Great article about Padre's and a player that had a heart attack in 1996

[DanGarion]

An article I read in the Orange County Register today. Very heartwarming.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister...cle_856721.php

Thursday, November 24, 2005
Padres' compassion hits a home run

By STEVE BISHEFF
The Orange County Register

Look closely today, of all days. Look past the steroids problems and the oversized egos and the rising ticket prices.

Look, right there, a little to the south. Do you see it? No, it's not a mirage. It is true.

Baseball really does have a heart.

At least the San Diego Padres do. On this great American holiday, the franchise that plays in Petco Park should be celebrated not for any great pitching performance or hitting surge.

But also for simply showing compassion. For demonstrating a rare sensitivity and loyalty to one of its own. For proving that a fellow human being's condition might be more important that the cold, hard business of this, or any, sport.

The Padres care.

Shout it from the rooftops of the Gas Lamp District and let it echo into Mission Valley and all the way out to the Barona Indian Reservation, east of downtown, where a once vibrant young man sits, confined to a wheelchair, with little use of his arms and legs, and is still able to smile.

Matt LaChappa knows he will be taken care of, because the Padres refuse to forget about him.

No one should.

"It's really amazing," says Linda LaChappa, Matt's mother. "I can't believe this has really happened."

It is a bittersweet story that glows like the warmth from your family Thanksgiving table. Pull up a chair next to the thickest drumstick you can find and let the details fill you with a new kind of holiday cheer.

It begins on a cool April night in 1996. Matt LaChappa was a strapping, 20-year-old, left-handed pitcher, a second-round 1993 draft choice out of nearby El Capitan High who was considered the best pitching prospect in the Padres' organization.

He threw 90 mph-plus, had a sharp-breaking curveball that scouts called his best pitch and a pickoff move that could paralyze opposing base runners.

With his parents watching from the stands that night, LaChappa was warming up in the bullpen at Rancho Cucamonga, preparing to enter the game in relief, when something went terribly wrong. He clutched his chest and fell to the ground.

Trainer Jim Daniels rushed to his side and immediately began administering CPR. He continued for 20 minutes until local dispatchers finally decided which emergency unit to send.

LaChappa had a heart attack. Later, in the hospital, he suffered a second one.

"What happened," says Priscilla Oppenheimer, the Padres' director of minor-league operations, "is that he had a virus around his heart. He'd just undergone a physical, too, but something like that can only be picked up on an ecocardiogram."

LaChappa's career was over, his life changed forever in a few gut-wrenching moments.

His future could have been as bleak as his prognosis, except Oppenheimer and the Padres' organization wouldn't allow it.

Even though LaChappa would never throw another pitch, even though he could never fulfill the contract he had signed or repay the bonus he'd received, it didn't matter.

The Padres continued to pay him.

Each year, they have re-signed him to a basic minor-league contract, just like the one they renewed again recently, not only providing him with some much-needed cash but, more important, allowing him to maintain his insurance so he can continue to receive quality care.

The team doesn't have to do this. It wantsto do this.

"It's our way of saying to Matt that you're a Padre for life," Oppenheimer says. "When Larry Lucchino (the team's former president who now holds the same position with the Red Sox) was here, he said that's the way it should be. And as long as I'm here, that's the way it's going to stay."

Linda LaChappa's voice chokes up with emotion when she talks about it.

"I think it's the Lord's doing, but the Padres are part of the blessing," she says. "Me and my boys (there are three other sons in the family) are very grateful.

"I don't understand it. They probably haven't done this for anyone else. But Larry Lucchino said Matt would always be a part of the Padres family."

Oppenheimer, 64, has been with the organization 24 years and hardly looks upon it as an obligation.

"It's my privilege to be able to do this," she says. "And I hope if I leave here, someone else will think it worthy to keep going."

Oppenheimer visits LaChappa at his home on the reservation regularly.

"What happened just devastated so many people," she says. "Matt was looked up to by everyone in the community. When he signed, about half the tribe came in for the ceremony.

"He's a great kid. He is confined to a wheelchair, has trouble communicating and is barely able to hold a spoon. But his mind is still as sharp as ever. He has an incredible sense of humor and is just a joy to be around."

Though Oppenheimer says she often has to call LaChappa and remind him to cash his minor-league checks, the insurance his contract allows him to maintain is key.

"It is Highmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and they've really been supportive through all this," Oppenheimer says. "I'm sure they could get out of it if they chose."

But that's the thing about the people who know LaChappa. They choose to hang in there with him.

"I told his mom I'd always look out for him," Oppenheimer says. "I guess I still do in a way."

She still does in many ways. The Padres have renamed a Little League Park they helped renovate in Lakeside. It's now called Matt LaChappa Field.

They've invited him to be honored at Petco Park, where they wheeled him out to the mound and he could watch his brother throw out the first pitch.

At Rancho Cucamonga, they retired Matt's uniform and invited his dad to throw out the first pitch on opening night a few years back.

"Matt enjoys his baseball," says his mom. "He likes to watch the Padres. He played with Jason Phillips (of the Dodgers) in high school, and Matt Clement (now with the Red Sox) played on the same minor-league team.

"Priscilla comes out and visits him all the time. It's so wonderful that people haven't forgotten him."

Oppenheimer will never forget him. She says Matt is an inspiration to her.

"He's always so upbeat," she says. "If I'm having a bad day or feeling sorry for myself, I think about him and it brings me back to the real world.

"Matt is my hero."

In a year when we seem to need it more than ever, one major-league organization and, especially, one compassionate, caring employee, have combined to provide us with hope and encouragement, taking the act of giving to a whole new level.

The Padres and Priscilla Oppenheimer are the real heroes here.

Linda LaChappa, fighting back tears on the other end of the phone line, puts it best on this reflective family holiday.

"We're all just so very thankful," she says.

[Dutch]

A very touching story. Thanks for sharing!

[Buccaneer]

That makes me very proud to be a Pads fan.

[sterlingice]

Very cool story.

SI

[BYU 14]

Amazing how one story like this can compensate for the dozens of tales of spoiled athletes\pompous agents\Greedy owners that make the headlines, and make fans question why we continue to patronize sports when this is all we hear.

The Padres have done this for nearly 10 years with little fanfare, which shows they truly care.....A truly wonderful gesture, good for the Padre organization.

Enjoyed the story about Keyshawn and the paralyzed High School player he has been helping over the last year as well........again with little Fanfare until CBS picked up on the story. Keyshawn has always been hammered by the Media and fans and I am glad we got to see another side of him......A great story that had me tearing up 2 or 3 times....Kudos to Keyshawn as well!!!

I never get sick of hearing these types of stories.

[CraigSca]

The paralyzed player - was that the person Keyshawn gave the ball to yesterday after his touchdown?

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

The paralyzed player - was that the person Keyshawn gave the ball to yesterday after his touchdown?

I believe it was, couldn't really see his face well though.....If it was though, how neat, and coincidental was it that Keyshawn caught that right in front of his Seat!!

[Antmeister]

The one thing that has always been great about the Padres organization is that no matter which ownership has come in, they always do some amazing things. This goes back to the Krocs (Ray and Joan) to present day. One of the reasons I continue to be a Padres fan although it is most likely that there are stories like this with other teams that aren't reported as well. But thanks for posting this story. Very touching indeed.

[MizzouRah]

That's a great story and one that's welcome in today's money ridden, me, myself, and I, attitude in sports nowdays. Thanks!

[DanGarion]

Update regarding LaChappa.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports...8sullivan.html

Matt LaChappa hasn't thrown a pitch professionally in 10 years. He is confined to a wheelchair, and constrained by the physical fallout from back-to-back heart attacks.

Yet the Padres continue to pay him as if he were an active player. It might be the noblest thing they do.


NELVIN CEPEDA / Union-Tribune
Matt LaChappa gets a warm welcome hug from his former El Capitan school coach, Steve Vickery in May 2001 when the high school baseball team retired his number.
“When he became a six-year free agent, I just renewed him for six more years,” said Priscilla Oppenheimer, the Padres' director of minor league operations. “Nobody's said that I shouldn't, so I keep doing it. To me, it was the right thing to do. If they gave me any static about it, I would have taken it.”

The baseball salary LaChappa draws is relatively insignificant – even by the Friars' modest standards – but the gesture is absolutely grand. It helps the disabled pitcher retain his insurance coverage and fulfills a promise Oppenheimer made when the Padres picked the El Capitan lefty with their No. 2 selection in the 1993 June draft.

“When he was drafted and he came into the office to sign, I've never seen such a troop of tribal people,” Oppenheimer said. “I think he was the first full-blooded American Indian ever drafted.”

Oppenheimer assured LaChappa's parents then that they needn't worry about their teenage son because, “I'll take care of him.” Three years later, when LaChappa was stricken in the bullpen in Rancho Cucamonga, Oppenheimer proved even better than her word.

Narrowly interpreting a vague promise by then-CEO Larry Lucchino that LaChappa would “always be a Padre,” Oppenheimer kept the young player on the club payroll and placed pictures of him on her desk.

“He's my hero,” she said yesterday. “He was always up. He had a good personality, a good sense of humor. He was cheerful. It made you feel good to be around him.

“I try to go out to see him every month. Even though I do most of the talking, he's very strong in his upper body. If you get a chance to give him a hug, be prepared to fight for breath.”

LaChappa turns 31 on Thursday. Friday, the seventh annual Matt LaChappa Golf Tournament will be staged at Barona Creek Golf Club to raise scholarship money for college-bound San Diego athletes. To date, roughly 120 students have received grants totaling close to a quarter of a million dollars.

For Matt LaChappa, charity has become a two-way street.

“When Matt was in high school and going to try out (for baseball), we had to budget real good to get cleats and a mitt,” said his mother, Linda LaChappa. “There are kids out there with talent. If we could help them with college and stuff, we wanted to do it.

“When we started, we thought if it only lasted one year, we'd be successful. But our sponsors have helped us every year. They just continue to support Matthew.”

No one is forgotten faster than the former athlete who never made it to the big time. Yet LaChappa's dreams were dashed so dramatically and so abruptly that his legacy has outlived his brief career. His uniform number has been retired at both El Capitan High and Rancho Cucamonga. Oppenheimer said the Padres are considering naming a minor league award in LaChappa's honor.

“He could have been a No. 2 or 3 starter in the big leagues,” said Reggie Waller, the former Padres' scouting director. “His fastball could occasionally touch 90 (mph) and he had two curveballs. One of them was just an absolutely major league power curve ball.”

LaChappa won 11 games as a starter in Rancho Cucamonga in 1995, compensating for erratic control with a lethal pickoff move.

“He would mesmerize guys,” Waller said. “They'd look and next thing they were out.”

It happens that quickly sometimes. One moment, you're teeming with opportunity. Then, suddenly, it's all gone, and irretrievable. For LaChappa, the transition was but a twinkling. He was warming up for an April relief appearance against the San Bernardino Stampede when he clutched his chest and collapsed in the bullpen.

Derrek Lee, the Padres' No. 1 choice in 1993, would go on to win a World Series, play in an All-Star Game and sign a $65 million contract with the Chicago Cubs. LaChappa, meanwhile, went on to round-the-clock care.

“Matthew is doing fantastic,” said his older brother, Eagle. “He actually participates in everything his family does. He attends church, goes to dinner, goes to the movies.

“He's still the same person that he was before. Nothing – no matter what happened to him – could get him down. He's always been a fighter.”

So, too, is Priscilla Oppenheimer where Matt LaChappa is concerned.

“I always buy a foursome in his golf tournament,” she said. “Somebody gave me a little grief about that in a finance meeting, and I had to use some not-so-nice words. But other than that, no one's ever said anything.

“The sad thing is most people don't remember who he is now. Most of the staff never dealt with him, so they don't know.”

That's a shame, for this is a story that does the Padres proud.