On May 4th, 1982, Twins rookie outfielder Jim Eisenreich (Pride of St. Cloud), who suffers from the nervous disorder Tourette’s Syndrome, is forced to remove himself from a 5-3 loss to the Red Sox when he is taunted mercilessly by bleacher fans and his violent twitching becomes uncontrollable. Eisenreich, hitting .310 after making the jump from Class A ball to the major leagues, will be hospitalized on May 9 and will make several unsuccessful comeback attempts before retiring in 1984. He will return to the majors with the Royals in 1987 after finding an effective treatment for the condition.

One of the truly shocking things that Trumpism has brought back into fashion in our country is hate and meanness. But that is how bullies maintain their power after all.

In the early 1980s (when another bully was President of the United States), Jim Eisenreich was hounded off the baseball field by the kind of hate and meanness that we should always decry as a civilized nation.

Fortunately Eisenreich was able to return to the game in 1987 for the KC Royals. He had a productive career for the Royals, Phillies, Marlins, and Dodgers, playing for another 11 years and ending his career as a .290 hitter.

Jim Eisenreich reminds us that hate has no place in the Game of Baseball or in our wider society, and that in the end, hate never has the last word.