RIP, Lima Time

[Herbert Anchovy]

It is sadder than sad when a guy who has spread nothing but joy and enthusiasm in the public view is gone in a wisp and many complete ****bags still walk the earth (and will for the next 37 years and beyond).

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It is sadder than sad when a guy who has spread nothing but joy and enthusiasm in the public view is gone in a wisp and many complete ****bags still walk the earth (and will for the next 37 years and beyond).

I doubt people said the same thing when Daryl Kile was found in his hotel room.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

What did Kile do to anybody? By many accounts a decent guy and good family man. If I remember right he had some pot in his system in the autopsy report, but big deal if so.

Four guys now dead from those late-'90s Astros teams -- Kile, Lima, Ken Caminiti and coach Vern Ruhle.

 

[D-3 Fan]

What did Kile do to anybody? By many accounts a decent guy and good family man. If I remember right he had some pot in his system in the autopsy report, but big deal if so.

Four guys now dead from those late-'90s Astros teams -- Kile, Lima, Ken Caminiti and coach Vern Ruhle.

That's not what Mizzou said. There was no implying that Kile did anything wrong to anybody. It was the fact that he had some pot in his system, when the impression many had was that he didn't mess with that stuff. He died of a heart attack, IIRC, and that was the clear cut COD.

 

[Beef03]

I think he pitched in the independent Golden League -- Calgary??? -- last year and I thought he was going back there this year.

Close, it was the Edmonton Capitals he finished up with. I tried to get to one of his games last year, but the only Caps game I was able to make it to due to my schedule came the day before he was supposed to pitch, he still sang the anthems though. He was the only real name on the team and the Capitals took full advantage in their marketing. I do not think he was expected back this year as their season started last Wednesday in Tucson.

Here is the Edmonton Sun's Terry Jones' take on Lima:

http://www.edmontonsun.com/sports/columnists/terry_jones/2010/05/24/14057876.html

 

[BYH]

Any chance he was older than 37? I thought he was one of those guys whose age was a mystery. He certainly went bald young.

Regardless, like Pete said, 37 is scary as **** for those of us in our mid-30s. Very sad.

 

[Football_Bat]

Considering the week in TV, I was waiting for the hedline Lima Time HAS RUN OUT!

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

What did Kile do to anybody? By many accounts a decent guy and good family man. If I remember right he had some pot in his system in the autopsy report, but big deal if so.

Four guys now dead from those late-'90s Astros teams -- Kile, Lima, Ken Caminiti and coach Vern Ruhle.

That's not what Mizzou said. There was no implying that Kile did anything wrong to anybody. It was the fact that he had some pot in his system, when the impression many had was that he didn't mess with that stuff. He died of a heart attack, IIRC, and that was the clear cut COD.

There is an insinuation at least elsewhere that Lima was on the juice. If he was, he certainly wouldn't have sucked rocks for all but two or three years of his career. It's absurd. The guy posted two of the worst seasons in ML history at the height of the steroids era. If it was a few cocaine rails that did him in, that's another matter.

 

[Moose A. Moose]

Ben Shpigel posted this 2006 story on Lima on his Twitter and the NYT Bats blog. A really fun story about when Lima signed with the Mets that spring. Pedro's reaction is priceless.

The details here are fantastic and they serve as counterpoint to all the tedium on the baseball beat. You don't get this stuff in a lot of other sports, simply because of the access baseball allows.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/17/sports/baseball/17mets.html?_r=2

Good story, and this is the unintentional funny part:

"As much as the Mets figure to enjoy Lima's looseness and animated personality, they would prefer a return to his 2004 form, when he won 13 games for the Dodgers and helped to put them into the postseason. Officially, there is a competition for the fifth spot in the Mets' rotation, with Aaron Heilman, Brian Bannister, Yusaku Iriki, Alay Soler, John Maine and Lima all in contention.

But the Mets clearly envision Heilman, who had a standout 2005 season as a reliever, emerging from the pack."

In 2006, the Mets used Geremi Gonzalez and Jose Lima as starters ahead of Aaron Heilman. Gonzalez died in 2008.