Page 24 of Before We Ever Spoke

24

Across town, Cooper Madison had just finished his morning walk and was enjoying a cup of coffee and a granola bar on his private balcony as he watched the sunrise over Lake Erie. A seagull landed on the corner of the balcony, and Coop locked eyes with it. The seagull didn’t budge as Coop raised his coffee mug to his lips, slowly. Coop had learned that Lake Erie seagulls were fearless scavengers - always daring to push the limits of human contact in hopes to get a morsel of food.

Just as Coop was about to toss a bite of his granola bar to the bird his cell phone rang, and the startled gull took flight.

The caller ID had the name “Todd Taylor” on it. Todd, or “T-Squared”, had been Coop’s agent since he came into the league in 1996. Todd was a Mississippi native who had starred in baseball in the late 80’s at Ole Miss prior to suffering a career-ending shoulder injury as a junior. Luckily for Todd, he had a fallback plan. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Ole Miss and then was top five in his class from Duke Law School. While attending Duke, he managed to snag a summer internship after his second year with IMG’s baseball division via a former Ole Miss teammate who happened to be a client.

IMG’s main office was in Cleveland, Ohio, as the founder Mark McCormack was an Ohio native. Todd Taylor had been called “T-Squared” since his days at Ole Miss, and IMG was no different. T-Squared quickly earned a reputation at IMG similar to the one he had as an infielder at Ole Miss: tenacious, tough, intelligent, and personable.

He made such a great impression at IMG during those 2 short months in the summer of 1990, that he was offered a permanent position as a junior agent in the baseball division upon graduation from Duke in 1991. Within 2 years T-Squared was taking on his own clients, and his reputation amongst MLB players landed him plenty of players.

Fair or not, professional athletes tend to trust agents who played their sport at a high level more than a bookworm who couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. The fact that a lot of his clients actually played with or against him in college only expanded their comfort level with him. They knew that he could’ve been a pro himself, had it not been for the injury.

He had their respect. He was one of them.

His biggest client came in the form of another southern boy in 1996 when Cooper Madison contacted him at IMG in the months leading up to the draft. Coop remembered watching T-Squared play in college at Ole Miss, and even though Coop pulled for Mississippi State, he was a fan of good baseball players first and foremost. When Coop started researching agents, he was pleasantly surprised to see that one of the best young agents in baseball was Todd “T-Squared” Taylor. It didn’t hurt that they were both from Mississippi, either.

During his playing days, especially early on, Coop loved getting phone calls from T-Squared. When Coop was an 18 year old on his own in the minors, his agent would check on him three times a day, just to make sure he was okay. They became fast friends off the field, as well. Coop was a groomsman in his wedding, and T-Squared even set Coop up with the former Miss Mississippi.

On this morning in 2006, Coop let the call go to voicemail. Out of all the people, Coop felt he let down by retiring early, the two that stood out above the rest were Skip Parsons and Todd “T-Squared” Taylor. The latter of which still called him about once a week, just to check up on him. Lately, though, Coop stopped answering because he knew what his agent wanted to know: was he ready to play again.

The Cubs were heading into the final part of an awful season and had no chance at a Wild Card spot. Since they still owned the rights to Cooper Madison, the Cubs were in a position to add a late-season arm - even if it hadn’t thrown a pitch in over a year. T-Squared told Coop when they last spoke that the Cubs wanted just that.

The offer on the table was for Coop to return to the organization upon the completion of a physical, make a few appearances in the minors to get back in shape, and then activate him to the MLB roster in time for a couple starts. From the Cubs perspective, it was a win-win. Even if Coop failed, they’d have a lot of tickets sold to witness it.

Coop knew it was juvenile to ignore his agent, who also happened to be one of his best friends, but he also knew that if anyone could talk him back into baseball it was Todd Taylor.

He also knew that he was not physically or mentally ready for that, at least not at this time. While he missed being in the clubhouse with his teammates, the adrenaline of being on the mound in front of a sold-out crowd, and to an extent the enormous paycheck that came with those things, he knew that he was right where he should be.

He didn’t need to figure out who Cooper Madison was, he needed to figure out who Cooper Madison would become.

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