Opioids — Sports — Section925

By Connor Buestad | Connor@Section925.com

It’s real easy to be intimidated by Kyle Blanks.

Google him, and you’ll find a 6’6” man built from 265 pounds of seemingly solid muscle. Raised in a small town in New Mexico, Blanks’ hobbies over the last decade included getting new tattoos and punishing baseballs with a huge barrell in Big League ballparks throughout America. By all accounts, from his last name, to his oversized #88 jersey, Blanks comes across as a badass you don’t want to f-ck with. Not unless you are equipped with a 98 mile-per-hour fastball that you could somehow throw by him.

From 2009 to 2015, Blanks stuck in the Majors as a reliable power threat for the Padres, A’s and Rangers. Riddled by the injury bug, he finished his career with 33 homers, not to mention countless homers on nondescript fields on his path to The Show. He even went deep on Tyler Skaggs once. By the time his time in baseball was over, Blanks was a bona-fide Big Leaguer with the numbers to prove it.

Refreshingly, especially in 2019, the big ego that often accompanies an athlete of Blanks’ stature is nowhere to be found when you speak at length with the gentle giant. Although he looks back fondly at his long career in baseball with pride, Blanks has successfully transitioned to a new chapter in his life with a new mission. He has no interest in reminding you how good at baseball he once was. Nor does he need to explain how many homers he might have hit if his luck with injuries was better. He’s completely past all that “bullshit.” “It’s simple. I just want to help out as many people as I can,” he explains.

Much different from your typical ballplayer, Blanks is blessed with a level of intellect, curiosity and compassion that is very real when you move past his baseball card and understand him as a person. He’s serious when he says he wants to help others and make a difference; his cause is an alarming issue he sees across baseball and professional sports. Increasingly, players are turning to the use of opioids to fend off the pain of injury and stress during a long season. In the case of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, the issue of pain relieving drugs cost him his life this past season. Blanks maintains it’s an issue that runs far deeper than a one-off event in a hotel room on a road trip. “These drugs are more common than you think. More available than you think. It’s just like any other workplace, these players are human with issues they are fighting through like anyone else. We are talking about a small sample of people, but even this small group is definitely affected by our country’s opioid problem,” explains Blanks.

The MLB and the players’ association plan to re-evaluate their drug policy in the wake of the autopsy report last week on Tyler Skaggs, the Los Angeles Angels pitcher who had fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system when he was found dead in Julyhttps://t.co/VZZZgnyCCw
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 8, 2019

Not only is Blanks passionate about talking on the issue of opioids in pro sports, he is also taking steps in his career after baseball to create solutions for people to deal with pain in safer ways. As Chief Operating Officer of Road Runner CBD in New Mexico, Blanks is helping to create cannabis products that can be used to relieve pain in much safer ways than even the mildest dose of an opioid could.

Ironically, Blanks was forbidden to use cannabis products for the majority of his career as a pro athlete. While in Major League Baseball, cannabis use was legal, but heavily frowned upon. In the minors, where most players spend a huge chunk of their careers, it was completely illegal and tested for often. Blanks, who was often sidelined with injuries during his time in the minors, was left with alcohol and pills as his options to regulate his pain from injury and overall wear and tear from late-night games and all night bus trips. “I don’t care who you are, we all need something to help us wind down from our day. Some people require more than others. Some people’s days are more taxing than others. What players are using to regulate their injuries and their sleep patterns are often not safe at all,” says Blanks.

Part of Blanks’ humility and sense of his place in the world comes from his humble upbringing in a small town on the outskirts of Albuquerque called Moriarty, New Mexico. Despite his imposing frame and devastating strength, Blanks’ bat went relatively unnoticed by MLB or D1 scouts in high school, leading him to take his chances at Yavapai College to prove himself at the junior college level. Even with his success at Yavapai, pro scouts were willing to wait for 41 rounds to pass before using the 1,241st pick in the 2004 draft on Blanks.

When you’re a 42nd rounder in baseball, nobody’s going to hand you anything. The organization has a minimal investment in you and if you can’t hit for two weeks, you might get a handshake and a bus ticket back home to where you came from. Fast. Instead, Blanks faced the long odds in front of him with a zen-like, day-by-day approach and hit himself to the highest level. A Staph infection in 2006 was Blanks’ first big battle on the injured list. Little did he know when he made the San Diego Padres roster, his body would really start to fall apart.

Blanks is now a co-owner of Road Runner CBD, based out of New Mexico (Photo via PressReader.com)

In his rookie year, he suffered a plantar fascia tear in his right foot. The next year he underwent Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm. Two years later, he tore his labrum in his left shoulder, then in 2014 he was getting injections to treat an achilles injuries in both feet. The next year, a cyst removal, not to mention arthroscopic surgery in both of his heels to shave bone and remove tissue. His last season included another achilles operation.

“It was never ending,” explains Blanks when discussing his laundry list of injuries. “I was in the trainer’s room constantly. Always working with the medical staff, always rehabbing. I don’t want to compare myself to him, but I see where Andrew Luck was coming from. These injuries and this rehab is hard for anyone.”

Anytime these professional athletes limp off the field, the time is ticking for them to get back on it. Especially for Blanks, a 42nd rounder who had to prove his worth every time he stepped on the field. If you miss a week in baseball, you miss six games. That’s 30 at-bats.

Blanks defends all of the trainers and medical staffs that he came across in professional baseball. They never crossed the line, never handed out a pill that wasn’t well intentioned. They were always acting in the player’s best interest. But that doesn’t take away from the fact of how powerful these pain pills really are. In many cases, they’re opioids, and they can be dangerous. One pill too many, and you just might not wake up.

“I’m not out here trying to blame anyone in particular, but I’m trying to let people know that these pills are in the game. They might come with good intentions, but they are still dangerous. There are better ways to treat pain and the leagues should be open to those options,” says Blanks.

When Blanks talks about his playing days in Major League Baseball, he doesn’t talk much about the home runs he hit, or the hotels he stayed in, or the Hall-of-Fame pitchers he faced. He talks about the pain. The day to day struggle of getting through a 162-game season with a busted up body. The nights drinking and taking pills, trying to find a way to get through the night, knowing that no one wants to hear a millionaire in his 20’s complain about playing baseball for a living.

“There’s not much difference between me and Skaggs when you think about it,” explains Blanks. “I always woke up and drove to the ballpark. Unfortunately Skaggs didn’t that day. This is a bigger issue than people like to admit. Hopefully we can do something about it. I’m motivated to do my part.”