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Former MLB player and Philadelphia Phillies current manager, Gabe Kapler, is among the thousands of people affected by the fires that ravaged both ends of California this month. Over the weekend, Kapler's home in Malibu was cremated by the fire.
Kapler, 43, learned Saturday that a friend had sent him a text message to tell him the bad news. With his condolences, the friend shared pictures of the property that once housed the house in which Kapler moved after the end of his playing days, and retained even after holding the position of manager in Philadelphia. Kapler talked about the experience with Matt Gelb from The Athletic.
The pictures sent to Kapler revealed almost no trace of the house – there was only a steel staircase that ran through the fire but that led nowhere. Other than that, just charred soil and burnt rubble.
Fortunately, Kapler's family – his ex-wife and two sons, who lived in the house – had time to evacuate before the Woolsey fire jumped on the 101 Freeway and spread into his neighborhood. They are doing well, said Kapler, but he knows that many others have not been so lucky and he wants others to continue to raise awareness of the number of people currently in need because of the disaster.
Here's some of what Kapler told The Athletic:
In the last 48 hours, baseball friends have contacted Kapler. How can I help? What can I do? Please, let me know. And Kapler wanted to do something clear. "Look, it's okay," he said. "Our family will be fine, the love and support are amazing." He was thinking of something bigger as fires continue to rage all over California.
"Keep talking about it," Kapler said in a phone conversation Monday morning as he was traveling to Citizens Bank Park to get to work. "When you're in your community, talk to other people, use it as a way to get together, and send that text message back to people: Talk about it. Sensitize yourself.
"That's what I really want to do for others, we're good, our family is good, there are many other families who are not, we have the responsibility, at the time, to make the light about people who are really, really desperate, "said Kapler. "And they are many."
And he's right. According to the New York Times, California fires burned more than 225,000 acres of land and killed at least 44 people Monday night, plus hundreds more people. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated because of the fires and the damage continues to increase.
If you wish to help the relief of those affected, here is a useful starting point.
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