Josh Hancock lost in car crash, Game cancelled.
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a great article from Jayson Stark: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/s ... d=tab1pos1
This isn't supposed to happen -- a baseball player, not yet 30 years old, dying on a highway just after midnight.
This isn't supposed to happen -- the St. Louis Cardinals waking up Sunday to the news that Josh Hancock was gone, that their Sunday night ESPN game with the Cubs was off, that their world was never going to be quite the same.
Josh Hancock led all Cardinals relievers in innings pitched (77.0) in 2006.
But in baseball, life happens, and death happens. And days like this never get any less shocking.
Not when it's Cory Lidle, losing his life in a New York plane crash. Not when it's Darryl Kile, losing his life in a Chicago hotel room. And not when it's Josh Hancock, losing his life in a tragic collision with a tow truck on a Missouri interstate.
You probably never knew Josh Hancock. You probably knew very little about him.
He wasn't a star. He wasn't a magical baseball name. He wasn't one of those guys who make headlines every time they open their mouths.
But men like Josh Hancock help stitch together the fabric of baseball. No team can get by without them. And last October, the St. Louis Cardinals wouldn't have won a World Series without him.
He didn't find his way to the Cardinals last year as some monstrous free-agent signing. He found his way to the Cardinals in about the least likely way possible.
Released by the Reds on the first day of spring training 2006 for allegedly being overweight. Signed by the Cardinals a few days later, as just another non-roster arm to add to the spring-training buffet line.
But Josh Hancock became more than that. He pitched his way onto an Opening Day roster for the first time in his nine-year pro career, a career that already had bounced him from Boston to Philadelphia to Cincinnati to St. Louis.
He wound up working more innings (77) than any pitcher in a World Series-bound bullpen. He wound up being one of those invaluable little pieces that glue championship teams together. He threw strikes. He stayed healthy. He was ready if they needed him in the third inning. He was ready if they needed him in the 12th.
No group in sports is tighter than a group of men who spend seven months hanging out in a bullpen together. And that was especially true of the Cardinals' bullpen last year.
The men out there knew the scouts and we media geniuses didn't view them as particularly reliable, heading into October. Those insinuations pulled them together, provided just enough fuel to fire them through the October marathon. And Josh Hancock was as easy-going and well-liked as any member of that group.
He didn't have a great October. He had an outing in the NLCS, in fact, in which he faced six Mets hitters and didn't retire any of them. He never threw a single pitch in the World Series.
But he did have one October moment for the scrapbook, the day he marched into a Division Series game against the Padres and struck out Mike Piazza with two men on. You MLB.TV subscribers can look up that one some time -- and remember Josh Hancock at his best.
Because that's what we do at times like this. We grieve for what the St. Louis Cardinals have lost. We grieve for what Josh Hancock meant to the people he loved. We grieve for what this man could have been.
But we can always cue up the video and remember him doing what he loved -- out there in the middle of a packed ballpark, blowing a third strike past a future Hall of Famer in the middle of the October stage.
When the tears dry, the memories remain as beautiful as that moment -- a moment that made Josh Hancock's life worth living.
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Coverage from Cincinnati
Reds remember former teammate
Cincinnati players spent time with Hancock last week
By Chris Adamski / Special to MLB.com
PITTSBURGH -- With the tragic news Sunday that Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in an automobile crash, Reds players reacted to the death of their former teammate.
Hancock, 29, played for the Reds from 2004-05.
"It's one of those reality checks that you never know when your time is," pitcher Matt Belisle said. "I'm just kind of stunned. Whenever you hear something like that, especially first thing in the morning, it kind of stuns you for a little bit."
Hancock was 6-1 in 23 games with the Reds. Although only 10 players remain on the team from 2005, Hancock was remembered fondly.
"It was two years ago that he was in our clubhouse, but it doesn't seem like it," said Belisle, who spent a lot of time in the bullpen with Hancock. "It's just kind of a disgust, kind of a little turn in your gut."
Before arriving in Pittsburgh on Friday, the Reds played three games in St. Louis. Some Cincinnati players met up with Hancock. Belisle said closer David Weathers was in contact with Hancock since the team left St. Louis.
"Very shocking," another former bullpen mate, Todd Coffey, said. "It's very hard to put into words. We just saw him, you know? It's tragic."
While Belisle said he had heard of Hancock's passing early Sunday morning, official word was not released to the public until after 11 a.m. ET. As ESPN interrupted its NFL Draft coverage with a report on Hancock's death, the Reds clubhouse went silent. Players that had just gotten ready to take the field for warmups stopped what they were doing and listened to the clubhouse televisions.
"We had just seen him," Belisle said, shaking his head. "A bad day."
On July 30, 2004, Hancock was acquired along with shortstop Andy Machado from the Philadelphia Phillies in a trade for veteran reliever Todd Jones and Minor Leaguer Brad Correll.
The trade came after a Cincinnati game against Houston was suspended at 10:42 p.m. ET. Hancock made it to Cincinnati the next day in time to pitch in the 11:30 a.m. ET completion of the game. In that 3-2 victory, he threw a scoreless 13th inning for his first Major League win. Hancock did not even get a chance to meet then-Reds manager Dave Miley for the first time until he returned to the dugout following that inning.
Hancock went 5-1 with 4.45 ERA down the stretch in 2004 for the Reds. In 2005, he was hindered by injury and appeared in only 11 games, all after Sept. 1.
Despite being bothered by a strained right groin during 2005 Spring Training, Hancock posted an 0.93 ERA in four Grapefruit League appearances before beginning the season on the disabled list. He had two separate rehabilitation stints with Triple-A Louisville, re-aggravating the injury once and sustaining a right elbow injury during another.
On Sept. 2, Hancock made his Reds season debut. He went 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA. The Reds released Hancock on January 12, 2006.
Born in Cleveland, Miss., Hancock was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1996 but did not sign, choosing to attend Auburn University. He was drafted again in 1998, this time in the fifth round by Boston. He signed and made his Major League debut with the Red Sox four years later.
After the 2002 season, Hancock was traded to the Phillies for Jeremy Giambi. For his career, Hancock was 9-7 with a 4.20 ERA in 102 games (12 starts). He won a World Series ring with the Cardinals last season.
Chris Adamski is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.