Former White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar will be the subject of a brand new feature on ESPN’s SportsCenter this weekend. Here is the network’s official press release:
Danny Farquhar’s Miraculous Comeback Story on SportsCenter This Weekend
The miraculous comeback story of former Chicago White Sox relief pitcher Danny Farquhar will be documented this weekend on ESPN SportsCenterwith the SC Featured piece “Beyond Relief.”
The story will debut in the 8 a.m. ET hour of SportsCenter on Saturday and re-air in other editions through the weekend.
As Michele Steele reports for SC Featured, Farquhar, who was stricken with a brain hemorrhage during a White Sox game last April, is now attempting to work his way back to the major leagues in the New York Yankees organization after undergoing brain surgery and rehabilitation.
Steele, a SportsCenter reporter doing her first SC Featured piece, lives in Chicago and was called in to cover the news on the day Farquhar suffered the hemorrhage in the White Sox dugout. She first met him a few weeks later when he came back to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for a game.
“I was so struck by his attitude and his amazing trajectory,” she said. “This is a guy who almost died in a game and he was not only able to walk again but throw again. It was just an amazing visual, and a story that I really wanted to tell.”
Steele contacted Farquhar’s agent and proposed the idea of an exclusive comeback story for ESPN.
“He’s done plenty of interviews but what I was pitching them on was a longform story that would take place over many months,” she said. “It would follow his journey from being rushed by the paramedics to the hospital to trying to make it back to the bigs. Fortunately they agreed to do it.”
The ESPN crew made several visits to shoot with Farquhar and his family, and his wife Lexie provided additional video and photos, including his first steps after brain surgery.
“Lexie was super generous with her time and really couldn’t have been more gracious,” Steele said. “Thanks to her, viewers are going to be able to see parts of his life that they’re not going to see anywhere else.
“I think that this is the baseball story of the season,” she said. “Danny Farquhar has transcended the bullpen, which is why we call the story ‘Beyond Relief.’ I think his story is going to resonate and hopefully inspire a lot of people out there.”
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Featured Photo: Patrick Gorski/USA TODAY Sports
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