St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Darryl Kile dead.

KMOX ^

[dennis1x]

As a Cardinal fan this has been an awful week.

[The Iguana]

Great post, Bluesduke.

To any Cardinals fans here at FR, I'd like to extend an invitation to join what I consider the finest Cardinals online forum in existence:

http://www.birdsonthebat.com

We talk baseball. We talk politics. We talk about whatever interests you.

This morning, unfortunately, we're talking about the passing of a great ballplayer and a great human being.

[pnz1]

I'm pretty sure Thurman died on a Thursday. Their next game was on a Friday night. In one of our Thurman books, it says they asked his wife and she said he'd want them to go on and play. However, it also quoted some of the players who said how much it took out of the team and how difficult it was to go on.

[CARDINALRULES]

I just found that the other day while doing a search on Jack Buck and different Cardinals fan sites.

I haven't joined yet but I might soon.

[catfish1957]

As a life time Astros fan, I had the pleasure fo enjoying Kile's great work for the team his half a dozen or so years. DK as he was known in these parts always gave 110%, and was integral to the 'Stros being competitve in the mid '90's.

In my life time, (maybe with exception of Koufax)DK had the greatest hook in the game. he will be missed. My sympathy goes out to his family and to our NL Central brother's,Cardinal fans

[waterstraat]

he's a top 10% guy in the World at his profession. ??????In an 11 year carreer, he only won 13 more games than he lost (W:128 , L:115 ). Am I missing something?? That's distorted by his two disastrous seasons in Colorado, where he discovered his curve ball couldn't curve in the thin Rockies air. But then he's not the first pitcher to come to grief in Denver.

I just looked up his record, at http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kileda01.shtml and he spent 7 years at houston, over half of his carreer, winning only 6 more than he lost. This Darryl Andrew Kile has only had 28 completed games in his entire life/carreer!!

I have to tell you that I dont know much about baseball, but I do personally know one former baseball player, Denny McLain, and Denny pitched 28 complete games in just ONE SINGLE SEASON!!!

Denny was not considered a great pitcher(except for one year), and he didnt even stay in baseball long enough to get a baseball pension, he also was never considered for the Hall of Fame either, but his lifetime era was 3.42 and his won-loss record was W=131, L=91, and he struck out a whole lot more batters then he walked them, in spite of his also very disasterous years at Washington, Oakland and Atlanta. http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mclaide01.shtml

I am just trying to put some perspective on this Darryl Andrew Kile and compare him to someone that I know who was in baseball.

[BluesDuke]

Denny McLain had no one to blame for soiling and destroying what should have become a Hall of Fame career except Denny McLain. As a pitcher, Darryl Kile was about as average (even disallowing his Colorado purgatory, though he attributed those two disaster seasons to a sudden propensity for handing down walks as much as any of the Coors Field factors) as they came, but from everything I am picking up from around baseball he was a very exemplary man.

I don't think I'm that far out of line to suggest that everything players and officials in the game are saying about him now points toward Kile having had a future as a pitching coach, and likely a well-respected one, after his playing days would have ended had he lived. He seems to have had a reputation for going out of his way to help other players whenever he had the chance. That's the kind of thing which makes a good coach.

Phil Nevins of the San Diego Padres sported the initials DK on the side of his uniform cap. I have a feeling that's going to be widespread around the game today and for the next couple of days. Think of it this way: You have how many super pitchers who turn out to be creeps as people, yet here was a pitcher who was pretty much an average pitcher when all was said and done (see my post #392 for an analysis of sorts as to how he probably was in the heat of a pennant race and what the postseason record shows) - but whose unexpected death touched off a wellspring of grief not just on his team but around baseball itself. That's an unbelievable accomplishment. That tells you that while the pitcher may have worn the battle fatigues of the Cardinals, Rockies, or Astros, the man stood on the side of the angels. That seems more important than whether he was or wasn't one of the truly top pitchers of his time.

And if the (alleged) commissioner saw fit to call yesterday's Cardinal-Cub game, and there was no objection from either club, who are any of us to gainsay? All things considered, this was maybe the one time in his entire dubious commissionership that Bug Selig acted in a manner reflecting credit on himself and the game. Savour it, because he isn't likely to act likewise again so long as he runs the Show...

[BluesDuke]

P.S. By the way, McLain's 28 complete games in one season have been bested before, during, and even after his time: Juan Marichal had 30 complete games in 1968; Ferguson Jenkins pitched 30 complete games in 1971 and 29 complete games in 1974. Steve Carlton threw 30 complete games in 1972. Robin Roberts (who was the real best pitcher of the 1950s) once had back-to-back seasons of 30 and 33 complete games (when he won 28 and 23, respectively). But these have been unthinkable for at least two generations of baseball thinkers and managers, for better or worse.

[bopeepsy2000]

I can think of a few more choice words to call servant of the nine. Other than not having a heart, he obviously has no BRAIN.God bless the Kile family. I hope the cardinals win the series this year for Jack Buck and Darryl Kile.

[The Iguana]

Don't be a stranger.

We don't moderate our forum. If you like no-holds barred talk, you'll like it.

We have a few resident Lefties, so reinforcement is always welcome.

[The Iguana]

I'd call Kile at least "above average."

No one would call him A Hall of Famer. But he was a solid #2 prototype pitcher - not necessarily an ace, but a dependable guy with some very good stuff and win you some games. You don't win 20 games without some good stuff. Take away his Denver starts and he's got some impressive numbers.

His impact, however, transcends his very good if not spectacular stuff. It's obvious that he was tremendously well liked and respected around the league and there are not many guys like that. I would wager, for example, that DK's passing will be felt much more deeply more more widely than, say, Barry Bonds - a sure-fire Hall of Famer - might.

[NYCVirago]

I have to tell you that I dont know much about baseball, but I do personally know one former baseball player, Denny McLain, and Denny pitched 28 complete games in just ONE SINGLE SEASON!!!

Complete games are pretty much a thing of the past. Roger Clemens won 20 games, and the Cy Young Award, last season, and he didn't have a single complete game that year.

[Vinomori]

If the autopsy shows chemical enhancement was responsible for his death, then let us pray he did not die in vain, but rather as the one whose death mandated testing.

[rockfish59]

Base-a ball ben vetty goot to me!

[bootless]

Thanks for your post, barker. There are a lot of us- female baseball fans, that is. I disagree with Val and Lisa - there's a point where humanity has to come first. BTW, I think the cancellation of yesterday's game was completely appropriate, not only out of respect for the Kiles, but also because of the safety factor: who wants a distracted pitcher bringing it at 96 mph?

[Newbomb Turk]

SON. Whatever you ben smokin done burned up your brain.

[Pharmboy]

This morning's NY Times said that he died after a "stroke." Could mean a ruptured aneurysm.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

On FoxNews now: The guy died from a blockage in his coronary artery.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

This is really sad. It is being reported on FoxNews that he died from a blockage in his coronary artery.

[Lazamataz]

Sad....

[mewzilla]

Would a more thorough physical have caught this, say with a stress test maybe? And wouldn't the guy have had some symptoms with a 90% blockage that a doc would have recognized as a warning sign of some trouble? This is so sad.