Who would have ever guessed that Steve Clevenger, a weak-hitting, injured, backup catcher, would overnight become the focal point of a team on a last-ditch playoff drive?
Clevenger almost certainly was not going to play again for the Mariners this year, having suffered a broken hand in late June and then a flexor strain in his right elbow last week. He has not appeared in a game, in fact, since June 29, and before that played in just 22 games in 2016. He’s a career .227 hitter in parts of six seasons across three organizations.
Clevenger in every way has been a fringe player — until Thursday, when he took to his computer or cellphone, pecked away with his fingers and suddenly became the latest front-and-center entrant into the cultural and political hotbed that is percolating, and fomenting, at the intersection of sports and the so-called real world.