Jose Fernandez Tragedy

[Wild Thing]

Filled with cocaine and drunk on a boat ... yup tragic loss. Autopsy was crazy shocking .

Black and Gold

Really a damn shame that supposedly one night of stupidity will tarnish what was a fantastic career. According to people very close to Jose Fernandez it is really out of character for the cocaine use.

[NeelyforPres]

Filled with cocaine and drunk on a boat ... yup tragic loss. Autopsy was crazy shocking .

Black and Gold

[thedaigle1]

The Panthers wore Fernandez jerseys during warm-up and #16 decals on their helmets for the game. Who scored the game winner? #16 (Barkov)

[thedaigle1]

http://www.totalprosports.com/2016/0...ome-run-video/

I would recommend that everyone watch the recap of that game. Jose was one of the most remarkable athletes of this era.

[Josh]

http://www.totalprosports.com/2016/09/26/dee-gordon-takes-pitch-right-handed-to-honor-jose-fernandez-then-hits-home-run-video/

[Matt the Aussie]

I saw the replay of the catch on Tulo, that was insane.

[thedaigle1]

Yeah that sucks (to put it mildly). I must admit I hadn't heard of him but I don't follow the National League all that closely, Blue Jays and all. RIP.

Yeah it's not easy to follow 162 games over two leagues. The NL East is one of the divisions I follow the least despite all the great pitching (Scherzer, Strasburg, deGrom, Syndergaard, etc.) Needless to say I regret not watching more of Jose's games.

Three highlights come to mind though:

1) First home run 9/11/13
2) Ridiculous snag of Troy Tulowitzki's line drive 8/24/13
3) Last game (maybe best of his career) 9/20/16

[Josh]

Wow, that's terrible, R.I.P. Thoughts are with his family.

PS - Never feel bad about going off-topic. I encourage you all to make threads for anything worthy of conversation, even if it's non-hockey.

[Matt the Aussie]

Yeah that sucks (to put it mildly). I must admit I hadn't heard of him but I don't follow the National League all that closely, Blue Jays and all. RIP.

[thedaigle1]

I know I'm going way off the board here by writing about baseball but this is one of those stories that transcends sport.

Some of you may have heard that "a baseball player" died in a boating accident in Miami yesterday. Here's the thing though, Fernandez wasn't just "a baseball player." He was one the greats.

Jose Fernandez was undoubtedly the best player drafted in 2011. He won rookie of the year in 2013. Since he came into the league, no pitcher was striking out more batters per nine innings. He was the Marlins' franchise player and he was quickly becoming a perennial MVP and Cy Young candidate. He was easily one of the top five right-handers in ALL of baseball. And then there's the human factor.

Fernandez had attempted with his family on several occasions to defect from Cuba to the United States before successfully coming to America as a teenager. During the trip across he saved his mother from drowning in the dark of night. He was awarded his US citizenship recently and was eventually able to bring his grandmother to the States as well. Fernandez was an icon among Cuban-Americans and the Latino community in southern Florida. He was a soon-to-be father of a baby girl and only 24-years-old.