If you want to read the story of a true human being and not just an athlete, then Zack Greinke is your man. As previously noted here, Greinke is more than just a tremendous baseball talent. He is a fully rounded human being who has not only dealt with a bout of depression but was man enough to acknowledge it to friends, family and the Kansas City Royals. This article by Bob Nightengale of USA Today is a great look at Greinke today. Here is a young man who readily admits that he “hated his job…to him it was no different than what most American were waking up to every morning. You get out of bed, show up for work, put in your time and do it again the next day.”

Greinke was not whining, he was depressed. In his own words he described his desire to do something other than baseball.

“Ever since high school, my whole world revolved around baseball. There’s nothing I loved more than baseball. I would eat for baseball. Run for baseball. Everything was baseball. But I wanted to quit several times in high school, too. I was hoping everything would get better when I reached the pro level, but it got worse.”

So for Greinke to leave millions of dollars, adoring fans and a stunned Kansas City organization could not have been harder, but also it was the most cathardic thing he dould have done. Today he is more than just a great pitcher, he is a role model for millions of Americans dealing with clinical depression. While he may not get in front of a camera to be that spokesperson, he is not shying away from his life either. As he says, “I’m not going to sit here and say everything is great when sometimes everything is not so great. I may have a bad day or a bad week. But, as I’ve learned, that’s OK, too.”