A ‘yes man’ who belongs in Los Angeles
By Cary Osborne
On July 1, I wrote a story about Justin Turner and his girlfriend Kourtney treating a couple, who had lost their 3-year-old son in 2014 in a tragic accident, to that night’s game. We published the story around the time of the first pitch.
The Dodgers won that night 5–0, Turner went 1 for 3 with a double. Fireworks sprayed the sky with pinks and purples and whites. Then people who watched the display from the field at Dodger Stadium left. I was writing a story about the game from the Vin Scully Press Box, but I could hear chatter from the field.
I looked down and saw four people seated on a blanket in foul territory on the third-base side.
It was Turner, Kourtney and the couple they had treated to the game. Turner was relaxed and appeared ready to go nowhere, as if time didn’t exist. Turner and Kourtney didn’t just treat this couple, who two years before experienced pain that most of us will never know, to a game. They treated them like family.
The next day, in the Dodger clubhouse and still touched by what I saw the night before, I approached Turner. I felt like I had to say something. All I said was that what he did the night before was pretty cool.
I remember Turner responding with just a nod.
It so happens, on my way to the press box to cover that night’s game, I ran into Kourtney. I briefly introduced myself and told her how I thought what they did was beyond special. I don’t recall her exact words, but she said nothing about herself. Nothing about Turner. Instead, she talked about how cool the couple they helped was.
The other day, my cousin asked me if I saw a video of Turner giving a surprise visit on December 16 to a young man in the hospital. That young man, Ryan Teixeira, has been diagnosed with cancer twice in the last year.
I had seen the video. As I had seen selfless act after selfless act by Turner over the year on social media.
My cousin suggested I should write a story on it.
Others have.
If I were to write it, it would be comparable to mentioning Turner short-hopping a tough grounder with runners in scoring position and getting the third out at first base. It would be like writing about Turner getting a few hits in a game. The commonality of the occurrences would be that they are all routine for him.
I share an office at Dodger Stadium with a couple of colleagues who are graphic designers, and we have to look through a lot of photographs over the course of the year. We look through photos of more than just games. Sometimes we look through photos of community-related events. And sometimes we’ll say while viewing the photos: “Of course Justin Turner was there.”
It just seems like Turner says yes to everything when it comes to helping out those who aren’t as fortunate as him.
Some people talk about a “Yes Man” at a company as being a bad thing. Justin Turner proves that’s wrong.
Turner was nominated this year for the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award. It goes to the player whose on-field performance and contributions to his community most inspire others to higher levels of achievement. The Mets’ Curtis Granderson won the award. My thought when I heard this was, “Granderson must be Mother Teresa if he beat Turner out for the award.”
I’m sure Turner didn’t mind that he didn’t win it. He probably would say Granderson deserved it more, or he doesn’t need to get rewarded for his service.
Fortunately, more of that service will be in the Los Angeles community.
The Dodgers’ re-signing of Turner was something I had hoped for. He’s consistent. He’s clutch. He would have been hard to replace. And that’s not even talking about what he does on the field.
