June 22, 2002 - Darryl Kile, 33, St. Louis Cardinals P:
CHICAGO -- St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile was found dead in the team hotel Saturday, apparently of natural causes, police said.
Kile was found in his bed, said commanding officer Michael Chasen. There were no signs of forced entry and no signs of foul play.
"It appears he died in his bed, in his sleep," Chasen said.
Chasen said about two hours before game time, Cardinals players realized Kile was not at Wrigley Field and called the hotel to ask that he be checked on. Workers at the Westin Hotel had to force their way into Kile's 11th-floor room because of the safety latch on the door.
Dr. Jim Loomis, the Cardinals' assistant team physician, said the 6-foot-5 Kile showed no health problems during a routine physical in spring training and was not on medication.
Loomis said he knew of no history of heart problems for the 33-year-old pitcher. Kile's father died shortly after having a heart attack in his mid-40s in 1993.
An autopsy was planned for Sunday.
The Cardinals' game against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday was called off.
"Our club is just totally staggered, I mean, devastated," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said, wiping away tears. "You guys know what a pro he is."
The death was the second in the Cardinals' organization this week.
Kile pitched the Cardinals into first place in the NL Central on Tuesday night, the same night longtime broadcaster Jack Buck died at 77 after a long illness.
"This has been a very difficult week with the loss of Jack Buck and now the loss of Darryl Kile," Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said. "It is going to be real tough period for the Cardinals organization and the citizens of St. Louis."
At a team meeting Saturday night -- with grief counselors available -- Cardinals players unanimously voted to play Sunday night against the Cubs. Kile was supposed to start that game. ESPN confirmed late Saturday night that the teams will play Sunday's game.
"Mindful of the feelings of Darryl's family, friends and teammates, and after careful discussions with representatives of both teams, I believe it is appropriate that the Cardinals and Cubs should play Sunday night," commissioner Bud Selig said late Saturday.
The Cardinals' meeting was an emotional one.
"We talked about how much we missed Darryl," reliever Steve Kline said. "Everybody came up and said something nice about him."
Kile's widow, Flynn, was traveling from San Diego. The Kiles had 5-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, and a son who was born last August.
"My deepest sympathies go out to Darryl's family, his friends and the St. Louis Cardinals ballclub. All of baseball mourns his passing," commissioner Bud Selig said.
Many major league teams paid tribute to Kile before games on Saturday night.
The No. 57 jersey he wore in Houston was hanging in the Astros' dugout at Minute Maid Park. There was a moment of silence at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, the Cardinals flag was at half-staff at Turner Field in Atlanta and two pictures of Kile were put on the scoreboard in Montreal.
Loomis said Kile's brother, Danny, went to dinner with the pitcher on Friday night and Kile was back in the hotel before 10 p.m. Danny later told Loomis his brother seemed to be fine.
Several stunned players walked out of the Cardinals' clubhouse without comment soon after the game was called. Grief counselors were available at Saturday night's team meeting.
"I couldn't believe it and I still don't believe it," said Cubs manager Don Baylor, who managed Kile in Colorado. "DK was a very special player. He was always the perfect teammate to all the guys who played with him."
Kile was 5-4 with a 3.72 ERA in 14 games this season.
Shortly after the game was supposed to start at 2:20 p.m., La Russa came out of the dugout and walked across the field to meet with Cubs general manager Andy MacPhail and Cubs player representative Joe Girardi. Then all the Cubs came out of the dugout and stood behind Girardi.
Speaking in front of the dugout on a microphone, Girardi told the crowd there had been a "tragedy in the Cardinals' family" and asked fans for their prayers.
The game will be made up sometime in August.
Kile had won three of his last four starts, and had a solid work ethic.
"Once you take the ball, you've got a job to do," he said after his last start.
Kile, who was 16-11 with a 3.09 ERA and threw 227 1/3 innings last year, had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder during the offseason.
He pitched a no-hitter while with Houston in 1993 against the New York Mets. He was 133-119 in 11-plus major league seasons and known for an exceptional curveball.
Kile's best season was 2000, when he went 20-9 with a 3.91 ERA in his first year with St. Louis.
A 30th-round pick of the Astros in 1987, Kile was called up to the majors in 1991 and went 7-11. He spent his first seven major league seasons with Houston.
Kile signed with Colorado during the offseason and struggled in his two seasons with the Rockies. He led the league in losses with 17 in 1998 and was 21-30 with Colorado.
Kile was traded to St. Louis from Colorado on Nov. 16, 1999.
By Peter Gammons
Special to ESPN.com
June 22
Darryl Kile was Rick Ankiel's throwing mate every morning, last spring when no one knew what would happen with his young teammate about whom he cared, and this spring, when we all knew. As the Cardinals stretched, Kile stretched next to Ankiel, and when they began their throwing and loosening, Kile played catch with Ankiel.
One morning, when he thought an ESPN cameraman was zeroing in on Ankiel as if he were some freak show, Kile came to me, and cleared up the misconception. "I know you care about Ank," Kile said. "I just want to make certain. He'll feel better to know that you guys haven't turned on him."
"Darryl Kile was a very nice man
with a family he loved and a legion of
people like me who respected him first,
liked him second and admired his talent third."
That was Darryl Kile. Oh, he might have become a great pitcher earlier in his career, but he worried about a lot of things because he was human, like you and me and most everyone smart enough to know we're not bulletproof.
"I am really lucky," he once said, "because I grew up playing with Jeff Bagwell and learned what it means to play the game right and to care about teammates. I can't express what it means to be with Bagwell and Craig Biggio and Brad Ausmus and people like that. I owe a lot to them."
Kile signed with the Rockies in 1998, and his curveball and worrisome nature were never geared for that place, but he never complained. "He never made an excuse," says Don Baylor, who was Kile's manager in Colorado in '98. "It ate at him not to perform with the contract, but all he ever blamed was himself."
When he got to the Cardinals, he became the players' pitcher. He took Matt Morris under his wing, and when the great young ace was coming back from surgery, kept him positive and focused. He tried to help youngster Chad Hutchinson when he had his control and self-confidence problems. Ankiel, meanwhile, was like his little brother.
Kile was one of those players with whom Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty or manager Tony La Russa could turn to concerning other teammates. Oh yes, he was 36-20 combined for the Cardinals in 2000 and 2001, and the only reason he struggled at the end of last season was because his shoulder hurt so bad he could barely pitch. When I asked him this spring why he didn't say anything publicly about the pain he went through last year, he replied, "I don't make excuses." He had surgery immediately after the postseason, and didn't make it public because he didn't want to draw attention to himself.
There was no way he should have been ready to open the season, but he was there, toughing it out, getting better with every start, and in his last start on Tuesday was flat-out brilliant.
Darryl Kile was a very nice man with a family he loved and a legion of people like me who respected him first, liked him second and admired his talent third. I just cannot get that one moment out of my mind -- heart, soul and mind aside Rick Ankiel, because that was the type of man that Kile was. Our hearts all bleed for his wife Flynn and their children. And forget about the pennant race, everyone in baseball should offer their support to Woody Williams and Dave Veres and the leaders of that Cardinals pitching staff who have to pull their teammates back together, because Darryl cared so much about them, this will not pass easily.
Perhaps the best way to deal with this is for every Cardinals player is to try to spend the rest of the season trying to act like Darryl Kile. If they can, hopefully they'll hoist the World Series trophy in his memory.
Dave Campbell, ESPN Baseball Analyst
June 22
"This is an absolute shock. You try to prepare for something like this, but it's just devastating.
Darryl was a standup guy, and everyone knows he went out every day to try and be a superb pitcher. Even when he was struggling, he always took responsibility, always wanted the ball back to try and be better.
But a compliment I think is bigger than the Hall of Fame, was that Darryl was a great teammate. He liked to work with younger pitchers, he was always a nice guy. If people say you were a great teammate, that's the ultimate compliment.
I've never been on a team where this has happened. The Padres at least had time to absorb the shock when Mike Darr was killed in an auto accident during this past spring training. But this is going to be a very difficult thing for the Cardinals family to overcome and get through."
