11/21/24
June 22, 2002
Darryl Kile found dead at 33; may he rest in peace.: He was found in his hotel room this morning. The cause of death is unknown.
today's game against the cubs has been cancelled, and tomorrow's may be as well. Kile was once the ace of the staff, but had been relegated to #2 with the emergence of Matt Morris. His career ERA, 4.12, is high only because of his association with the Colorado Rockies. practically speaking, the cardinals may now promote Bud Smith and may do well with his talent. i don't know what will happen with the team's hopes. if they soldier on for their teammate, they could still win with Smith. if they remain in shock over what's happened, they may drop into the middle of the division. they have reached a turning point; that much is true i think.
posted by moz at 03:40 PM on June 22, 2002
Strange story. When will the first lawsuit be filed?
posted by gov at 04:10 PM on June 22, 2002
Freaky. Normally, I might suspect drugs, but after losing an athletic friend at age 27 to an undiagnosed heart condition called mitral valve prolapse, it's certainly possible that someone in great shape could suddenly kick the bucket. Sad story.
posted by rcade at 05:10 PM on June 22, 2002
I don't think there will be a lawsuit, unless there is some sort of "forced to take drugs to compete" back story to his death. He didn't die during a mandatory workout, he didn't die because of a mechanical failure, he didn't die because of "misadventure", so I can't see where any rat-lawyer could possibly make a connection to lay blame anywhere except the Almighty. His family will be well off because of insurance and his previous multimillion dollar contracts, so I don't think there is going to be a big money grab here either. Of course, an autopsy would help clarify things.
posted by grum@work at 07:41 PM on June 22, 2002
In what might turn out to be a related note, here is an interesting article I found about young athletes being more prone to dying of sudden cardiac causes than non-athletes. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, November 11 2001
posted by grum@work at 07:55 PM on June 22, 2002
I just listened to the bizarre audio of yesterday's cancelled game on WGN, which is archived on MLB.Com [requires subscription]. The announcers had no idea what was going on until Joe Girardi took the mike on the field and said the game was cancelled because of a "tragedy in the Cardinals family," without saying anything more specific. He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. Today's story about Kile on CNN says that his father died suddenly of a heart ailment at age 44. That sounds like the most likely cause.
posted by rcade at 08:30 AM on June 23, 2002
Correction: A story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says that Kile's father died after suffering a blood clot on his brain.
posted by rcade at 09:50 AM on June 23, 2002
Shocking news. How's this scenario sound? The Cardinals rebound from this and play into the post season. I had been pulling for an all contraction fall classic between the Expos and Twins. The Expos are a lost cause though. So how about a replay of the 1987 World Series with the Cardinals raising the trophy in late October?
posted by hysdavid at 11:41 AM on June 23, 2002
Here's today's CNNSI followup on Kile's cause of death.
posted by rcade at 05:29 PM on June 23, 2002
What a dark week for Cardinals fans. Not to sound callous, but one wonders what this does to their World Series hopes...