RIP Oscar Tavares

[triwak]

Sad news.

[itjclarke]

Absolutely tragic.. the sky was the limit for him. Thoughts are with his family. RIP.

Apparently Juan Perez on the Giants was very good friends with him and prior to his triple tonight (just after hearing the news, dedicated the at bat to him), he dedicated the at bat to him.

[DerekMichael]

So awful.

It reminds me of when I was a kid and a young man in the Mets organization named Brian Cole was killed in a car cash.

Horrible, horrible, horrible.

[Rickyy]

So sad...looks like he was going to be a pretty good player for many years to come... condolences to the Tavares and the Cardinals Family...

Ricky Y

[the 'stache]

I'm absolutely heartbroken tonight. I'm a Brewers fan, but I can appreciate talent from any team. And I've been watching Oscar Taveras for three years. A few years ago, I signed up on MLB.tv for the first time, and I signed up on Milb.com the year before last, in large part, to watch Taveras play.

I bought this Bowman Chrome prospect auto the day after the product hit eBay. It was $100 well spent, I thought. I still thought that this afternoon, too.



This guy was about as close to a sure thing as I've seen since Mike Trout. He didn't have Trout's speed, but he could hit like nobody's business.

Just two weeks ago, he was hitting a pinch hit, game-tying home run in game 2 of the NLCS.



Lots of people have said that Taveras was the next Albert Pujols. While much of the time, comparisons made to a young player coming up are unfair because of the incredible pressure that they come with, this is one time where the expectations were not unfair. Taveras had incredible bat speed, and a great eye. He did not set the world on fire in his brief stay in the Majors: .239 AVG, 3 HR, 22 RBI in 234 at bats. But Taveras was coming. The Cardinals were so sure of it that they traded away Allen Craig, a career .306 hitter, so right field would be open for Taveras in 2015.

Not even a month ago, I was joking with some fellow posters on a Brewers forum I frequent that Taveras was going to kill us for the next 15 years. Nobody took me to task for saying it, because they knew what I knew. It was never a matter of "if" with Oscar. It was a matter of "when". That classic swing, tailor made to send baseballs into the seats, was beautiful. Below is the video of his first Major League hit, a home run. Go to 1:04 in this video, and watch his swing in slow motion.



I've talked to some Cardinal fans tonight. They are numb. They were making plans for next season, and the talk revolved around Taveras. He was going to start. He was the next great one, playing for a franchise that has had more than their share of great ones. Now he is gone.

It doesn't matter if you are a fan of the Cardinals or not, or even if you are a fan of today's game. We all can appreciate the impact of this loss. This was a young man with his whole life ahead of him. He had worked so hard to get where he was, and tragically, he will never have that chance now. Taveras and his girlfriend both died in the car crash, and we are left to wonder what could have been.

My heart goes out to Oscar's family and friends, and Cardinal fans everywhere. On behalf of the Brewer nation, I wanted you guys to know you are not alone. We share your pain.

[KCRfan1]

Regardless of the talent level and potential, there were two lives lost in that car accident. Both were very young, Taveras who was 21 or 22 and an 18 year old. Both had lots of life left to live and that is what's so unfortunate.

[deadballfreaK]

I am a Cardinal fan so I am especially stunned I guess, but my sorrow goes beyond team loyalty. I was enjoying the WS like most of you when Rosenthal came on with the news. Ruined my evening. Turned over to football to try to get it off my mind. Didn't work of course. Then went to my DVR and pulled up his first HR in his first game. He was such a happy guy and was so excited about giving the ball to his mom. 22 years old, girlfriend 18, new tricked out Camaro. Seemed to have the world by the tail, but none of us ever do, do we?

My hobby the last couple of weeks has been creating fake 1964 Topps cards (my first year collecting) with colorization and computer tricks. I was intending to post some here. I immediately thought of the 1964 "In Memoriam" card of Ken Hubbs. Hubbs was a young star in the making for the Cubs and to this day I get sad looking at that card. I sat down and created a similar card for Oscar. I'll post it in a couple of days when I get time.

SAD!!

[Leon]

RIP Oscar....very sad.

[HOF Auto Rookies]

Lost potential greatness both on and off the field. And, not even close to Trout

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by HOF Auto Rookies

Lost potential greatness both on and off the field. And, not even close to Trout

Overall? No. Hitting potential? Absolutely.

[irishdenny]

Originally Posted by DerekMichael

So awful.

It reminds me of when I was a kid and a young man in the Mets organization named Brian Cole was killed in a car cash.

Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Derek, I Remember Him Well...
I'm a Life Long Met Fan at Heart. I was born iN Astoria, NY.
When I pulled this Card I was Sooo Excited!

And Now Oscar... Blessings to the Family's... Always!

[deadballfreaK]

I am reminded of the death of Herman Hill. Herman was supposed to be a can't miss guy. I saw him play many times when he was with the Evansville Triplets in 1970. He had the talent. Got a cup of coffee with the Twins in 1970, but didn't impress. The Twins traded him to the Cardinals that winter and he was to get a shot at the RF job. Hill had great speed and it was hoped that Lou Brock might be his mentor. The Cards sent him to play winter ball in Venezuela and he drowned there while swimming in the ocean. Ray Fosse and and a couple of teammates tried desperately to save him. Fosse nearly drowned himself. It was 5 days before his body washed ashore. I've often wondered what he might have done.

[JakeStahl'sGloveSHows]

What a sad story. The stats quoted in various posts above speak for themselves. My experience playing future seasons of OOTP was he projected to a top tier player.

A blow to the Cardinals organization as well.

Such an incredibly sad, untimely death. Thoughts to both his family and his Cardinals family.