Remembering Oscar Taveras

When St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras was tragically killed along with his girlfriend in a car accident on October 26, 2014, it shook the baseball world. I remember when the Cardinals first signed Taveras back in 2009 as a seventeen year old teenager who could hit a baseball a long way. I remember him charging his way through the Cardinals minor league system with his numerous homeruns and his great ability to drive in runs. I remember analysts and experts saying his swing was more polished and better at the early stages of his career than Albert Pujols, who in my mind was the Cardinals best slugger since Stan the Man Musial himself. I remember Taveras homering off of San Francisco's Yosmiro Petit in only his second at bat on May 31, 2014. Taveras did struggle in his first promotion to the Majors, ultimately having to be sent back down to the minors in late June. But an injury to first baseman Matt Adams brought Taveras back to the Majors in mid July. The Cardinals opened up a spot in the starting lineup by trading outfielder Allen Craig to the Boston Red Sox. Taveras continued to be inconsistent throughout the second half of the season, ultimately leading the Cardinals starting Randal Grichuk in RF in the playoffs. But Taveras would have his last moment of glory by homering in Game 2 of the NLCS against the San Francisco Giants to give the Cardinals the lead. I was shocked and stunned by Taveras' passing. None of us baseball fans will truly ever get over Oscar's death, but we will just have to learn to move on and keep watching the game we all love. Oscar would want it that way.     -Jared Pate