It is a sad day in the baseball family . . .

because last night, Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock, who was only 29 years old, died in a car wreck. He pitched in yesterday's Cardinals loss to the Cubs in St. Louis and the teams were scheduled to play again tonight.



It is always tragic to lose someone so young, but this loss hits even harder because it reminds the teams and their fan families of that terrible day almost five years ago when Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile died of a heart attack in his Chicago hotel room just before a game between the Cubs and Cardinals. The Cardinals learned of Kile's death just before the game, having sent someone to check on him in his hotel room when he did not arrive at the ballpark at his usual time.

Eerily, something similar happened just a few days ago, when Hancock was late to the park for the Cardinals' game, leading to many frantic calls by his teammates. As this story reflects:

Hancock admitted he had overslept on his new comfortable bed, and thinking the game was starting later than it was (12:10 p.m.), didn't get up until the "20th call" he received from anxious teammates.

With righthander Darryl Kile dying before a game in Chicago five years ago, the Cardinals don't take it lightly when a player doesn't show up at the park on time.

Reliever Jason Isringhausen, the only pitcher still on the club who played with Kile here, said, "(Hancock's) phone always shuts off. Everybody was trying to reach him. That's why it's so different here because of what happened with Darryl. So everybody worries. That's got more to do with it than oversleeping.

"We were all a little nervous. We don't care if you're late. That happens. We want to know that you're OK."

On the day of Kile's death, Cubs catcher Joe Girardi announced to a packed Wrigley Field crowd that the game would not be played that day due to a "death in the Cardinals family." Similarly, tonight's Cards/Cubs game will be postponed and played at a different time.

Here is a good thing to know about Josh Hancock:

He was the only [Cardinals] player to attend the premiere of a DVD documenting the Cardinals' unlikely run to their 10th World Series championship after winning only 83 regular-season games.

Our thoughts are not on baseball today, but on the reminder, yet again, that as much as we love baseball, there are things even more precious.