Sports
Cards in Disbelief over Taveras’ Death
In this handout photo provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Agency shows the heavily damaged vehicle in which Dominican baseball player Oscar Taveras was killed along with a young woman passenger, near the city of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Transportation Agency)
Derrick Goold, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
ST. LOUIS (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)—Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras, a rising meteor of talent who was considered one of the top hitting prospects in the game since his first at-bat in the minor leagues, was killed in a car accident Sunday afternoon in his native Dominican Republic. He was 22.
Taveras and his girlfriend were both in the accident, which reportedly happened on a stretch of highway near his hometown of Sosua on the northern coast of the Dominican in Puerto Plata. His agent, Brian Mejia, confirmed that the accident had killed both Taveras and his girlfriend.
The Cardinals released a statement Sunday night expressing condolences and shock at the loss of the team’s youngest position player.
“I simply can’t believe it,” general manager John Mozeliak said in a club statement. “I first met Oscar when he was (16 years old) and will forever remember him as a wonderful young man who was a gifted athlete with an infectious love for life who lived every day to the fullest.”
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