By revealing their mental health struggles, pro athletes are scoring with fans

Teammates check on Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Martin after he fell to the ground fielding a ball during a game on June 19, 2024. Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images by Dae Hee Kwak, University of Michigan On June 5, 2024, the Boston Red Sox placed relief pitcher Chris Martin on the 15-day injured list. It wasn’t for a sore shoulder, a tight elbow or a tweaked groin. It was for anxiety. Historically, the MLB’s injured list was used for players with physical injuries. If players missed time due to mental health ailments, the explanation given to the media and public was often intentionally vague: “personal reasons.” When players did open up about their struggles, many reporters and fans criticized or questioned these diagnoses. In 2009, The New York Times published an article quoting a psychiatrist who doubted that a professional baseball player could suffer from social anxiety disorder. “In baseball, you don’t hit most of the time and you make errors some of the time. You learn to deal with it,” the psychiatrist told the paper. “A person with social anxiety disorder would never have played to begin with.” A lot has changed since 2009. There’s a growing...