Rest In Peace

Oh my God... it never gets any easier, or less shocking. And it's even worse than Cory Lidle because it's a guy on one of my teams, one of my boys, a guy that I've rooted on and cheered and hoped for. And now he's dead. Josh Hancock was killed at 12:35 AM CT when his 2007 Ford Explorer slammed into a tow truck in the fast lane, in the St. Louis area. No alcohol containers were found in the vehicle and he appeared to have been driving at or slightly above the speed limit, so all I can say is it that it is a horrible, terrible, tragic freak accident bringing back memories of Darryl Kile. Eerily, Hancock was late coming to a game only three days ago, and the Cardinals, who are on eggshells when anyone is late to a game due to the Kile tragedy, were calling him until they found out where he was -- and now he's dead. Just scary. The Cardinals will wear his #32 to honor him for the remainder of the season.

Kile also died before a Cubs/Cardinals game, and his loss was deeply felt. The Cardinals have lost a young man, a pitcher, a friend, and a human being, and no matter how much this happens (and pray God this will be the last time in a very long while) it always feels like a kick in the gut.

Darryl and Josh can play catch tonight.

Both were, and will be, deeply missed.

If you pray, or even if you don't, send a thought to the Hancock and Cardinal families.

Completely devastating.

In Memoriam

Non baseball-related but too momentous to overlook... Yesterday, April 16, 2007, almost eight years to the day after the Columbine High School shootings, a lone gunman killed 32 and wounded almost as many at Virginia Tech University before taking his own life. The amount of human life wasted is staggering. These were bright, smart, eager young people, and accomplished, devoted professors, taking the chance to better their own lives and to do the same for others, senselessly gunned down in a hail of gunfire. They are martyrs and some, like Professor Liviu Librescu who blocked the doorway to his classroom with his own body and sacrificed himself to let his students escape, are heroes. There are no words to comfort the families and friends who are grieving right now.

I do not know anyone at Virginia Tech. Heck, I've never even been to Virginia. But I am a college student, and a person, and a rational, sane, empathetic human being who cares deeply when something of this magnitude rattles the world - it was not only the worst school shooting in U.S. history, but the worst mass shooting in U.S. history by a single gunman. The depravity and madness that drove someone to do this are incalculable. This person -- and I don't like using that word -- is a monster. I am not religious in the slightest, but I do hope two things. A) That there is a spiritual being somewhere who will give comfort to the bereft, and b) that there is a hell, so the shooter can burn in it.

Baseball is a wonderful, thrilling sport that I'm passionate about, but I care for human life more. The baseball news today isn't worth blogging about (Cards swept by Pirates in short two-game series, Rockies shut out at home by Giants) and I'm fairly upset right now. I advise you to check out the lyrics to P.O.D.'s wrenching, excellent song "Youth of the Nation," now more timely than ever. Download it. Do something. Above all, go on. As long as there are this many people that care in the world, we are not dead yet.

Peace to everyone. Don't forget to tell your loved ones how much you care. Hold that special someone a little closer. Hug your spouse, your sibling, your girlfriend or boyfriend, even your dog or your cat. Love is stronger than hatred and I do believe that.

Just a Note

Still hate the Yanks, but this is a sad and sweet picture and I thought it deserved to be posted.

That's Melanie Lidle, wife of the late Cory, kissing her son Christopher before she threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Yanks' home opener. The team will be wearing black armbands to honor Lidle throughout the season. Dah... that's still awfully sad, I'm tearing up.

The Game Is Only A Game

...and anyone who loves it cannot truly count themselves unmoved by the events of today, or else they are an exceptionally heartless person. As wonderful and euphoric and occasionally heartbreaking as baseball may be, it is still just a game, and the tragic events of today drove that home.

Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, a licensed pilot, today crashed his plane into a downtown Manhattan high-rise apartment building, evoking memories of 9/11, Thurman Munson, the talented and iconic Yankees catcher who died untimely in 1979 after crashing his private plane, and of Darryl Kile, the Cardinals pitcher who died at age 33 in 2002, stunning the baseball world. Today, it was treated to a nightmarish repeat and lost another of its own.

I'm not a Yankees fan, but this is more important than just team loyalty. This goes to the heart of what it means to love the game and to respect those who play it, regardless of the colors they may wear. I heard the news, was stunned to the core, and then I began to cry. If anyone calls themselves a baseball fan, they should feel the same.

You can read more on ESPN.

The outcomes of tonight's ALCS/NLCS games - both of which, of course, I want the Cards and A's to win - suddenly don't seem that important. Lidle was absolutely otherworldly for the A's in the summer of 2002 and their magical 20-game win streak, turning it on after an unremarkable start of the season. It was something that may never be repeated in baseball and I'm glad that he got to be a part of it.

God go with you, Cory. Rest in peace.

Cory Fulton Lidle - 1972 - 2006