzo took batting practice and donated $150,000 this winter for lights for the baseball field. Teammates confirmed Rizzo knew some of the victims, and he left late Wednesday night to support his community, where he has an annual walk to raise money for pediatric cancer victims and their families.
“We see this on TV too often,” Rizzo said. “I feel like it’s all the time. There’s a cycle to it. We get horrified that this violence is inflicted on our kids. We get angry that ... nothing is done about it, and then we ultimately get immune and move on to something else.
“But then it happens in your own school, movie theater, nightclub or church. And we realize that it can happen to us, in our safe and tight-knit community (of) Parkland.”
Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Rizzo will be given as much time as needed before rejoining the team at spring training in Mesa, Ariz.
Third baseman Kris Bryant, who exchanged text messages with his teammate before Rizzo left, understands the emotional stress Rizzo is experiencing. Bryant’s hometown community endured similar trauma after a shooter killed 58 and injured more than 800 at an outdoor concert Oct. 1 in Las Vegas.
“When something like that happens, it’s so gut-wrenching, and you don’t really know what to think,” said Bryant, recalling that his sister-in-law and several friends attended that concert.
“Especially when you hear stories of people you knew and how they got away, it makes it that much more real and sad. It’s just so hard to even think about it.”
The situation was so raw that Bryant delicately addressed the debate over gun control.
“I just want to see good people,” he said. “That’s something I strive to do every day: be a good person. And it’s not that hard to do.
“I just see too much of that (violence) in the world. There’s a lot of bad people out there. I don’t know how to change it, but there’s a way.”
Bryant and Nationals slugger Bryce Harper participated in a public service video shortly after the Las Vegas shooting to support their fellow residents.
“I guess the only thing I can offer (Rizzo) is the support system to hear him out,” Bryant said. “I’m here to help in any way I can.
“ It just touches my heart when I see the Vegas community come together. That’s what we’re going to see here.”
But after hearing stories of Las Vegas concert-goers jumping in automobiles and trying to get into hotel rooms just to elude gunfire, Bryant cringed at the thought of a shooting at a high school.
“You’re supposed to feel safe there,” he said. “But this is just a crazy world we’re living in nowadays.”
South Florida native Albert Almora Jr., 23, also was shaken by the shooting as he recalled playing at Douglas a few times while attending Mater Academy Charter School in Miami.
“Now having a son and putting yourself in parents’ situations, it’s miserable,” Almora said. “I have no idea what they have to do, but something has to be done.”
Bryant, 26, believes that Rizzo will have a big influence in helping his community heal.
“But it’s so sad for it to happen,” Bryant said. “I can’t imagine what those people are going through.”
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