Columns

His strength is hers

Outfielder Marcus Thames owes all to the mother who has been paralyzed since he was 5.

By JOHN ROMANO
Published October 26, 2006

ST. LOUIS — Elsewhere in the clubhouse, people are talking in grave tones. Contemplating the consequences of a team not hitting, and a season at stake.

Sitting alone on a couch in the middle of the room is a man who knows better. Marcus Thames wants this World Series as much as any player in a Tigers uniform, but his heart has no room for mock solemnity.

Back home in Louisville, Miss., is a woman who has spent the past 24 years trapped in a life too cruel to conceive. A woman unable to walk or to grip a glass of water in her hands. A woman who somehow raised five children even when she was unable to raise herself from a bed.

Back home is Marcus’ mom, Veterine Thames (pronounced Timms)

“She’s so strong,” Marcus says softly. “Her strength has kept our family together for 24 years. And I’m stronger because of her.”

He was a child the day his mother was involved in a traffic accident on a speck of highway in Mississippi. She was, at age 28, paralyzed virtually from the neck down.

Swooping in with the grace of angels, Veterine’s family came to the rescue. Marcus’ father was out of the picture, so Veterine’s mother and her siblings took charge of her medical requirements and the day-to-day needs of her children.

At 5, Marcus was the middle child. Old enough to understand something was horribly wrong, but not mature enough to reconcile it in his mind.

Veterine and four of her children moved into her mother’s house.

Marcus, instead, went to live with an aunt and uncle.

“Early on, he couldn’t handle the situation,” said Marcus’ oldest brother, Stacy. “It was hard for him to look at my mom the way she was, so for about two years he lived with our aunt and uncle. That way, he wouldn’t have to see her in bed.”

In time, Veterine moved back into her own house with all of her children. Stacy and his sister did the cooking. Marcus did the grocery shopping as a child.

Everyone pitched in with chores and the care of their mother. Money was scarce, but they managed to keep the family together and safe.

“We all grew up real fast,” Stacy said. “We didn’t have much of anything. Everything we wore was hand-me-downs, but we survived with what we had.

“We learned that it doesn’t matter what your circumstances are, as long as you stay together and support each other you can overcome anything.

“Family always comes first.”

Even with the strength they drew from each other, there were difficult days. The Thames children didn’t have the carefree lives of others in the neighborhood because they were constantly counted upon to help their mother.
Parties were skipped. Picnics were forgotten. There were times, even, that classes had to be missed due to other responsibilities.

“She couldn’t come to watch me play baseball, she never saw me play football in high school, she couldn’t come to my graduation like every other parent did,” Marcus said. “It hurt, you know. I’d talk to her about it sometimes and she’d say, 'You know I’m always with you, I’m just not there in person.’

“Trust me, she was right. She is aware of everything I do.”

All these years later, the Thames children still laugh about the punishment their mother would dole out from her bed. Although her hands were unable to grip, she could still swing an arm. So, when one of the kids was out of line, they could expect to endure Veterine’s wrath.

“It’s been two or three days since you’d actually done something and she’d call you up to her bed,” Marcus said. “She’d be laughing, talking about something else and, when you got close, she’d give you a smack upside the head.

“Then she’d tell you exactly what you had done wrong.”

Veterine had a way of challenging her children without ever leaving the room. Her perseverance became their best attribute. Her determination was their motivation to succeed.

“If it wasn’t for his mother pushing, pushing, pushing him, Marcus wouldn’t be where he is,” said Veterine’s brother Willie J. Thames. “She tells him to worry about baseball and keep her in the back of his mind, but she couldn’t be any prouder of him.”

It is the way Thames has reached the World Series that is special. Drafted by the Yankees in the 30th round in 1996, Thames spent parts of nine seasons in the minors. He went from the Yankees farm system to Texas to Detroit.

It wasn’t until this season, his 10th in pro ball, that Thames has stuck on a major-league roster an entire season. And the

29-year-old outfielder responded with 26 home runs in 348 at-bats, the fewest at-bats for any player in the majors with at least 25 homers.

“You can talk about all of the ups and downs I’ve been through,” Marcus said, “but when I think about my mother and what she’s been through, the baseball stuff is a slap on the wrist in comparison.”

They postponed Game 4 of the World Series on Wednesday night because of rain, which means another day on edge for the Tigers and their fans.

Maybe Detroit comes back tonight and wins. Maybe the Tigers never recover and their season ends just shy of the ultimate goal.

Either way, Marcus Thames will carry on.

It’s what his mother taught him.

[Last modified October 26, 2006, 07:05:41]