The chicken runs at midnight

Whether you are a sports fan or not, this story is a must-read. We aren’t exactly sure how we never heard this, but some people are aware of it and all are blown away. We get chills just typing this.

In 1992, Rich Donnelly was the third-base coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yes, they were actually good then. Really good. His daughter Amy once asked him just what he was screaming to those runners on second base.

“Dad, what are you yelling to the runner,” she asked. “‘The chicken runs at midnight’?”

I know, he didn’t understand it either. The phrase “the chicken runs at midnight” had no origins or specific meaning. It just came out of her mouth. She didn’t know where it came from either.

Before one of the games in the NLCS where the Pirates were battling the Atlanta Braves (yes, the series where Sid Bream scored from second base to send the Braves to the World Series), Amy called the clubhouse and left a message for her dad. It simply said, “Dear dad, the chicken runs at midnight. Love, Amy.”

Jose Lind saw the written message and began saying it. His English wasn’t so hot so he really didn’t know what it meant or if it meant anything at all. As he ran on to the field before the game, Amy and her brothers heard him shouting it on the field on television. “Let’s go!,” he said. “The chicken runs at midnight!”

It became kind of an inside joke. Unfortunately for the Pirates that year, they lost (as I mentioned before) to the Braves and Rich Donnelly’s dream of coaching in a World Series would have to wait.

Even worse for Donnelly and his family is that Amy was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She lapsed into a coma and died in 1993 at the age of 18. Obviously, this was far worse for the Donnelly family than any stupid baseball game.

But, Donnelly continued coaching and soon enough found himself as the third-base coach for an overachieving Florida Marlins team in 1997. Jim Leyland was the skipper and sure enough, they made the playoffs. And wouldn’t you know it, they found a way to beat those Braves in the NLCS and now found themselves in the World Series facing the favored Cleveland Indians.

Long story short (too late), the Marlins fought to a Game 7 with the Indians. After tying the game to send it to extra innings, the Marlins had the bases loaded in the 11th inning with Edgar Renteria at the plate. On third base was Craig Counsell, who was nicknamed “the chicken wing” in the Donnelly house because of the way he flapped his elbow in the batter’s box.

Sure enough, Renteria lined one just over the head of Charles Nagy into the outfield. Counsell came bouncing home and the Florida Marlins celebrated their first World Series victory.

In the dugout were Donnelly’s two sons, Tim and Mike. Tim looked up at the scoreboard and noticed that the time was exactly 12:00 AM.

Midnight.

Counsell, the chicken, did run at midnight.

That’s some heavy stuff.

And now, the Canuso Foundation just began holding a “Chicken Runs at Midnight” event in Haddonfield, NJ. The whole town pretty much shuts down and they run a 3k race at midnight for charity. They’ve held one event so far and managed to raise an astounding $90,000 (hold your first charity event and try raising that much). Donnelly came in for the event and it was an overwhelming success. Expect them to keep doing this year after year. Go to CanusoFoundation.org if you want to get involved.