[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Seven

I think the best example would be Fernandez, though Pitchers careers are defintely the trickiest. If you asked me 10 Years ago, which young Pitcher I thought would end up in the Hall, I would've said Lincecum, who rattled off two Cy Young's in his first three seasons.

Death of someone young is almost always tragic, never mind the sports impact, they had they're entire lives in front of them and then were robbed by either tragic accident or tragic illness.

Even the Players that had long, storied, careers only to die near the end or just after the end of them is terrible. Mathewson, and Gehrig come to mind in this case for baseball, a more recent example would be Kobe Bryant.

Mathewson was a young man when he died, just 45 years old, had so much more of life ahead of him. Gehrig's tragic health not only derailed his career but robbed him of his life. Both extremely successful in their given careers and both taken from this earth way too soon.

Ruth was 53.
Kirby Puckett was 46.