It was hard to focus on baseball today. When someone as young, beautiful and talented as José Fernández dies, it can make things that are priorities fade into the background.

I cried during the Jays/Yankees game, completely unprompted and out of nowhere. It just hit me. The sadness of it all. 

This commercial that played repeatedly during the MLB.tv broadcast hit me, too. "What are you even doing here?"

There were many beautiful tributes to this remarkable guy. One of my favourites was by Jeff Passan:

Eduardo Pérez also spoke about what Fernandez meant to him, and what he meant to baseball and Cubans in Miami. 

There was also this beautiful video of the Marlins surprising him with the grandmother he left behind in Cuba.

The more video I watched of this kid, video which is abundant on Youtube, the more I realized how much fun José Fernández had playing this game. 

(There is kind of a theme here. The theme is the Braves seem to think they are the baseball fun police, and should maybe stop thinking that. The commentary on this video below is unintentionally hilarious.)

It's not just that he had a great time. Fernández had the best time. 

So the lesson I take from José D. Fernández's life, if a lesson can be taken by a 24 year old with all the talent in the world being snuffed out,  it is this one:

Barry Bonds, who has come to think of Fernández as a son, greeted him after what was to be the last start of his too short career. It was a dandy. Eight scoreless with 12 strike outs. Barry Bonds showers him with kisses.