Thursday, June 22, 200657Every day we, out of human nature, travel back and forth, to and fro to accomplish our daily tasks. Every day we, out of human nature, simply accept what we have as what we have, not as what we are fortunate to have. Then, out of human nature, we begin to realize how fortunate we are to have what we have, and how unfortunate it is to lose it. Human nature often gets the best of us, and only true, sincere compassion can replace it. Look deep down in your heart for this one, and tell me whether this story touches you or not. On June 22, 2002, it touched millions of lives, even those who knew him only by name. This story is known by many, so some of you have already heard it. It was told in Buzz Bissinger's book Three Nights in August through the eyes of St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa, but now I tell it to you as a fan, but more importantly, as a human being. It is an important story to tell, and everyone needs to hear it. This was a man with everything. He had a wonderful family, a multi-million dollar job, and fame. Darryl Kile began his career as a Major League Baseball pitcher in 1991, a highly touted righty with the Houston Astros. In his first season, Kile was less than mediocre, finishing the year with 7 wins and 11 losses. The next year, he was worse, going 5-10 with a 3.95 ERA and only 90 strikeouts. Kile finally broke out with that wicked curveball of his in 1993. He hit the 15 win mark with just 8 losses, 4 complete games, an ERA of 3.51, and that season he had a rare no-hitter. He showed a bright future with Houston, but he didn't really reach the top of his game until 1997. That year, Darryl Kile went 19-7 with a 2.57 ERA. His stuff was better than ever, and his head was in the game. As every manager he played under will say, he was a bull on the mound. He was considered one of the hardest workers in baseball. He had a love for the game, and more importantly, family support. Darryl and his wife Flynn were happily married, and she supported him in everything he did. Darryl used that support to help his major league career be a success. In 1998, he signed with the Colorado Rockies as a free agent, leaving the Astros. Unfortunately, the thin air at Coors Field decimated his curveball. That pitch went from his effective out pitch to a defective hanging breaking ball. The trajectory changed, and therefore what was once a nasty curveball became basically a fastball over the middle of the plate every time it was thrown. At Coors Field, a fastball over the plate will 90% of the time be hit for a home run, once again because of the thin air. He struggled mightily, and because of his dignity and pride on the field, he was greatly disappointed. In two years with the Rockies, his records were 13-7 and 8-13. His ERA went higher than the Rocky Mountains themselves, as he achieved a 5.20 ERA in his first season and a 6.61 ERA in his second season at Colorado. He wasn't meant to be a member of the Rockies, and in 2000, Darryl Kile found a new team, and a place he could call home. Darryl Kile landed with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he would soon become known as D.K. He became the team leader and the ace of the pitching staff. He was basically happy go lucky off the field, and the pure joy of having a family, a home, and a team that loved him as much as he loved the team made him a stellar person just to be around. It is said that he went around the clubhouse singing and announcing random notes to the team. He lightened the mood for everyone, and made baseball fun again. He quickly became best friends with former St. Louis pitcher Matt Morris and former catcher Mike Matheny. While Matheny didn't always agree or get along with Darryl Kile, there was a strong type of brotherly love between the two. Between Morris and Matheny, Kile had enough friendship for three people, let alone himself. He became even more of a fierce competitor with the Cardinals, and he honed his skills and mechanics as a pitcher under pitching coach Dave Duncan and manager Tony LaRussa. His attitude was great and he loved being part of the Cardinals organization. He had his best year ever in 2000 with the Cardinals, completing his first 20 win season, only losing 9 games. He had a 3.91 ERA with 192 strikeouts. He had improved incredibly from his two seasons with the Rockies. In St. Louis, he knew his breaking ball would actually break, so he went in with a lot of confidence. He followed up 2000 with another good season, going 16-11 with a 3.09 ERA. Up to that year, he had never spent a day on either the disabled list or the injured reserve. He didn't want the DL to be part of his life. Kile was too much of a competitor and held way too much pride to allow that to happen. Then, after the 2001 season, he had arthroscopic shoulder surgery. He told manager Tony LaRussa he didn't want to go on the DL to begin the 2002 season, but he did anyway. When Kile finally got onto the field, he went 5-4. Not good, but not bad either. Tony LaRussa immediately knew something was wrong. Kile's pride had been hurt greatly after not playing at the beginning of the season, and in his few starts he had pitched short outings. He felt disappointed in himself, not LaRussa or the team. According to Three Nights in August, LaRussa sat down and had a talk with Kile. He told him that they needed him, that he was an essential key to this team. Kile pitched well on June 18th, 2002 against the then Anaheim Angels. He had his longest outing of the year, going through 7 and 2/3 innings. He only gave up one run on six hits, showing that he was back to normal again. This gave a great hope to the team and especially Dave Duncan and Tony LaRussa. Once more, Three Nights in August provides us with some in-depth information. A few days after that June 18th start, Kile was in Chicago for an essential three game series. On the night before his June 22nd start, pitcher Matt Morris asked Kile to come to the Hotel Bar for a drink. Kile declined, and here's the quote from the book: “Because you know what, Matty Mo, I feel a little tired. I just feel a little tired.” The next morning, the players began to whisper to each other, asking where D.K. was. No one knew. The hotel had someone break into his room where he was staying in Chicago. There they found him laying in bed. They walked over to him, and tried to stir him. He wouldn't wake up. Darryl Kile was dead at the age of 33 from coronary disease. He died in his sleep, and the autopsy showed that he had major blockage of his arteries. Back at Wrigley Field, the word finally got back to Tony LaRussa. With tears in his eyes, he reluctantly left his spot in the dugout to go tell Chicago's general manager and catcher on the field of the extremely sad news. Shocked, crying, and at a loss for words, Chicago Cubs catcher Joe Girardi took a microphone and announced to the crowd that due to a “tragedy in the Cardinals' family” the game had been postponed. In Three Nights in August, it says that catcher Mike Matheny didn't accept it at first, after they told him that his best friend wouldn't wake up, he kept asking if he was dead. After an acknowledgment, he took off his jersey and left in disbelief and dejection. In the book it also states that Kile placed a phone call to his wife Flynn the night before he died. In the call, she felt something was wrong, because he didn't want to hang up. Just days before, he asked her to remarry him. Eventually, Darryl did get off the phone, and that was the last his wife ever spoke to him. It was the last anyone ever got to speak to him. Darryl Kile died at the age of 33. He left his wife and three small children, a great family broken apart by the tragic death of a wonderful person. He was a husband, a father, a teammate, and one of the most prideful, competitive people you would have ever met. To this day, he is remembered for everything he did and everything he was. For the city of St. Louis, this was the epitome and the highest point of misery possible. Just days before the death of Darryl Kile, the most famous and well-known broadcaster in Cardinals history, Jack Buck, passed away. It was a sad, sad time. Now, as some of his teammates have moved on to new teams, it seems that some people have began to forget about Darryl Kile. We should not ever forget him. We should remember him, not for his tragic death, but for what he did when he was alive. As a St. Louis Cardinals fan, as a fan of baseball in general, or just as a human being, we must overcome human nature and show compassion for what we have before it is gone. *** I know this wasn't exactly original, having to use quotes from Three Nights in August, but it was a story that we all need to hear. I hope you enjoyed reading it. *** Darryl Kile: 1968-2002 posted @ 10:59 PM CDT [link] [Karma: 1 (+/-)] [No Comments ] What a Bummer Anthony Reyes pitched the game of his career and lost. A one hitter where the one hit was the eventual game winning home run. Albert Pujols came off the DL and nearly had a homer in the first inning, but ended up 0-4. His timing is way off. The Cardinals were SHUT OUT by a guy who's ERA was above 5 before the game. I don't know what to think, but Tony LaRussa and Walt Jocketty need to do some major thinking. posted @ 10:34 PM CDT [link] [Karma: 2 (+/-)] [No Comments ] Tuesday, June 20, 2006EmbarrassmentThat was pathetic. No Major League Baseball team should ever lose by a margin of 14 runs, and the other team should never reach 20 runs. I don't care if it is the White Sox. No team should play that pathetic. Mark Mulder pitched horribly. I hope he's injured, because if he's not, he's got some real problems on his hands. He could be gone in the next couple of days, if not in this series, if he doesn't prove his worth very quickly. As for the rest of the team, including Sidney Ponson, I'm disgusted. I know Ponson didn't purposely plunk those two guys, but after the first one, show a little more control, please. This was an embarrassing lost, and it made SportsCenter ahead of the Heat winning the NBA Finals. They described it as getting "whooped", and I agree. Jason Marquis needs to come out pitching well, or this series is going to really be bad for the Cardinals. posted @ 11:31 PM CDT [link] [Karma: 1 (+/-)] [No Comments ] Thursday, June 15, 2006ApologiesHere's my apologies for not updating lately. My internet service has been down for the last 5 days or so. Tomorrow morning, I leave for St. Louis to the Rockies series, so I won't be updating til Tuesday. (I have a college visit to Mizzou on Monday) Alright then, everyone take care. -Brady posted @ 08:38 AM CDT [link] [Karma: 2 (+/-)] [No Comments ] Sunday, June 11, 2006Izzy ready?Haha...is he ready? izzy ready? Pretty clever, no? Okay, maybe not. As for Jason Isringhausen, his 94 MPH fastball looked pretty darn good today. He tied Lee Smith on the Cardinals team all-time save list for first place, so one more and he owns the record. Want to know what else Izzy owns? Control over his pitches. I hope he keeps it, it's important. So...the bullpen is doing great, the offense is picking up, but our starting pitching still stinks. Suppan was O.K., but not great. Marquis was wild yesterday...Mulder is horrible right now, Ponson just came off a bad outing, and Carpenter is coming off the Disabled List. It makes me wonder, do we need offense, or do we need pitching? I'd have to go with pitching. Of course, offense can be a lethal counterpunch, because if you can score more runs than the opponent, you win. Pitching makes everything easier, though. We'll just see what Walt Jocketty has up his sleeve. Some clever move, I'm sure. I don't think we'll be seeing Carlos Lee or Craig Wilson in a Cardinals uniform though. No matter how crazy it sounds, I still place my predictions with Dontrelle Willis, Miguel Cabrera, or Alfonso Soriano. I think it will be one of those guys. Just not sure which. posted @ 04:24 PM CDT [link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments ] Saturday, June 10, 2006Turning PointLast night's comeback win was a major step in the right direction for the Cardinals. They started the game (mainly just Mark Mulder) with no confidence or competitive drive. Then something clicked. A 6-run inning erased all doubt as the Cardinals took the lead back from the Brewers. Even more runs helped the cause as the Cards tore up the Brewers 10-6 in what seemed like two different games. The first game the Cardinals got beat down into the corner....the second game the Cardinals realized they were cornered and struck back in an aggresive fashion. This is a turning point, this team knows they can beat teams without Albert Pujols. They have finally come alive (besides Mulder) and are ready for any challenge. I bet they wish they could play the Reds right now, though. posted @ 11:17 AM CDT [link] [Karma: 2 (+/-)] [No Comments ] Friday, June 9, 2006Start Prayinghttp://www.deadspin.com/sports/baseball/so-weve-got-some-affidavit-names-179400.php posted @ 12:26 PM CDT [link] [Karma: -1 (+/-)] [5 Comments ] Wednesday, June 7, 2006Not a good showingThis Cardinal offense couldn't score a run against Eric Milton. ERIC MILTON. Yeah, he's not a bad pitcher or anything, but there's no excuse for guys like Scott Rolen, Juan Encarnacion, and Jim Edmonds to not push in some runs against him. He's not exactly Nolan Ryan, guys. It's starting to be clear to me that no matter what these guys say, the loss of Albert Pujols is killing their offense. It's tearing it apart. A couple of good nights will be here and there, but look at the standings. We lost tonight, and we don't hold the division lead by ourselves any more. That's not fun. That's not good. That's bad. I hope things get better tonight. I hope we win. But I don't know if that will happen or not. The Reds are dominating right now, and there isn't much the Cardinals can do about it. If the "rumoured" Alfonso Soriano trade goes through, I'll be very happy. Controversial or not, Soriano will put some fuel back into this Cardinal offense that it lost with Pujols. We'll just have to see, won't we? posted @ 03:43 PM CDT [link] [Karma: -2 (+/-)] [1 Comment ] |
Here: Weblog Archives There: Redbirdcentral.com - Your St. Louis Cardinal Insider! Contributors: Brady 
I am a 16 year old aspiring sportswriter from the Natural State. I currently write for the Stuttgart Daily Leader Newspaper on a volunteer basis and I'm a member of the Arkansas Press Association. I cover everything from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Arkansas Razorbacks to the NFL. I recently wrote an article for the Pujols Family Foundation newsletter. I am currently looking for a partner in writing a book on the St. Louis Cardinals. When I’m not writing about sports I enjoy spending time with friends going to St. Louis Cardinal games, and going to movies.
Jon 
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