The other night I was watching the 2006 Home Run Derby on the MLB Network. I knew Phillies bullpen coach Ramon Henderson pitched to Ryan Howard that night - making him the winning pitcher in consecutive derbies (Bobby Abreu in 2005) - but I didn't remember that he also pitched to Miguel Tejeda and David Ortiz that night.
I thought: Howard must not have liked that. Then, I thought: Whatever happened to Ramon Henderson? He seemed like the prototypical baseball lifer - well-liked, capable and settled into a niche role. What happened to him when he was sent home last year and then brought back with a demotion as the Phillies finally won the big one?
Today, the Philadelphia Daily News answers those questions with a four-click tearjerker about Henderson's fight with alcoholism. It's an interesting story - his drinking worsened when John Vukovich died, and he credits the Phillies and the team's substance abuse adviser Dickie Noles for getting his life back on track.
It's a sad tale, with some redemption that leaves you with hope everything will turn out all right for Henderson. I hope he's serving up dingers to Papi and Howard in St. Louis this summer.
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