The intricate tattoo sleeve inscribed on the left arm of Daniel Dickinson took two years to complete. Woven throughout are distinct messages chosen specifically by LSU\u2019s star second baseman to serve as a reminder.<\/p>\n
There are large roses that accompany the birthdates of his mom and grandmother. A depiction of a stairway to heaven with a wolf at the bottom of the steps explains the twists and turns of his life as an only child. Street signs represent the address of the house where he grew up in Richland, Wash., and there\u2019s a memory dedicated to one of his best friends in high school, who passed away in a car accident.<\/p>\n
One declaration, however, proved to be the most fitting\u00a0at the start of the Tigers\u2019 postseason charge toward the national title: \u201cTime is currency you can only spend once.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dickinson\u2019s time at LSU was brief \u2014 he\u2019s very likely to hear his name called in the first three rounds of the upcoming MLB Draft \u2014 but the most prominent chapter of his baseball journey had one hell of an ending.<\/p>\n
Facing a 2-2 count in his first at-bat of LSU\u2019s NCAA Regional opener against Little Rock on May 30, Dickinson was late on a fastball on the outside edge of the plate and flicked his bat at the ball to stay alive in the count. He connected. The ball went foul. He felt a shooting pain in his left arm.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old didn\u2019t know it at the time, but he had suffered an injury that typically keeps players out for a minimum of three to four weeks. The at-bat ended in a popout to the first baseman. Dickinson\u2019s next plate appearance in the second inning was so painful that he could barely swing. He still groans thinking about the weak tapper to the shortstop. He asked the LSU medical staff to wrap his hand and give him some medication to help combat the throbbing pain.<\/p>\n
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Dickinson launched a home run to left field.<\/p>\n
The next inning, he did it again.<\/p>\n
X-rays after the win revealed the severity of the injury. The hamate bone in his left wrist had broken cleanly in two. Dickinson walked into the office of LSU coach Jay Johnson inside Alex Box Stadium and broke the news. He wanted to keep playing but understood if Johnson thought it was best for the team to keep him out of the lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had two other really good players (break their hamate bones) and they were out,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cSo when he told me, my heart sank for a second because, it\u2019s like, the two guys I\u2019m talking about were really tough guys, really good players, and they just couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dickinson did. For the next month, as the Tigers went 10-1 in the postseason, No. 14 was in the lineup. Dickinson didn\u2019t swing away as freely as he usually does. He had only six hits in the 10 games following the injury \u2014 though two came in the national title-clinching 5-3 win over Coastal Carolina on June 22. One team, obviously unaware of the injury, intentionally walked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I\u2019d swing, I\u2019d feel excruciating pain,\u201d Dickinson said. \u201cThe grip strength is gone. You can\u2019t squeeze anything. I couldn\u2019t even squeeze my glove.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amid the locker room euphoria following the national title, the pain vanished for a bit. He lightly gripped a celebratory cigar and posed with his teammates.\u00a0 There\u2019s a photo<\/a> of a grinning Dickinson on the flight home cradling the trophy with his left hand, as \u201cTime is currency you can only spend once\u201d can be seen exposed on his left bicep.<\/p>\n His final season stat line was a .315 average, which included 75 hits, 67 runs and 12 home runs. He drew 40 walks in 305 plate appearances and had a .982 fielding percentage, committing four errors.<\/p>\n \u201cLSU baseball won a national championship largely because I got to write Danny Dickinson\u2019s name in the lineup for 68 straight games,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n Dickinson\u2019s road to LSU and a national championship started in the Tri-Cities area in southeastern Washington \u2014 not exactly known as a burgeoning hub of baseball talent. He learned how to count by watching sports on television with his mom, Sharee. They\u2019d watch Mariners games or Seahawks games and call out jersey numbers. Eventually, she began quizzing him on addition by asking how many runs the Mariners scored on extra-base hits or homers.<\/p>\n While many of this year\u2019s draft-eligible players have their own unique and uplifting stories, it might be hard to top Dickinson\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n He was conceived by an anonymous insemination donor and was raised by Sharee, who got him involved in as many sports as possible, including teeball starting at the age of 3. When he was in elementary school, he was asked in a survey to predict his career.<\/p>\n \u201cMLB player\u201d was his answer.<\/p>\n Long before he broke his hand, gutted through the constant month-long pain and earned the ultimate payoff, he was a raw high school senior at Kennewick High School, part of the generation of players who didn\u2019t get enough in-person recruiting eyeballs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a fortuitous twist of fate, former Utah Valley University coach Eddie Smith was in attendance for the 3A state baseball playoff tournament in Pasco, Wash., scouring for talent.<\/p>\n Dickinson led off the semifinal game and roped a double off his metal bat that Smith said woke him up from a long, tiring day. From that point on, Smith, now the head coach at Washington, was tantalized by Dickinson\u2019s potential. He had no scholarship money left and didn\u2019t have a guaranteed roster spot available for him. But he asked Dickinson to give UVU a shot. Dickinson was committed to Ottawa University, an NAIA school in Surprise, Ariz., but Smith\u2019s pitch to start at the Division I level \u2014 UVU plays in the WAC \u2014 was too good to pass up.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were many diamonds in the rough that got overlooked during that time,\u201d Smith said, \u201cwith Danny being one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Dickinson\u2019s next two years were a swift transition from unknown walk-on to everyday starter for the Wolverines. He was part of an overloaded roster due to the number of players with extra eligibility due to the pandemic. That first year, he was a teenager competing for a roster spot with players as old as 25.<\/p>\n That first fall semester in 2022 Dickinson was homesick. He missed Sharee. Missed his friends. Missed the comfort zone that allowed him to thrive at Kennewick. As the temperatures in Utah dropped and snow began to dust the mountains above the university, he utilized the batting cage with 24-hour access inside UCCU Ballpark. Solace came with the sound of the ping of his bat.<\/p>\n Still, Dickinson felt a piece missing. He\u2019d look up in the empty stands during fall ball. There was no Sharee. Just knowing she was there allowed him to take the necessary deep breath to slow his heart rate down and lock in before every at-bat. It\u2019s easy to be vulnerable with your mom when she\u2019s your best friend, so he told her that he\u2019d love to see her at some games in the spring. She did him one better.<\/p>\n Sharee retired from her job as director of services at the Hanford Site, the largest nuclear cleanup project in the world where she spent the past 15 years for the U.S. Department of Energy. In total, she had 30 years of federal service.<\/p>\n Daniel Dickinson\u2019s mom retired to watch him play baseball at LSU \u2764\ufe0f@michellachester<\/a> sits down with Sharee to talk about how much of a blessing it\u2019s been to retire and attend every game to watch Daniel play for the Tigers. #MCWS<\/a> x @LSUbaseball<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/3PNbf40CFF<\/a><\/p>\n