David Haugh: Operation on Danny Farquhar's brain didn't change what was in White Sox pitcher's heart
TEMECULA, Calif. - Laughter filled the Farquhar house on Hourglass Street in this Southern California wine town tucked at the foot of the Temescal Mountains, and the mood felt light on this summer Saturday.
Danny Farquhar, the White Sox pitcher who nearly died from a ruptured brain aneurysm less than three months ago in the Guaranteed Rate Field dugout, looked like the smiling face on his baseball card again and sounded as lively as ever. Charisma oozed from the 31-year-old father of three as he poked fun at his previous claim to fame at family gatherings: The Yankees included Farquhar in the 2012 deal with the Mariners for future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki.
"That was the Farquhar Trade," Danny said, grinning. "They needed the pieces."
That hyperbole somehow compelled Farquhar to recall the time in 2014 when the Mariners, after noticing his athleticism shagging fly balls, inserted him as a pinch runner and he showed his speed advancing from first to third on a single.
"I think that was the most fun I've ever had on a baseball field," Farquhar said, describing every step.
Fun is easy to find in a home with three adorably cute, happy, loud young children: Madison is 7, Landon turns 3 in September and Liam is 8 months. Their dad sat on a living-room floor filled with toys while being interviewed about his hopes for a return to the mound some might call miraculous, interrupting his answers to listen to Madison announce she had found her painting set and to Landon play the drums. Lexie Farquhar, Danny's high school sweetheart who became his rock of a wife nine years ago, cradled Liam as her husband entertained visitors for a couple of hours with engaging openness about the career of a journeyman reliever Chicago suddenly cares a great deal about since the nearly tragic event of
