This Hammers' trade is special
JOLIET -- Brandon McArthur has been acquired by the Joliet JackHammers for the playing rights of Michael Moore. But it hardly ranks as your average trade.
McArthur spent the second half of the 2009 season with the Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier League. While with the Beach Bums, he played in 26 games and batted .190 to finish the season. But his story is not what he accomplished last year, but what he overcame to become a professional baseball player.
McArthur, a sixth-year senior at the University of Florida in Gainesville, had to battle back from a severe head injury after a random act of violence on Oct. 30, 2003 that put him in a drug-induced coma. Doctors were not sure if he would survive after two life-saving operations that removed 5 percent of his brain. McArthur finally regained full consciousness on Nov. 23, 2003, but found himself not remembering the night of the attack or his new teammates.
He had also forgotten how to walk, with permanently losing his sense of taste and smell. He was informed by his doctors that he would never play baseball again.
The family of the former All-Florida high school player, who had been selected in the fifth round of the 2003 draft by the Twins, was told he would be paralyzed and unable to communicate.
Over the next 15 months, McArthur was out to prove the doctors wrong. He regained his ability to walk and talk and began his long road back to the diamond.
His trek back to the field ended Feb. 11, 2005, 470 days after the attack, when McArthur took the field at Florida's McKethan Stadium as the No. 15 Gators' starting third baseman. McArthur and the Gators would go on to the best season in school history, winning the school's first SEC championship in seven years and making a memorable run to the College World Series Championship Series, where they fell to the Texas Longhorns in two games.
McArthur was a career .301 hitter for the University of Florida with 36 doubles, 8 triples and 10 home runs, helping the Blue and Orange to a runnerup finish in the College World Series as a red-shirt freshman in 2005. He earned such honors as four straight Academic All-SEC awards and an SEC-All Freshman Team nod.
Even with his accomplishments on the field at one of the powerhouses of intercollegiate athletics, McArthur's athletic performances pale in comparison to what he achieved off the field.
Among his community-service awards was the 2009 Lowe's Senior Class Award, which is the nation's premier tribute to college seniors that excel with character in the classroom, in the community and on the field.
In 2009, McArthur received a President's Volunteer Service Award from former United States President George W. Bush. President Bush stated in a letter to McArthur, "Your ability to overcome adversity is a testament to your character, and your compassionate efforts serve as an inspiration to others. You are making our Nation better and stronger, one person at a time."
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