RIP Oscar Taveras

Len Bias of baseball? Or that's pushing it?

 

His girlfriend was also killed in the crash. That car was absolutely destroyed.

 

He hit pretty poorly in his call-up this season, which probably tempered the expectations a little bit. Plus, Bias was famous in college. But it's not a bad comparison at all.

 

I don't know how good Bias was.
I was very young, and it was never my sport.
But Taveras was being talked about as the next Vlad Guerrero.

 

Yeah, Taveras was a Top 5 prospect each of the last 2 years according to Baseball America. And he was being handed the Cardinals' RF job next year.

This is reminiscent (for me) of Brian Cole, who was the reigning Mets Minor League Player of the Year when he was killed while driving his truck back to his hometown to be repaired at the end of spring training in 2001. I covered high school sports for nearly 20 years, and he was the best hitter I ever saw at that level.

Cole was still a year or two removed from the majors, but everyone who saw him play figured he'd be a future star. There was a big SI piece written about him a year or two ago, with several guys who played with him or against him in the minors, like C.C. Sabathia and Albert Pujols, raving about how good he would have been.

http://www.si.com/vault/2013/04/01/106303842/the-best-player-you-never-saw

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=cole--001bri

 

I still remember the day Kile died. Was getting ready to watch the Cub game and it was delayed even though it was a sunny day... then Joe Girardi (still in uniform with the Cubs as a catcher) has a tearful statement for the fans.

 

Closest I can associate is Joe Delaney, a rookie of the year who would have become a sensational player for the Chiefs.
Drowned in 1983 trying to rescue children despite his own inability to swim.

 

A different era, but Bill Barilko, a young defenseman for the Maple Leafs, was killed in a plane crash in 1951, a few months after he scored the Stanley Cup winning goal.

 

Cubs second baseman Ken Hubbs was a year removed from being NL Rookie of the Year when he died in a plane crash in 1964. He was also 22.

 

I remember reading that SI story. It really was powerful stuff.

Just awful news about Taveras. RIP.

 

I think the Celtics might have won four or five titles in a row with Bias and the Big Three. The 1986 Celtics were one of the best teams ever. And to think Bias would have been added to that. Holy smokes. So sad about Taveras. RIP