Sunday, August 3, 2008

The two Justin Cardinals

Consider this: A baseball player with an unusual name, born in 1982 and hailing from a region outside the United States and far from the spotlight, playing baseball in an equally obscure league.

Then suddenly, an unexpected occurrence leads to fame.

For Justin Cardinal, it was a journey to Israel to play in the very unlikely Israel Baseball League.

For Justin Cardinal, it was untimely death in a car wreck.

Yes, there were two Justin Cardinals.

One is Justin Cardinal, the veteran of the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox who made international headlines this weekend as he stood up to the new management of the IBL after his paltry paycheck for the 2007 season bounced one too many times.

The other was a semi-pro baseball pitcher named Justin Cardinal, killed on September 28, 2002, one week after he signed a contract to play for the Calgary Dawgs.

Justin Cardinal would have been 26 years old this year.

That’s the same age as Justin Cardinal, outfielder for the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox, who turns 26 on Thursday.

This Justin hails from Ottawa, Canada.

His favorite game is poker.

One of his favorite movies is The Matrix, a film describing a future in which describes a future in which reality perceived by humans is actually the Matrix, a simulated reality created by sentient machines.

Justin the pitcher was a star with the junior division of the Calgary Dawgs club of the Western Major Baseball League in Alberta, Canada, when he apparently fell asleep at the wheel after visiting his girlfriend. Known as the “gentle giant,” he’d also earned a scholarship to play at Mesa Community College in Arizona.

Our Man Elli in Israel got in touch with the IBL's Justin about the incredible coincidence.

Justin wrote back:

“I did hear about that other Justin Cardinal that died, and ya it's a pretty freaky coincidence how much we have in common.”


The IBL's Justin Cardinal (far right)

1 comment:

Sioux Crop Eared Wolf said...
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