The death of athletes in their prime is always stunning news. Whether it's Yankees catcher Thurman Munson killed when an airplane he piloted crashed, Maryland basketball star Len Bias from a cocaine overdose or Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart in a car crash, the news jolts us as if they were our best friends, lost for good.
Now we receive the news one of this generation's greatest young pitchers, Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez, died in a late-night/early morning boating accident Sept. 25. Fernandez, just 24 years of age, and two other men were killed when the boat, owned by a friend of Fernandez, hit a jetty off Miami Beach. Fernandez died from trauma, while the other two men apparently drowned in the accident.
The bitter irony is that Fernandez was originally due to pitch the day he was killed. But the Marlins pushed his start back a day so they could activate and pitch starter Adam Conley. Needless to say, had the Marlins not pushed him back, he likely wouldn't have been out on that boat so late at night.
