It seems only on rare occasions in life that we are touched by a person so subtly known and yet so profoundly important in our lives. I was blessed that this happened to me.
It’s amazing how much we take life for granted. The person on the train we see every week on Fridays or the mailman we see on Saturdays or a little girl in the neighborhood that is selling magazines but whose parents and family are unknown.
Our encounters with others through life add to the richness each day can bring.
Fourteen months ago I was enriched one evening when I sat down for dinner at my local café and was served by a very sharp and mild mannered youngman named “Joey”, he liked to be called JOE. Over the next 14 months, each time I stopped by the Café, “Joe” would talk to me about the Mariners and about his dreams of getting a scholarship with a University so he could play ball and someday play Professional Baseball
I would tell him about baseball history and how baseball is such a great sport.
I would always tell him that the more you dream the better your chances are of making that dream a reality. We talked about the Mariners and their problems, the way baseball was changing and each time I leave and walk home I felt enriched for the good conversation I had with “Joe”
I told him of a new restaurant that I would take him to. I told him we would go to a game sometime. After 14 months I got to know and enjoy my friend “Joe” and I would look forward to seeing him.
Well my friend “Joe” had his life taken from him in a car accident on July 5 of 2004. In many respects it is so unfair that a Great young man would be stripped of a rich life. Joe “Joey” Miller could have been the next short stop of the Mariners. He could have played in a world series game 7 and make the game winning defensive play.
“Joe” to me, epitomized what I would love to see in all young men of his age. He was a clean cut, hard working young man with good morals and he loved BASEBALL.
I was only his weekly customer but Joe “Joey“ Miller made a profound impact on my life and I am so damn grateful for it!
I do not think that MR Baseball can change the world. But I will do my best to raise money in my friends name so that his memory may impact other young lads so that they may live their life as “Joe” did.
You can make a charitable donation in Joseph Miller’s name by clicking here and those funds will be given to the Enumclaw High school baseball program as part of an annual endowment.
I am blessed and honored to have known Joe Miller and proud to call him friend. I will miss him terribly.