Have you ever slapped a “Hi, My Name Is” tag on your shirt and then forgot to remove it before it went into the wash? Parents have surely experienced something similar with stickers on their kids’ clothes. No matter how hard you try, that adhesive seals itself into the fabric after a run through the dryer and you’re stuck with a shadow version of the sticker forever.
The same is true for athletes, particularly those who are dogged with a label of being lazy or selfish or for not being able to play a particular position. I’l admit that I once felt that way about Ian Happ, a man I’ve referred to more than once as a square peg rounding out the Cubs roster.