There is a reason the Los Angeles Dodgers have become a team players admire. They look after not only current successful players but also those whose careers have ended. They continue to provide support for outfielder Andrew Toles (33), who shocked many when he became homeless.
The U.S. newspaper LA Times reported on the 6th (Korean time) that the Dodgers will continue to support Toles, whose health insurance benefits were cut off, by working with his family in other ways. Toles was placed on the restricted list in 2019, and the Dodgers renewed his contract for seven years through last year so he could keep his health insurance.
However, due to eligibility requirements, maintaining the insurance became impossible starting this year. Although they could have quietly let it go after seven years of ample consideration, the Dodgers were different. According to the LA Times, the Dodgers said, "We have stayed in contact with the Toles family and discussed together what the best way forward is. The Toles family requested that Andrew's privacy be respected. Out of respect for the Toles family, we will not say anything further."
Toles, a right-handed thrower and left-handed hitter who was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays with the 119th overall pick in the third round of the 2012 draft, showed promise after being named Tampa Bay's minor leaguer of the year in 2013. However, in 2014 during his time in high single-A, bipolar disorder emerged. He had difficulties, including being scolded by his manager for unprofessional play, and Toles decided to leave the team for mental health treatment. He was released by Tampa Bay in March 2015.
Six months later, it was the Dodgers who reached out to save him. Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers' president of baseball operations who had drafted Toles when he was the general manager in Tampa Bay, signed Toles to a minor league contract. Toles realized his dream of a major league debut in August 2016, hitting .314 (33 hits in 105 at-bats) with three home runs, 16 RBIs and an .870 OPS in 48 games, and he carried the momentum into the postseason with a .364 average.
In 2017 he started as the leadoff center fielder in the season opener, but in May he suffered a severe injury when he collided with the outfield wall while fielding and tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. Toles underwent surgery and was out for the season; after more than a year of rehabilitation he returned in July 2018, but that was the last time he was seen that year. Ahead of the 2019 season, only news that he had been removed from the team for personal reasons was reported, and he was placed on the restricted list.
The anxiety disorder that troubled him in Tampa Bay recurred. Toles, who had quietly disappeared, was found sleeping behind a cargo warehouse near Key West International Airport in Florida in June 2020, shocking many. Arrested at the time on suspicion of unlawful entry, Toles had been living as a homeless person, wandering without a residence with only a backpack. He had been treated at more than 20 mental health facilities since 2019, but eventually severed ties with his family and became homeless.
It was heartbreaking that someone who had been a major leaguer just two years earlier was found homeless. At the time, Dodgers core player Justin Turner volunteered to pay Toles's medical bills for his treatment, and the Dodgers renewed Toles's contract at an annual salary of $583,000. Players on the restricted list do not receive salary payments, but keeping the contract on paper allows access to medical services through health insurance. It was a consideration by the Dodgers for Toles.
Six years have already passed since he was found homeless and returned to his family's care. Toles's sister Morgan Toles told USA Today in an interview in June 2021, "He's not living; he's just drifting. He's almost like a zombie." Their father, Alvin Toles, said, "He has watched baseball on a laptop, but he doesn't seem to properly understand what's happening. He probably doesn't even know the Dodgers won the World Series in 2020. We just hope he can be healthy and live a normal life," expressing his sorrow. Since then there have been no further interviews with the Toles family.
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