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The cap is beautiful in its grunginess, which is why the ‘23’ recently etched in white marker on the right side stands out.
Loggers first baseman Derek Melton, who wore number 23, was injured in a swimming accident in the Mississippi River at Pettibone Beach on Sunday. Melton suffered damage to three vertebrae in his neck and was unable to move his lower body before having surgery on Tuesday.
Vaughn is one of about a dozen Loggers who are wearing tributes on their caps to Melton. The team has posted Melton’s uniform in its dugout all week, and ‘23’ was chalked in behind home plate and first base for Thursday night’s game against Madison, the team’s first at home since the accident. The Loggers went so far as to play without a first baseman in the field for one batter in the top of the first.
“It’s just basically showing him a lot of support and trying to see him as much as we can, keeping him in our hearts and saying prayers and hoping things will work out,” Vaughn said. “Just coming out here and trying to get the ring for Derek, doing all we can to honor him.”
A statement issued by the Melton family through Gundersen Lutheran on Wednesday said Melton’s surgery went “very well” and he is beginning the rehabilitation process. Melton was in stable condition.
The Loggers played three road games this week, two in Waterloo and one in Madison, before returning home. But Melton has rarely been alone. The players and coaches decided to come back to La Crosse on Monday night instead of staying in Waterloo so they could spend a few hours with Melton. Then, it was back on the bus the next morning, headed back to Iowa.
No one complained.
Manager Andy McKay, who scripts every pre-game practice down to the minute, said there is no planning for dealing with a seriously injured teammate.
“It’s been more than difficult,” McKay said. “For most, if not all of us, it’s been the hardest thing we’ve had to do in terms of baseball. We’d all worked so hard and had a day off, and the day off became a nightmare, then we had to go play three in a row on the road. It was hard, but we all understood there was nothing we could do here. It was pretty obvious we needed to go out and play and I’m so proud of how our guys have gone out and competed since it happened.”
Loggers players have visited Melton in shifts since Sunday when the team has been in town. Many players came directly to the ballpark after visiting Melton in the hospital Thursday afternoon.
“We’ve all talked about having the same feeling in our stomach over this,” McKay said. “When it originally happened that night, I was at the hospital from 5 in the afternoon and stayed with Derek that night, went home and slept for an hour and then went to Waterloo. It hits close to home. It is emotional and I just think everybody’s got their own reaction to it. That day, I spent as much time thinking about my own kids. What if it had been my son? I think Derek knows he’s pretty much I our thoughts all the time.”
Melton, a junior from Evansville, is certainly one of the players in MVP discussion for the Loggers. The South Division All-Star finished with enough at-bats to qualify as the team’s single-season batting average leader (.314), overtaking Matt Einspahr’s 2004 mark (.311), plus eight home runs and 45 RBI. Melton was also one of the infield anchors, with 51 of his 55 games played at first base.
It was intensity as much as statistics that defined Melton’s time with the Loggers. Most players ease into their game faces, but Melton came to the park with his already on. By the time batting practice started, forget it. Every pitch was bottom of the ninth, bases loaded. I once watched him hit four or five long home runs in B.P. and thought it was surely the day he’d crack a smile. No chance.
“The kid’s got a lot of heart,” said Loggers catcher Andy Pascoe, a teammate of Melton’s at Evansville. “I know for sure he’ll attack his physical therapy just like anything else. I worked with him a lot in the weight room in the fall, the spring, this summer, and I feel good about what he can do.
“He’s a good friend of mine and it’s tough. But being a good friend, you’ve got to be there for him. That’s what we’re doing and that’s all you can do now because the doctors are doing all they can.“
The Loggers were 1½ games out of first place with six games remaining entering play Thursday. Whether their season ends with the regular season Monday or extends for a playoff run, players and coaches will be going their separate ways soon.
“I think what’s really hurting everybody right now is that we’re going to have to leave here and go back to our own separate lives and he’s going to be sitting here still,” McKay said. “That’s really hard to imagine although it’s the reality of what it’s going to be like. For a lot of us, we feel like, let’s put that off as long as we can, because going in there and saying goodbye to him is going to be very difficult.”
Joel Badzinski can be reached at (608) 791-8402 or joel.badzinski@lee.net
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