Baseball Guru
06-27-2001, 03:15 AM
Minor League Pitcher Dies at 26
SAMMAMISH, Wash. (AP) -- John LeRoy, a Sammamish baseball star who won his only game in the majors and hoped to return for a major league career, died at a hospital in Iowa. He was 26.
LeRoy suffered a heart attack and brain aneurysm as he prepared to undergo surgery, his aunt, Susan Dawlearn of Wallis, Texas, told the Eastside Journal of Bellevue.
He went into a coma on Friday. A CAT scan revealed no brain activity and he was taken off life support Monday, Dawlearn said.
Hospital officials at Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City declined to release details of LeRoy's death. They said the official cause of death will not be released until an autopsy has been performed.
LeRoy's death shocked his teammates with the independent Northern League's Sioux City Explorers, who had expected the right-hander to return to the mound next month.
The Explorers planned a memorial service before Friday's game in Sioux City.
LeRoy was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in June 1993, receiving a $38,000 signing bonus. He was assigned to a farm team and worked his way up to pitch two innings in the big leagues, striking out three and winning a late-season game for the Braves in September 1997.
''I'll always remember how happy he was the day he pitched for the Atlanta Braves,'' Dawlearn said.
After that, he pitched another season in the Braves' minor league system, then got drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, an expansion team. But he never played for them.
LeRoy later pitched for the Northern League's New Jersey Jackals for part of last season, then the Cincinnati Reds' Double-A Chattanooga team.
At age 19, LeRoy had surgery to remove a blood clot. Last month, he felt numbness in his pitching arm and visited a specialist, then decided to have corrective surgery.
LeRoy is survived by his wife, Aleata, and two young sons, in Lake Havasu, Ariz.
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SAMMAMISH, Wash. (AP) -- John LeRoy, a Sammamish baseball star who won his only game in the majors and hoped to return for a major league career, died at a hospital in Iowa. He was 26.
LeRoy suffered a heart attack and brain aneurysm as he prepared to undergo surgery, his aunt, Susan Dawlearn of Wallis, Texas, told the Eastside Journal of Bellevue.
He went into a coma on Friday. A CAT scan revealed no brain activity and he was taken off life support Monday, Dawlearn said.
Hospital officials at Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City declined to release details of LeRoy's death. They said the official cause of death will not be released until an autopsy has been performed.
LeRoy's death shocked his teammates with the independent Northern League's Sioux City Explorers, who had expected the right-hander to return to the mound next month.
The Explorers planned a memorial service before Friday's game in Sioux City.
LeRoy was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in June 1993, receiving a $38,000 signing bonus. He was assigned to a farm team and worked his way up to pitch two innings in the big leagues, striking out three and winning a late-season game for the Braves in September 1997.
''I'll always remember how happy he was the day he pitched for the Atlanta Braves,'' Dawlearn said.
After that, he pitched another season in the Braves' minor league system, then got drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, an expansion team. But he never played for them.
LeRoy later pitched for the Northern League's New Jersey Jackals for part of last season, then the Cincinnati Reds' Double-A Chattanooga team.
At age 19, LeRoy had surgery to remove a blood clot. Last month, he felt numbness in his pitching arm and visited a specialist, then decided to have corrective surgery.
LeRoy is survived by his wife, Aleata, and two young sons, in Lake Havasu, Ariz.
------------------
"Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself, but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of a hit-and-run."
LETS GO METS!!!
HELP BE AN ADDICT AND CLICK ON AN AD!!