Chris Bryant was smiling as he fielded the final out of the 2016 World Series, ending a 108-year drought. He had achieved every professional dream before his 25th birthday. A decade later, he sits on the injured list with a degenerative spinal condition, refusing to retire. This is the story of that paradox.

We trace his engineered rise, a former minor-leaguer father who sold his business to coach him, a college power surge against deadened bats, and the service-time manipulation that made him sue his own employer. Then we examine the physical toll of his violent swing and a Colorado contract he came to regret.

• Out-homering 223 entire Division I rosters with BBCOR bats designed to suppress power
• The 12 minor-league days the Cubs used to gain a seventh year of control
• His 2016 game of three home runs and two doubles, a first in modern history
• Why lumbar degenerative disc disease, not effort, ended his peak
• His spinal-cord research advocacy rooted in his friendship with a paralyzed teammate