Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 6, 1993 TAG: 9311060143
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The American League team's star-crossed year took another tragic turn when a truck driven by left-handed pitcher Cliff Young crashed into a tree Thursday night near his hometown of Willis, Texas, killing him.
Young is the third Cleveland pitcher to die in an accident this year. Steve Olin and Tim Crews were killed and Bob Ojeda was injured March 22 in a boating accident in central Florida on the team's only day off during spring training.
"I had that same heart-wrenching feeling of sorrow and helplessness," said John Hart, the Indians' general manager. "We are looking forward to calendar year 1993 going away. You just shake your head and you wonder, `Why is this happening?' "
Young, 29, was on his way to pick up a relative from a dance class at about 9:30 p.m. when his four-wheel-drive truck veered off a winding road, hit a tree and flipped. The accident occurred between the towns of Willis and Conroe, about an hour north of Houston.
According to Texas Department of Public Safety reports, Young - who was not wearing a seat belt - was thrown halfway through the truck's sunroof and was dead at the scene. A passenger, 26-year-old John Wilkerson, was wearing a seat belt and received only minor cuts and abrasions.
Montgomery County Peace Justice Edie Connelly ordered a blood test to determine whether alcohol was involved.
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper John Fain said Wilkerson told authorities Young was trying to light a cigarette when the accident occurred.
"The passenger stated that Cliff Young was reaching over to light a cigarette and he probably took his eyes off the road about the time it veered off," Fain said. "That's all I really have to go by."
Hart learned of the accident Friday morning from Young's agent. Hart and manager Mike Hargrove both spoke with Young's wife, Tamara, by telephone.
"Certainly it's a very difficult time for her," Hart said. "I let her know our support is there and will be as we go along."
Young appeared in 21 games for the Indians in 1993, seven as a starter. He was 3-3 with one save and a 4.62 ERA before undergoing season-ending surgery to have bone chips removed from his left elbow.
He became a free agent at the end of the season, but the Indians were negotiating to retain him. He spent most of the previous 10 years in the minors in the Montreal, Toronto, Oakland and California organizations, going 2-1 with a 3.74 ERA in 28 major-league relief appearances with the Angels in 1990 and 1991.
"He had had some trials at the major-league level, but never succeeded on a consistent basis," Hart said. "When he came into spring training, he got along well with everyone. You've got a player who's trying like hell to hang on and to prove himself."
Hargrove said the spring training accident haunted the team throughout the first half of the season, but the players eventually were able to put it behind them.
It would be a mistake, he said, to compare the two accidents or to lump them together as "the curse of the Indians."
"I think if we allow that to happen, then we trivialize these things," Hargrove said. "And these things are not to be trivialized. It's a part of life. This happens every day somewhere. It just has happened to us twice now."
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB