Fox Sports, Kansas City — Open minds, the heart usually follows. The itinerary this week includes a trip to Houston, where Jim Eisenreich has been asked to speak to a small group on behalf of a local family.
“I’ve been in contact with a family with a son who has had Tourette (syndrome) for about five years,” Eisenreich, the former Royals outfielder, tells FOXSportsKansasCity.com. “They actually just moved to Houston last year from Atlanta.
“I’m going down there to talk to some of the educators. With his school there, (it’s) a huge school district and not a lot of knowledge. And I just wanted (them) to hear it from the horse’s mouth.”
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A draftee out of St. Cloud State in 1980, he had been rushed to the majors by a rebuilding Twins organization, getting a cup of coffee at Single A ball before landing a spot on the big-league roster in the spring of 1982. From a distance, the tics brought on by Tourette’s were overlooked on amateur and minor league fields, or Eisenreich could find ways to hide them. But not in The Show, not with all its cameras and crowds; the pressures of the majors and the spotlight only intensified the problems that had been with him for years. Coaches laughed. Teammates shied away, worried they might set off a set of spasms.
