Death of a Teammate

Georgia Tech canceled Tuesday’s baseball game against rival school Georgia Southern so that the entire team could attend the funeral of pitcher Michael Hutts, who was found dead in his apartment late last week. It will take the coroner’s office several weeks before the cause of Michael Hutt’s death will be known. As a tribute to Hutts, the Georgia Yellow Jackets painted Michael’s familiar number 40 in front of the dugout. The school also canceled a game against Miami on Friday and went on to lose three consecutive games to the Miami squad.

I feel really bad for the family, friends, and fans of both Michael Hutts and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket baseball team. When a person dies tragically, it can be hard for the people closest to that individual to move on and remember the good memories they have of him or her. I think having the whole team at the funeral was a great idea because it allowed the team to support the family of Michael Hutts and say good-bye to him in person. The only thing that I don’t agree with is the cancellations of all of the games. The problem with not playing any baseball games after the death is that it could have made all the players stew over the tragic events and make them feel guilty about what transpired. Would Michael Hutts have agreed to cancel the games or play? I think he would have wanted the team to play on and win in his memory.

Mark Zadakis