Clint Hurdle, former MLB outfielder and manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies, talks about what happens when you are labeled at a young age. Tagged as a “phenom” by Sports Illustrated at the age of twenty changed Hurdle’s life in unexpected ways — few of them good.
On the 21-year road to sobriety, Hurdle has suffered multiple blows. “I’m a flawed man,” he says, talking openly about how to show up the day after losing a game — once the alcohol has worn off. Whom do you listen to, and what to do when after failing twice, you marry for the third time and your daughter is born with Prader-Willi syndrome, a complex genetic disorder. “It’s a kick in the gut,” says Hurdle. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to carry a child inside your body after you find out she’s going to be born with a birth defect for which there is no known cure.” Blunt and wrenching, Hurdle answers the hard questions about his fight with alcoholism and cancer. He talks about the difference between guilt and shame, how to become a free spirit and how to create a blueprint for your own life. “Our daughter is doing things we never thought she could do. She’s in the photography club, she’s into swimming and chorus. She’s 17, but parts of her will always be 12. She has taught us what it means to love with all your guts.”
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