Yordano Ventura: 1991-2017
Over the weekend, Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura was killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. Ventura was a big part of the Royals back to back World Series appearances, particularly beloved by Royals fans for his role in the 2015 World Series championship.
Alcohol was first reported to be the cause of the accident, but reports have since come out that suggest Ventura was alive immediately after the crash but was robbed, assaulted and left for dead. His family believes Ventura had, in his possession, cash and other valuables, including his World Series ring. His family can't locate the ring. The public was already at the scene of the crash when authorities arrived. His grandfather has pleaded, through the media, for the National Police to have a thorough investigation as to what happened.
Pedro Martinez tweeted that he wants there to be a formal inquiry over the incident.
“How outrageous to know that a life like Yordano’s could have been saved had it not been that they robbed him the way he was robbed.”
“I hope an investigation will be carried out, because if there is any specific evidence of this, I would feel a great deal of shame for my country.”
There is also the tricky situation of Ventura's contract. The Royals still owe Ventura $20 million dollars on his contract, but if he was impaired at the time of the accident, that contract could be voided. The toxicology report will be key in determining whether or not the Royals will pay Ventura's estate what is owed.
I mostly knew Ventura for this kind of stuff:
As well as tweeting trash talk to José Bautista. It was always hilarious to see Ventura run his mouth and then have the much larger Salvador Perez stand between him and whoever he was mouthing at.
Remember how saucy things were between the Royals and the Jays? A blood feud of the best kind. Also, note Pat and Buck talking about Bautista's ability to come up big. This is before the 7th inning of Game 5.
What I didn't know is that Ventura played soft ball the night after the Royals lost game seven of the 2014 World Series.
The funeral was today. I put tweets from the Kansas City Star's Vahe Gregorian into Storify because I thought the description of it all was really beautiful.