Darryl Kile

Darryl Andrew Kile was an American Major League Baseball starting pitcher. He pitched from 1991 to 2002 for three teams. In his first season for the Cardinals, he won 20 games in 2000 as the team reached the postseason for the first time in four years. They advanced to the playoffs in the next two seasons. Kile was known for his sharp, big-breaking curveball. He died at the age of 33 of coronary artery disease in 2002 in Chicago, where he and the Cardinals were staying for a weekend series against the Chicago Cubs. He was the first active major league player to pass away during the regular season since 1979, when the New York Yankees' Thurman Munson died in a plane crash.