It is being reported this morning, and has been confirmed by the Miami Marlins organization, that their star young pitcher Jose Fernandez has been killed in a boating accident.
Absolutely stunning news. He was one of the young shining stars in major-league baseball. A true talent who had an obvious love and enthusiasm for the game. He was one of the opposing players (i’m an Atlanta braves fan) that you could not help rooting for, even when playing your team. He had a boyish enthusiasm and personality that just made him impossible to dislike.
An incredibly sad day for baseball.
They have canceled today’s Miami Marlins/Atlanta Braves game.
I was watching Quick Pitch on MLB Network, and they suddenly started scrolling the news on the bottom ticker. I really thought I was misreading it, initially.
I know it was way too early in his career for people to be having a serious Hall of Fame conversation about him, but there is no denying he was one of the most talented pitchers currently in baseball. Whatever the cause of the accident was, it’s a tragic loss particularly given how hard he worked to get out of Cuba and into a better life. R.I.P.
This has to be the biggest name athlete to die during his sport’s season in years. I might be forgetting someone, but maybe since Dale Earnhardt in 2001? And for baseball, probably since Thurman Munson in 1979.
Who was the football player killed in a similar accident, maybe ten years ago?
Boats, Florida’s deceptively dangerous waters, darkness and (probably) some chemicals in the mix… bad, bad combination.
And yeah… what was he doing out in the wee hours before a pitching stint? Ball Four and all that seems to be pretty much in the past for today’s star players.
I’m not sure you were meaning to imply this, but to be clear, he wasn’t scheduled to pitch today. His start had been pushed back to tomorrow to allow for a pitcher the Marlins had coming off the DL.
I was already sad when I woke up this morning, knowing that in a few hours I would hear Scully’s last broadcast at Dodger Stadium. Then I opened CNN and saw this.
What a tragedy and a loss to baseball as a whole. Obviously, an amazing pitcher, but also a class act and someone clearly beloved by everyone who knew him.
Not a “big name.” Darryl Kile was a veteran, much more known than Adenhart and probably more than Fernandez among casual fans outside NL East cities, though past his prime. Fernandez presumably had not reached his.
He still shouldn’t have been out that late. What if the scheduled starter couldn’t go or gets injured in the first inning or the game runs 18 innings? Sure, I was young and dumb at 24, but I wasn’t making millions.
We’ll see. Maybe it was just testosterone poisoning, running at high speed without adequate forward vision. But in a crash like this, evidence of drugs or alcohol might be hard to find. Toxicology results may tell a completely different tale.
Things like this just don’t happen very often without Demon Rum along for the ride.
Was going by something said above; correction again noted.