You may have heard that former baseball great Rod Carew needed a new heart after a massive heart attack in 2015. I was vaguely aware that he recently had a heart transplant. Listening to Rod talk in the booth during the broadcast of the Twins game against the Angels in Anaheim on Thursday night, I understood from Rod’s comments that the story behind the transplant had taken a few twists and turns.

Rod mentioned crying a lot. The backstory wasn’t entirely clear.

Rod seemed to be saying that he had coincidentally met the young man who was his donor when he was in high school and that the young man had bragged in creative ways the rest of the day about having met Rod Carew. He talked about connecting with the young man’s family after he had received his heart.

Looking around online, I found that all becomes clear in the moving April 2017 Los Angeles Times story by Mike DiGiovanna: “NFL player Konrad Reuland died at 29. But his heart saved baseball legend Rod Carew.” What a story. If you missed it, you may find it of interest. It gives you, as they say, something — actually, many things — to think about.