Today, we heard the terrible news that former Phillies minor league catcher Chace Numata passed away from a severe head injury he suffered as a result of a skateboarding accident.
I didn’t know him that well. The summer he was in Clearwater we had two pitchers staying with us and we waited for them in the players parking lot after every game. We’d see Chace many nights skating from the stadium to his car, with that smile on his face. That smile was so warm but at the same time it seemed like he knew a secret that no one else knew. It was almost boyish and it lit up his face like the sun.
He’d see us sitting there in our car and give us that smile and a nod and continue on his way. I thought it was just a “Hello, I see you here every night” thing but to my surprise it wasn’t.
This spring he was in town with a friend for a wedding and I ran into him at Starbucks. He recognized me before I recognized him and he gave me that amazing smile!
“Hey, Betsy! How are you! It’s so good to see you!” He said as he gave me a hearty hug,
I was surprised he even knew my name. You’d have thought we’d have been life-long friends and he made you feel like the most important person in the world while he was speaking to you.
We talked a few minutes and we went our separate ways. I remember saying to Ross how amazed I was not only that he knew me by name but was also first to give me a hearty hug.
When I heard he’d passed today, the world seemed to be just a little less special without that wonderful smile in it any longer. We lost one of the good ones today.
Rest In Peace, Chace.
Baseball Betsy 