January 22, 2017

Double Tragedy

Former player Andy Marte and current pitcher Yordano Ventura died in separate car crashed in the Dominican Republic, today, Sunday.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic passing of Andy Marte and Yordano Ventura,” Major League Baseball Players’ Association executive director Tony Clark said in a statement. “It’s never easy to lose a member of our fraternity, and there are no words to describe the feeling of losing two young men in the prime of their lives. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families, friends, teammates and fans throughout the United States and Latin America.”

My thoughts go out to their family and friends. Marte was 33 years old, Ventura 25 years old.

Marte was a light-hitting infielder. He did have some pop and a decent glove, which allowed him to play parts of seven seasons in the majors, last attempting a comeback in 2014 after missing the majors for three seasons.

Ventura was a standout on the 2015 Royals as that team unexpectedly reached the World Series. He posted a 3.20 ERA that season, but in his final two years was not able to reproduce that low number. Ventura was known for his temper, hitting 17 batters in his last two seasons.

It’s a very sad day for baseball and the Dominican Republic.

1 thought on “Double Tragedy

  1. pft

    DR has a pretty high accident/fatality rate, about 3 times that of the US. Enforcement of traffic laws tends to be lax (alcohol and speeding), and road conditions are not great. Taveras death involved speed and alcohol, not sure of Marte and Ventura (the details take awhile to come out). However, with Fernandez death also involving speed and alcohol so I think MLB has a problem that needs to be addressed. Not smart enough to know what the solution is though.

    Anyways, awful for the families involved.

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