Written by Trent Strafaci
Even if you don’t know anything about baseball, you know life can change in the blink of an eye. Major League Baseball recently received some sad news with the passing of two young stars. Kansas City Royals’ pitcher Yordano Ventura, 25, and former big-leaguer Andy Marte, 33, died in different car crashes in the Dominican Republic on Jan. 22 and Jan. 21 respectively.
The league, primarily the Miami Marlins, offered their condolences.
After hearing about the passing of Ventura, Royals general manager Dayton Moore said the first call he made was to Michael Hill, the Miami Marlins’ president of baseball operations.
“The Marlins handled that with such grace and heart,” Moore said, according to the Sun Sentinel. “I was just hoping to find out how to process this. There’s no way to be ready for this.”
Ventura, known for his electric arm, played an instrumental role in helping the Royals reach Game 7 of the 2014 World Series run. Ventura played against Madison Bumgardner of the San Francisco Giants and pitched five scoreless innings in relief. He went on to be instrumental in the Royals’ series run in 2015 as well.
His Royals teammates referred to him as “Ace.” Two years prior to his own death, he mourned the lost of his friend Oscar Tavares, another Dominican-born baseball player with the St. Louis Cardinals.
In a separate accident, the day before Ventura’s in the same island nation, Andy Marte was killed in a car wreck. Signed by the Braves in 2000, he quickly became a top prospect from 2002-2005. He was signed by the Red Sox in 2006 and then traded to the Cleveland Indians in a super trade. He spent 2006-2010 with the Indians. Major League Baseball sent their condolences to Marte’s family and friends.
It is always a tragedy when young people die. These were two young men with bright futures, and they were gone much too soon.
