Darryl Kile- Dead!!

[reeds]

At 33 years old...very very sad

[turbo.mav]

absolutely tragic. Kile was one of my favorite pitchers and was a great guy.

[grbh]

Link


Terrible story, 33 years old a wife and two twin daughters left behind.

[Murphy3]

Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile found dead in Chicago hotel room
By RICK GANO
AP Sports Writer
June 22, 2002

CHICAGO (AP) -- St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile was found dead in the team hotel Saturday, Chicago police said. He was 33.

Kile apparently died from natural causes, said Michael Chasen, commanding officer of the police's Area Three Homicide. There were no signs of forced entry and no signs of foul play, he said.

``It appears he died in his bed, in his sleep,'' Chasen said.

The Cardinals' game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field was called off by commissioner Bud Selig. It will be made up sometime in August.

``Our club is just totally staggered, I mean, devastated,'' Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said, wiping away tears. ``You guys know what a pro he is.''

The death was the second in the Cardinals' organization this week.

Kile pitched the Cardinals into first place in the NL Central on Tuesday night, the same night longtime broadcaster Jack Buck died at 77 after a long illness.

La Russa said the Cardinals and Cubs would play as scheduled Sunday night, a game Kile was supposed to start.

``My deepest sympathies go out to Darryl's family, his friends and the St. Louis Cardinals ballclub. All of baseball mourns his passing,'' Selig said in a statement.

Kile and his wife, Flynn, have 5-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, and a son who was born last August.

Police said that at 12:15 p.m. CDT -- more than two hours before gametime -- several Cardinals realized Kile wasn't at the ballpark and called the hotel and asked to check on him.

The hotel security director and maintenance man went to Kile's room on the 11th floor and had to force their way in because of the safety latch on the door, Chasen said.

Several stunned players walked out of the Cardinals' clubhouse without comment soon after the game was called.

``I couldn't believe it and I still don't believe it,'' said Cubs manager Don Baylor, who managed Kile in Colorado. ``DK was a very special player. He was always the perfect teammate to all the guys who played with him.''

Kile was 5-4 with a 3.72 ERA in 14 games this season.

Shortly after the game was supposed to start at 2:20 p.m., La Russa came out of the dugout and walked across the field to meet with Cubs general manager Andy MacPhail and Cubs player representative Joe Girardi. Then all the Cubs came out of the dugout and got behind Girardi.

Speaking in front of the dugout on a microphone, Girardi told the crowd there had been a ``tragedy in the Cardinals' family'' and asked fans for their prayers.

La Russa, who'd earlier shaken hands with Baylor, walked back across the field.

The Cubs filed back into their dugout and down the steps into the clubhouse runway and then an official announcement was made in the press box that the game was off and will be made up later.

Kile had won three of his last four starts, and had a solid work ethic.

``Once you take the ball, you've got a job to do,'' he said after his last start.

Kile, who was 16-11 with a 3.09 ERA and threw 227 1-3 innings last year, had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder during the offseason.

He pitched a no-hitter while with Houston in 1993 against the New York Mets. He was 133-119 in 11-plus major league seasons and known for an exceptional curveball.

Kile's best season was 2000, when he went 20-9 with a 3.91 ERA in his first year with St. Louis -- finishing fifth in NL Cy Young voting. He also helped St. Louis advance to the NL championship series against the Mets that season.

Kile was traded to St. Louis from Colorado, along with pitchers Dave Veres and Luther Hackman on Nov. 16, 1999, for pitchers Jose Jimenez, Manny Aybar and Rick Croushore and infielder Brent Butler.

A 30th-round pick of the Astros in 1987, Kile was called up to the majors in 1991 and went 7-11. He spent his first seven major league seasons with Houston, finishing fifth in NL Cy Young voting in 1997 after going 19-7 with a 2.57 ERA.

Kile signed with Colorado during the offseason and struggled in his two seasons with the Rockies. He led the league in losses with 17 in 1998 and was 21-30 with Colorado.

[Murphy3]

absolutely devastating

[Drbio]

stunning....absolutely tragic.


What a huge loss to his family, friends, the team and baseball in general.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

[Rhylan]

So I wonder why he died... that's weird, man. He might have had a Reggie-Lewis-like heart problem, I guess. That's the only "natural" thing I can think of. I suppose it could have been a drug-related thing, who knows.

[LonestarROB]

Another good guy lost waaaaay to early. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img]

[Drbio]

Probably a genetic disorder. They hide and noone really knows about them until it's too late. That his father died young is very indicative of a genetic problem. I am still in disbelief.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img]

[Drbio]

Major leaguers who died in-season

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Jeff Merron
ESPN.com


There are some prominent major leaguers who died during the regular season or in spring training. This list does not include players who died in the offseason, such as Roberto Clemente, or the many players who died around the turn of the century from diseases such as tuberculosis or typhoid or other illnesses.

Darryl Kile (June 22, 2002)
The Cardinals pitcher died of apparent natural causes while in his sleep. He was 5-4 during the season and won 133 games in his major-league career.

Mike Darr (February 15, 2002)
Darr, 25, was killed in an auto accident in Phoenix just before the start of spring training. A backup outfielder for the Padres, Darr had hit .277 in 105 games with San Diego in 2001, his third year in the majors.

Steve Olin and Tim Crews (March 22, 1993)
The Indians pitchers -- Olin, 27, and Crews, 31 -- were killed when their fishing boat slammed into a pier during spring training in Florida. Bob Ojeda, also on the boat, was badly injured. Olin, a reliever, had been 8-5 in 1992 with 29 saves and a 2.34 ERA. Crews was about to begin his first season for Cleveland. In his six seasons as a relief pitcher for the Dodgers, Crews struck out 293 in 281 innings and compiled a lifetime 3.44 ERA.

Donnie Moore (July 18, 1989)
In the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS, with the Angels one strike away from a trip to the World Series, Moore, a relief pitcher, gave up a game-tying two-run homer to Dave Henderson of the Red Sox, and then the game-winning sacrifice fly in the 11th. The Sox went on to win the seven-game series, and Moore never lived it down. He had come to the Angels in 1985, saved 31 games, and was named Angels MVP for the season. But he was plagued by injuries in 1986 and beyond. After his contract expired in 1988, he caught on with the Royals, but was released by their Omaha farm club on June 12, 1989. In 13 major league seasons, he was 43-40 with 89 saves and a 3.67 ERA. He committed suicide at his home in California after shooting, and critically wounding, his wife, Tonya. Moore was 35. "I think insanity set in," said Moore's agent. "He could not live with himself after Henderson hit the home run."

Thurman Munson (August 2, 1979)
Munson, the Yankees star catcher and captain, died when the plane he was piloting crashed near Canton, Ohio. Munson had made the All-Star team seven times and was AL MVP in 1976. He was 32.

Lyman Bostock (Sept. 23, 1978)
Bostock, an Angels outfielder, was in the back seat of his uncle's car in Gary, Indiana, when he was killed by a bullet intended for the murderer's wife. Bostock, 27, had hit .311 in his four seasons with Minnesota and California.

Bob Moose (Oct. 9, 1976)
Just a few days after the regular season ended with his Pirates finishing in second place, Moose, 29, was on the way to his birthday party when he was killed in a car crash. Moose pitched 10 years for Pittsburgh and was 76-71 with a 3.50 ERA.

Harry Agganis (June 27, 1955)
Agganis, a 25-year-old first baseman playing his second season with the Red Sox, died of a blood clot after being hospitalized for pneumonia. As a rookie, Agganis, an All-American football player nicknamed "The Golden Greek," hit .251 with 11 homers, and was batting .313 in his sophomore campaign.

Ernie "Tiny" Bonham (Sept. 15, 1949)
Bonham, 36, a pitcher for the Pirates, died during an emergency appendectomy. Bonham was 7-4 during his 10th major-league season before being hospitalized. He had pitched seven years for the Yankees (going 21-5 for New York in 1942), and three for the Pirates. His career record was 103-72 with a 3.06 ERA.

Willard Hershberger (August 3, 1940)
Hershberger, a Reds catcher who was hitting .309 filling in for the injured Ernie Lombardi, committed suicide a few days after a pitch he called was hit for a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning. He was found in his hotel room after not showing up for a game at Braves Field in Boston. Hershberger was 30.

Len Koenecke (Sept. 17, 1935)
The day after he was cut by the Dodgers because of discipline problems, Koenecke, aboard a charter flight, tried to get to the plane's controls. A lengthy mid-air fight ensued, and the pilot hit Koenecke with a fire extinguisher and killed him. Koenecke, a 31-year-old outfielder, batted .283 during the season.

Urban Shocker (Sept. 9, 1928)
Shocker, who went 18-6 for the Yankees in 1927, pitched only two innings during the 1928 season, and succumbed, in Denver, to heart problems and pneumonia.

Ray Chapman (Aug. 18, 1920)
Chapman, a shortstop for the Indians, became the first (and still the only) major-league player ever to be killed by a beanball, after Yankee pitcher Carl Mays hit him on the head. Mays did attempt to walk to the clubhouse after he was hit, but he collapsed, and died the next day in the hospital.

Addie Joss (April 14, 1911)
Joss went 160-97 with a 1.89 ERA in nine seasons with Cleveland, and died of meningitis at 31. He was later named to the Hall of Fame.

Mike "Doc" Powers (April 26, 1909)
Powers was catching in the first game played in Shibe Park in Philadelphia when he crashed into a wall going after a pop fly. He remained in the game, but suffered from internal injuries that took his life two weeks later, when gangrene set in after three operations. He was the first major leaguer to die from injuries sustained during a game.

Ed Delahanty (July 2, 1903)
Delahanty, the best of five brothers who played in the majors, was suspended by the Washington Nationals for violating rules. He then boarded a train bound for Niagara Falls, and, by some accounts, went on a bender and was ordered off the train for drunk and disorderly behavior, and probably fell through a drawbridge into the Falls.

[Drbio]

Well done Cubs.