Late Saturday night, relief pitcher Josh Hancock crashed his SUV into a tow truck at 12:35am. Hancock has been a relief pitcher for the Cars for the past two years, and contributed to the team's World Series title last year.
When news arrived to the city, fans went to Busch Stadium to drop off cards and flowers for their pitcher. Unfortunately this was not the first death for the Cardinal family as Deryl Kile died five years prior.
Sunday's game in St. Louis vs. the Chicago Cubs has been postponed so the Cardinal franchise could pay their respects to the Hancock family. General Manager, Tony La Russa made the dreadful call to Hancock's parents who reside in Tupelo, Miss.
This will be the second death in the Cardinal family, as in 2002 Deryl Kile was killed by a coronary artery blockage. The team will set up a memorial for both teammates in their bullpen as well as wear Hancock's number 32 on their sleeves for the rest of the season.
Hancock was said to be traveling just over the speed limit where then accident occurred. Alcohol was not a factor in the accident, investigators believe he simply did not see the tow truck on the side of the road and didn't swerve fast enough to miss it. The driver of the tow truck was in the car, but walked away from the accident. Hancock was alone in his car.
Hancock was no star. But he was a Cardinal, and more importantly, he appreciated being a Cardinal. A night earlier, in a blowout loss to the Chicago Cubs, Hancock pitched three innings of one-run relief. "We didn't get embarrassed yesterday," said manager Tony La Russa on Sunday, "and that was because of Josh."
"All of baseball today mourns the tragic and untimely death of St. Louis pitcher Josh Hancock," baseball commissioner Bud Selig said. "He was a fine young pitcher who played an important role on last year's World Series championship team." Numerous ballparks around the country recognized Hancock's fatality at their respected stadiums with moments of silence.
2 comments:
This was a tragic loss of a non-superstar in an accident that ultimately affected the cardinals. It's an unfortunate accident and baseball mourns the loss from fans, the Cardinals and other teams as well.
what is it with baseball players getting killed in these types of trageties all the time; wasn't the guy from the Yankees killed in that prop. plane that crashed into one of the buildings in NYC?
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