L.A. Angels Share Postseason Success with Adenhart Estate

At times, it seems the sporting world is built entirely on clichés.

On any given episode of SportsCenter, you'll hear a veritable bottomless pit of inane comments: We're taking it one game at a time; it was a team effort; we need to bring our A-game tonight.

Clichés are omnipresent in every major and minor sport imaginable, and each is less interesting and more meaningless than the last.

However, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have restored significant meaning to one cliché that is horribly overused but often unappreciated: There is no “I” in team.

On Monday, the A.L. West Division Champion Angels elected to give a full share of their postseason earnings to the estate of former teammate Nick Adenhart.

The decision was simple, but the meaning is profound.

Only three days into the 2009 season, Adenhart, the Angels' top pitching prospect in their farm system, was killed by a drunk driver just hours after tossing six shutout innings against the Oakland A's in what was to be the best outing of his career.

It was a crushing blow, one the team nearly failed to recover from. But the very thing that nearly cost the Angels their season became the inspiration for their resurgence.

Players wrote tributes to Adenhart on the sides of their caps; Jered Weaver etched his late pal's initials on the back of the pitching mound.

At home and on the road, Adenhart's jersey hung in the dugout during games, and the Angels always set aside a locker for their fallen comrade.

At the Big A, fans built a makeshift memorial in front of the main entrance. In the outfield, a mural captured Adenhart's image from his final and most successful outing.

When the Angels clinched their third consecutive divisional title, they danced, shouted, and celebrated with Adenhart's jersey, dousing it in beer and champagne the way they would have if their old teammate had still filled it.

And when they advanced to the American League Championship Series, they understood it to be the work of everyone involved. 

Everyone, including Adenhart.

Despite appearing in a single game back in April, he was as much apart of the team's success as anyone else and the Angels never forgot it.

Adenhart's presence was a constant mainstay in the Angels' clubhouse and will likely to continue to be for years to come.