GoodSportsGoodSports: Jaydin Goldenstein
Holyoke, Co. — Jaydin Goldenstein's Holyoke High School coach, Kyle Bules, wasn't sure about putting the boy on the mound so soon. Just two days earlier, Jaydin had said good-bye to his mother, Leah Bennett, who'd been more like someone from a bad childhood dream than the mom kids should have. But Bules also thought it might be just what Jaydin needed. What happened over the next few hours—let's just say that Bules was totally right.
The story was reported by Benjamin Hochman in the Denver Post.
Jaydin's mother, Leah Bennett, died on April 27 at age 35 of complications from a stroke. The tragic reality is that she had for a long time been burdening her estranged son with her lifestyle. She and Jaydin's father, Clint Goldenstein, split when Jaydin was 2. By the time he was 8, Jaydin had seen police invade her home. She was addicted to drugs—Hochman's article never gives specific details—and Jaydin decided he wanted nothing to do with her.
"I forgave her several times," he told Hochman, "but she kept messing up. She used to try to call me, and I wouldn't talk to her."
When he got the call on April 26 that his mom was in the hospital, in a coma, and likely dying, he drove around Holyoke in his pickup with a friend, Austin. "I'm sad that I'm not more sad," he said.
The next day, Leah Bennett died, and Jaydin was left without the mother he'd shoved from his life. She'd even tried to friend him on Facebook; he hadn't declined, but he hadn't accepted, either.
Two days after saying goodbye, Jaydin, a sophomore three-sport star at Holyoke, took the mound in the first game of a doubleheader at Wray. To clinch the regular season league championship, Holyoke needed both wins. The first game, Jaydin threw the first no-hitter of his career. The second, playing shortstop, he hit four home runs and had seven RBIs. The first one went out to center on a two-strike pitch; the second and third, left and right; the fourth went out of center again, by far the farthest of the day, clearing, according to Hochman's reporting, "a street, a ditch and a creek."
They won the game 15-8.
Jaydin's left with some guilt. Some sadness about not being more sad. And some anger. He's only 16. It's normal. He told Hochman, "I was planning on living my life not talking to her, and just hope she'd get clean."
Sports can't heal things like drug-addicted moms who put holes in their kids' hearts. Sports can't stop a kid from being sad about not being more sad. Sports can't make right the things in life that have gone wrong. Not for good.
But as Jaydin Goldenstein and his league champion Holyoke teammates and the Wray team they demolished a few weeks ago all know so very well now, a sport, a game like baseball, can provide a few moments' respite from the hell. And in those moments, life can be just a little like heaven.
[ Holyoke boy finds solace in baseball after estranged mother's death ]
[ Photos: Jaydin Goldenstein, by AAaron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post ]
[ Video: By AAaron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post ]
Reader Comments (2)
"I forgave her several time"
...several times. Don't forget the "s"
But other than my editing comments, I just gotta say..
holy crap. Dude sounds like a beast. Very interesting story. But good baseball for sure!
Fixed. Thanks Heids!