TOLEDO, Ohio -- Although his team won Wednesday night and Doug Fister had a successful rehabilitation outing, it was still a bad day for Toledo Mud Hens manager Phil Nevin.
Earlier in the day, Nevin learned that his good friend Junior Seau had reportedly committed suicide at the age of 43.
Nevin, 41, got to know Seau when the two were both playing professionally in San Diego. Seau was a star linebacker for the Chargers and Nevin played for the Padres from 1999-2005.
"We did a lot of charity events together and just became friends from doing stuff in San Diego," Nevin said. "We had dinner a couple weeks before I left for spring training. It was a typical night. We had a good time together."
Nevin has a lot of good memories of the times he spent with Seau.
"He was a great man," Nevin said. "I don't know what's going to be said about him, but you're going to hear all his friends come on there and say what kind of guy he was. He called everybody 'Buddy' and all that. It's just a shame."
Authorities have said that Seau died of a gunshot wound to the chest and that they consider his death a suicide.
On Thursday, Sports Illustrated reported that Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy has asked to study Seau's brain.
There's no doubt Nevin would like to see that happen.
"I know that there's a lot been said about this football stuff," Nevin said. "You play 20 years in the league, you probably had some things go on. For it to get that bad for that strong of a man, there's gotta be something to that.
"It stinks that it's a friend but hopefully it's a wake-up call for a lot of the stuff that's going on in the NFL.
"I don't know a whole lot about it, but just to hear what's been going on, if there's anything to this, hopefully it gets fixed, whatever they can do. I don't know. It's scary. It's sad. It's a bad day."
