Reflection on the Loss of Jose Fernandez: A Cautionary Tale

The Miami Marlins lost a star today.  One year ago, the Atlanta Braves lost a friend. Two years ago, the Cardinals lost a rising star.  The Angels lost a pitcher 7½ years ago.  Twenty-two years ago, two Cleveland Indians pitchers were killed and a third barely survived in a Spring Training accident that echos today’s tragedy.

There are many others along the way on this road pock-marked with deaths-to-soon.

As my church service ended this morning, I was blissfully unawares of the news of the day.  I returned home, helped get lunch on the table, and only then finally turned the phone back on to check the game and see how it was progressing.

But the Atlanta-Miami game wasn’t on the Yahoo Scores app.  Strange.  I reloaded it a couple of times, counted the games shown… yes, it was missing.

Okay… switch over to MLB At Bat. Atlanta – Miami…. Cancelled.

Uh oh… That drove me immediately to twitter…. WHAT?!  What happ… ?  This can’t be right…

It was.  It is.

• Jose Fernandez
• Tommy Hanson
• Oscar Taveras
• Nick Adenhart
• Steve Olin
• Tim Crews

Some of these baseball players died from their own hand… one way or another.  Some died from too much speed… whether on the water or on the road.  Adenhart was killed by being in the wrong place when a drunk crossed his path.

This is tragic for his family, his girlfriend – they had just announced their pregnancy 5 days ago – his teammates, his fans… and the baseball universe.

Fernandez wasn’t just a competitor.  He came off looking like he genuinely enjoyed playing the game.  He’d battle you to the end and if you won, you might get a cap tip, a smile, a mock applause, or an “I’ll get you next time” look.

Jose was a beast on the mound, too.  In 2016, the Braves hit .208 off him as a team… and that’s actually pretty good.  The Mets were to face Fernandez tomorrow night:  they had managed just .187 this season.  The Phillies?  .174.  The Nationals?  .152.  Yes – he reserved his best for the best team in the league in a 14 strikeout start.

Professional athletes do have a tendency to play hard – on and off the field.

The Indians’ players that died 23 years ago were in a boat on a Florida lake… at night… and ran into a wooden dock at high speed – a dock that’s typical of such lakes all over Central Florida.

Oscar Taveras was way over drunk-driving limits and wrecked his car at high speed.

Given the preliminary information we’ve heard, speed was a factor in this morning’s accident as well – likely along with visibility issues.  The waning Gibbous moon rose in Miami this morning a 2:17AM (an hour before the wreck was found), and thus probably didn’t contribute much to the boat’s driver (likely not Fernandez, FWIW) being able to see ahead… despite knowledge of the area.

"Chief Petty Officer Nyxolyno Cangemi told The Associated Press that a Coast Guard patrol boat spotted an overturned boat at 3:30 a.m. on a jetty near Government Cut. The bodies were discovered a short time later. Officials said no one was wearing a life vest. – foxnews.com"

As fans we hate this.  As humans we hate this.

It is a great thing for people who excel in their chosen field of endeavor to be able to enjoy the fruits of the considerable labors that got them to such a point in life.  It’s likewise terrible to see either that recreation or some other entanglement cut short their lives.

Next: Loss of a Competitor

Players:  we want all of you to succeed and thrive.  Truly.  We want to continue rooting for all of you until the day you hang up the spikes for good.

Be careful out there.