Jeff Seale, 40; Drafted By Mets, Bitten By Black Widows
Bill Schenley
Photo: http://tinyurl.com/3w2v4xh
Former Fairview pitcher dies at 40
Video: http://tinyurl.com/42g4kay
FROM: The Boulder (CO) Daily Camera ~
By Joshua Lindenstein, Sports Writer
The pranks Jeff Seale pulled could be almost as big as his right arm.
If the former Fairview High star pitcher wasn't mowing down batters with a
mid-90s fastball, chances are he was making his teammates laugh with bits
like wearing a full arm cast to practice to scare coach Rick Harig into
thinking he'd lost his ace just before the postseason.
"He loved to have fun no matter what, win or lose," said Andy Shaw, Seale's
teammate on the 1987 and `88 Fairview squads that reached the American
Legion World Series.
Friends reminisced Monday both about Seale's sense of humor and his prowess
on the mound as news of his untimely death spread.
Seale, a one-time second-round draft pick of the New York Mets, was the
cornerstone of a Fairview pitching staff that saw three players either get
drafted or play in the minor leagues.
According to family members, the 40-year old died in his Erie home on Sunday
from what were believed to be complications related to black widow spider
bites he suffered two weeks ago. Services will be held early next week.
"Losing Jeff is like losing a family member," said Shaw, Seale's best friend
and roommate on baseball road trips growing up. "It`s tough. We`re all still
trying to just get through it right now."
Sadly, Seale is the second player from Fairview`s 1988 World Series team to
die at a young age. Dan Iten passed away two years ago.
"It`s pretty heart-breaking," Harig said of losing a former player. "It hits
you just like it`s not real."
Autopsy and toxicology results to determine an official cause of death for
Seale are pending. But Stephanie Baum said her brother awoke two weeks ago
to find 19 black widow bites on his left foot. He had been receiving
antibiotics in the days since but was experiencing severe pain and other
symptoms.
Shaw and fellow former teammate Danny Hudson said Seale had made comments on
his Facebook page that the pain was worse than anything he`d ever
experienced.
Hudson said Seale thought he`d turned the corner for the better in recent
days. But Baum said her brother called their parents, Kay and Richard Seale,
on Sunday saying he was in extreme pain all over. When his parents arrived
to check on him later, they found him unresponsive and called 911.
"It`s shocking," Baum said. "It caught us all off guard."
Harig, who was just beginning his career as Fairview`s baseball coach at the
time, called Seale the best pure high school pitcher ever in Boulder County.
Legally blind in his right eye and thus hindered when it came to playing in
the field or hitting because of a lack of depth perception, Seale was a
force on the mound. He twice struck out 19 hitters in a seven-inning game,
matching the jersey number he wore.
"The director of scouting for the Mets said he had the best arm action he`d
ever seen," Harig said. "He had a whip. If he didn`t strike out 16, you just
kind of thought it was a below-average day."
Pitcher John Kosenski was drafted in 1987 and Tom Leahy signed a free-agent
minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves. But Seale led the way.
"It was really hard to stay focused (in the field) because he was so
dominating," Hudson said.
Seale`s pitching never reached its full potential after high school.
In the 1980s, signing bonuses for draftees were a fraction of the enormous
figures of today. And Seale -- the kind of guy Shaw said would read an
encyclopedia on road trips because he wanted to be the "strongest and
smartest guy around" -- had his heart set on going to college. So when the
Mets came calling after his senior year of high school, he turned them down,
opting instead to play collegiately at Texas.
But an injury caused him to redshirt his freshman year at Texas. He played
one more year for the Longhorns before transferring to San Jacinto College
in Houston where he played with Yankees great Andy Pettitte. He played one
more season after that, for the Miami Hurricanes, but was never drafted
again and returned to Colorado where he worked for his family`s software
company, GBS, Inc.
"He knew he was blessed with an amazing arm but education was truly No. 1 to
him," said Shaw, who coaches Legion ball in South Dakota and awards jersey
No. 19 to a deserving player each summer in honor of his friend. "I know he
never regretted not signing. He loved college."
And Seale loved getting a laugh.
Fairview`s Legion team used to wear suits when they traveled to tournaments.
So on one trip Seale got his teammates to don black sunglasses with their
dark attire while he strolled through Stapleton International Airport
wearing a Ronald Reagan mask.
"I can`t tell you how many people did double-takes," Harig said. "I think at
first look everybody thought it was Ronald Reagan and the Secret Service
walking through the airport. He was a character."
While Seale left Texas mid-career, Baum said her brother never lost his
affinity for the Lone Star State.
"He left Boulder in a Saab with rock music playing, and when he came back he
was a cowboy," Baum said.
Seale grew to love horses after college and owned three. In addition to his
role as vice president of sales for GBS, he also worked as barn manager and
a trainer at Academy Stables in rural Boulder County. He was recently in the
process of buying his own ranch in the Longmont area, and those close to him
said he was as happy as they`d seen him since his days on the baseball
diamond at FHS.
"Everything was going so positively in his life," said Baum, whose brother
was single. "It`s just shocking that he doesn`t get to experience any of
it."
Seale is survived by his parents, sister, brother-in-law Bryan Baum, nephew
Chase and niece Brooklynn.
Gern Blanston
>from what were believed to be complications related to black widow spider
>bites he suffered two weeks ago. Services will be held early next week.
"Experts say 'zero chance' that black widow killed Seal"
Longmont Times-Call 07/22/2011
http://www.timescall.com/news/longmont-local-news/ci_18533006
BobF
On Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:54:31 -0500, Gern Blanston <ge...@blanston.com>
shouted from the highest rooftop:
Bloody unlikely.
At one stage in my youth I decided I wanted to be an Arachnologist and
studied up on spiders - particularly Black Widow spiders. Even back
then it was accepted knowledge that their "bites" would only cause
death in the very young. old or infirm. But not in a healthy adult.
But what really makes me suspect the death by Black Widow theory is
that a Black Widow bite causes a LOT of immediate pain and discomfort
- especially after 19 bites. According to the article, however, he
didn't experience the classic symptoms.
Guess everyone will have to wait for the toxology report.
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Charlene
> On Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:54:31 -0500, Gern Blanston <g...@blanston.com>
> shouted from the highest rooftop:
>
> >>According to family members, the 40-year old died in his Erie home on Sunday
> >>from what were believed to be complications related to black widow spider
> >>bites he suffered two weeks ago. Services will be held early next week.
>
> >"Experts say 'zero chance' that black widow killed Seal"
> > Longmont Times-Call 07/22/2011
> >http://www.timescall.com/news/longmont-local-news/ci_18533006
>
> Bloody unlikely.
>
> At one stage in my youth I decided I wanted to be an Arachnologist and
> studied up on spiders - particularly Black Widow spiders. Even back
> then it was accepted knowledge that their "bites" would only cause
> death in the very young. old or infirm. But not in a healthy adult.
>
> But what really makes me suspect the death by Black Widow theory is
> that a Black Widow bite causes a LOT of immediate pain and discomfort
> - especially after 19 bites. According to the article, however, he
> didn't experience the classic symptoms.
>
> Guess everyone will have to wait for the toxology report.
This happened to a friend-of-a-friend. He thought he'd been bitten by
a brown recluse (?) spider. Turns out he had a rare form of lymphoma.
wd47
wd47
Brigid Nelson
> On Sat, 23 Jul 2011 08:38:45 -0700 (PDT), Charlene
> <charlene...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> This happened to a friend-of-a-friend. He thought he'd been bitten by
>> a brown recluse (?) spider. Turns out he had a rare form of lymphoma.
>
I've probably posted this before, but it's my favorite scary spider
story so I'm posting it anyway:
http://www.bulkmsm.com/research/spider/Australia/page3.htm
b