Night time had fallen, spirits had been shifting and the songwriting baseball coach was rounding third base and headed for residence. Twice within the autumn of 2020, medical doctors had suggested a gravely sick Tim Flannery to say goodbye to his household. Each instances, he declined to give up.
The proper arm that despatched residence so many San Francisco base runners through the Giants’ three World Collection titles from 2010 to 2014 waved away a remaining coda.
The street again from the brink was as unlikely as the person himself. A second baseman turned common coach, Flannery was at all times one thing extra. A musician who carried a guitar with him on the street, and a surfer who posed with a board on one among his buying and selling playing cards, he couldn’t assist however stand out within the strait-laced world of Main League Baseball.
Having transitioned absolutely into philanthropy and songwriting in his baseball retirement — his basis has raised lots of of hundreds of {dollars} for anti-bullying causes — he had extra individuals to assist and extra tales to inform. So giving in to a life-threatening staph an infection was not an choice.
Destiny and Flannery finally reached a standstill throughout his harrowing, three-month battle with the an infection, however medical doctors nonetheless warned him that he would possibly by no means stroll once more. He fell into sepsis and required two again surgical procedures to clear away abscesses and broken tissue. He went residence with a tube that despatched antibiotics streaming into his coronary heart. That was the straightforward half as a result of his spouse of 42 years, Donna, administered these doses.
Finally, walker in hand, together with his little granddaughter Jade driving shotgun on the crossbar, he reduce a deal: 25 instances up the driveway, slowly, 25 instances again, painfully, and Jade can be rewarded with an ice cream sandwich.
On significantly productive days, she’d rating two.
“I’ve undoubtedly modified my life,” Flannery, 65, mentioned on a current afternoon at a neighborhood espresso store close to the seaside, a well-recognized twinkle — life — again in his eyes. He had rehearsed for 2 hours earlier that day. Quickly, he would nail down particulars for the following present together with his band, the Lunatic Fringe.
“I’ve checked out moments and issues much more clearly,” he continued. “And also you do attempt to create good ideas and attempt to keep in mind, like, this second proper right here. As a result of if I ever return to that scenario once more, I need to attempt to carry as many good reminiscences and good hallucinations as I can.”
His keep within the hospital was harrowing. “Vicious,” he mentioned of time spent tied down so he didn’t hurt himself or others. The hospital was two miles from his residence, however every look out his window introduced extra distortion. Not all his visions had been terrible. His buddy Bob Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Useless, appeared by apparition. So did one other buddy, Jimmy Buffett.
The that means of these explicit visitations would come into focus later, convincing Flannery that they had been no coincidence.
Genuine
Via greater than 4 a long time of baseball and music, first in San Diego after which in San Francisco, Flannery grew right into a beloved participant, coach and troubadour — a character — due to an endearing knack for leaving items of himself with whomever he met.
“Genuine,” mentioned Flannery’s bandmate and producer, Jeff Berkley. “He’s precisely who you suppose he’s. He’s not making an attempt to placed on any airs. He’s not making an attempt to be from Kentucky; he’s from Kentucky. Till he stopped consuming, man, he carried moonshine round with him wherever he went. He’s a complete hillbilly. He wears that time period proudly. He’s most likely the primary woke hillbilly.”
As a result of Flannery felt some baseball individuals considered his guitar suspiciously throughout his years in San Diego, he initially meant to maintain that a part of his life quiet when he agreed to educate for Bruce Bochy in San Francisco.
“I used to be going to return coach third and never let anyone in,” Flannery mentioned. “I assumed, ‘Nobody’s going to tear my coronary heart.’”
However in 2011, his music got here to the forefront when he based the Love More durable Mission in response to the horrific beating of Bryan Stow, a Giants fan who was attacked within the Dodger Stadium car parking zone on opening day in 2011. With the inspiration, which has a mission of anti-bullying and anti-violence, Flannery has helped increase round $100,000, principally via reveals with the Lunatic Fringe, to offset the Stow household’s medical prices.
“Hey, I hit 9 residence runs within the ’80s,” Flannery mentioned. “I can’t simply write a test.”
However he may write, and play, and sing.
Stow, now 54, sustained a critical mind harm within the assault and in the present day lives at residence within the Santa Cruz space together with his mother and father. He takes reminiscence and mobility programs at a area people school and realized on Father’s Day that he was going to be a grandfather.
“Flan was one of many first to return to the forefront and assist Bryan out. It was simply wonderful,” mentioned Ann Stow, Bryan’s mom. “And he’s been that approach all through Bryan’s journey. Flan and Donna are such an vital a part of our household.”
In all, the Love More durable Mission has raised round $360,000 in Flannery’s ongoing battle towards bullies and violence.
Air and Water
Regardless of what some suggested early in his profession, Flannery was by no means going to decide on baseball over music.
“Like having to decide on between air and water,” he mentioned. “I’ve acquired to have each.”
Although Flannery principally was raised in Anaheim, Calif., his household got here from the hills of Kentucky. His uncle, Hal Smith, was a catcher who smashed a three-run homer for Pittsburgh within the eighth inning of Sport 7 of the 1960 World Collection. Had the Pirates’ bullpen held the 9-7 lead, Smith would have been a hero. As a substitute, the Yankees tied issues up and Pittsburgh’s Invoice Mazeroski received the sport and earned immortality.
Smith, who performed 10 seasons, repeatedly carried a Gibson J35 guitar with him on the street. When Flannery signed professionally at 19, he adopted swimsuit.
Flannery’s first supervisor, Roger Craig, advised him to deal with baseball somewhat than enjoying the guitar, however the instrument remained his fixed companion. Youngsters had been born — Daniel now could be 37; Ginny, the mom of Tim’s three grandchildren, is 35; Kelly is 32 — and the guitar was there for all of it.
“If it was a loopy day, having that guitar mellowed him out,” Donna Flannery mentioned.
One other uncle, George, satisfied Flannery that enjoying music wasn’t sufficient and that he wanted to document his songs to inform the tales of his household’s life. Amongst them is “Items of the Previous,” a tribute to Flannery’s preacher father, Ragon, who was dying of Alzheimer’s. Jackson Browne and Bruce Hornsby carried out on that recording.
On his musical journey, Flannery has opened for Buffett and Emmylou Harris. The Grateful Useless’s Weir entered his life throughout the advantages for Stow, and Walker, the outlaw nation legend and longtime hero of Flannery’s who wrote “Mr. Bojangles,” befriended him through the San Francisco years as properly.
“The beauty of the Bay Space, one of many best blessings, is I discovered a spot the place they perceive you might be an artist and nonetheless coach third,” Flannery mentioned.
Taking part in Via Ache
When the pandemic struck and the world closed, Flannery retreated to a getaway he calls his “treehouse” within the mountains north of Santa Barbara.
At his cabin, there is no such thing as a electrical energy, no telephone service and the water comes straight from a properly. The staph an infection that just about killed him began, he believes, as he was constructing cages to guard the potatoes, corn, tomatoes, okra, spinach and various different greens he vegetation there.
“You’ve acquired to place every part in cages, as a result of there’s animals,” mentioned Flannery, who retired from teaching after the 2014 World Collection however stayed in baseball, doing tv evaluation, via 2019. “I’ve by no means finished any of that stuff as a result of I by no means had summers off. One way or the other, I acquired reduce, or the soil acquired in.”
As an previous ballplayer, when the again ache attacked, he figured he would simply play via it.
“I took 4 Advil, drank an enormous cocktail and normally I’d polish that off with a bottle of wine to kill the ache,” he mentioned of his nightly routine.
However one afternoon he fell asleep, arduous, on the deck, waking up solely as a result of it was meal time for his canine, Buddy. Cussed as his grasp, Buddy nudged and licked Flannery till he got here to. If not for that, Flannery mentioned, he thinks he would have died proper there. As a substitute, the 2 someway drove to his San Diego-area residence, the place Tim collapsed and was taken away by paramedics.
As he was recovering in early 2021, Susan Walker phoned sooner or later. Her husband, Jerry Jeff, had died from most cancers in October, and she or he invited Flannery to carry out at a celebration of life in Luckenbach, Texas, that June. On the time, he couldn’t even sit as much as play his guitar, however he was decided to make it.
The memorial live performance was Flannery’s first gig after regaining his well being, and each of the boys Flannery felt had visited him within the hospital, in spirit solely, performed a component. Weir, who was scheduled to be in Luckenbach earlier than journey points saved him away, phoned simply earlier than Flannery went onstage. And Buffett, who died this month, was there in individual.
“Hey, you look similar to Tim Flannery, solely older,” Buffett teased.
The previous coach performed, at Susan’s request, a Walker authentic entitled “Final Tune” and a tribute Flannery wrote for his buddy, “Final of the Outdated Canines.”
“I believe I type of surprised individuals,” Flannery mentioned. “I don’t know the way it occurred, and it was all past myself. After I got here off, the entire crew had tears of their eyes.”
Donna Flannery mentioned she finds her husband to be “a kinder individual lately, nicer to everyone.”
As one of many strains in a track of his goes, kindness lives on the opposite facet.
And so the person who was advised to go away his guitar at residence and deal with baseball has as an alternative hung up his spikes. And he’ll hold making an attempt to make the world just a bit bit higher.
“After I play, I pray earlier than every present that the good translator, the holy spirit, reveals up and modifications every part I say and turns it into no matter individuals want and stick it of their hearts,” Flannery mentioned. “And a few days later, whenever you begin to hear again from individuals, yeah, there’s a motive why I’m enjoying.”