Rich Dauer hopes that coaching first base for the American League in Tuesday night's All-Star Game is the start of something, even if that something hasn't quite grown clear.
Whichever direction he looks — whether it's forward toward a possible return to baseball, or backward at the collapse on stage at the Houston Astros' World Series parade in November that led to surgery to repair an acute subdural hematoma and nearly cost him his life — Tuesday is a milestone the former Orioles infielder won't soon forget.
"God decided that it wasn't my time to go, so obviously, there's something left for me to do," said Dauer, who played for the Orioles from 1976 to 1985 and won a championship in 1983 for Baltimore.