PHOENIX (AP) -- San Diego Padres outfielder Mike Darr was killed and a minor league pitcher was injured early Friday when the vehicle they were riding in rolled over on an interstate highway. Darr, 25, was San Diego's opening-day center fielder in 2001, his first full big league season. He moved into the starting lineup after Ruben Rivera was released in spring training but eventually gave way to Mark Kotsay, who was obtained from Florida just before opening day. Ben Howard, a 23-year-old pitcher who played for San Diego's Class-A and Double-A affiliates last season, was treated at the scene and released, Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Frank Valenzuela said. The team said he sustained scrapes and bruises. ``We who work in baseball so often enjoy living in our own world, apart from the realities of life,'' Padres general manager Kevin Towers said in a statement. ``Tragedies such as this burst the bubble and remind us how vulnerable we are and how precious life is.'' Another man in the vehicle -- 23-year-old Duane Johnson, of Reno, Nev. -- also was killed in the accident. He was believed to be a friend of Darr. ``He may be affiliated with the team but we are not sure yet,'' Valenzuela said. ``We just know that he's not a player.'' Last year, Darr made 24 starts in center field and 45 in right, where Tony Gwynn hardly played because of leg injuries. Darr was good defensively but didn't have much power, hitting just two homers last year. However, both were game-winners in the Padres' last at-bat. He batted .277 with 34 RBIs. Darr was the Padres' minor league player of the year in 1997 after being obtained from Detroit with another player for second baseman Jody Reed late in spring training that year. In 2000, Darr shared the Padres' minor league player of the year award with Jeremy Owens. Darr hit .344 with 9 homers and 65 RBIs in 91 games with Triple-A Las Vegas. He was recalled to the Padres on July 31. In his first game following the recall he hit the second pitch he saw for a two-run homer against Philadelphia. Darr also played in five games for San Diego in mid-April 2000 before returning to Triple-A. The crash occurred about 2 a.m. MST (4 a.m. EST). The Padres hold spring training in nearby Peoria and Friday was the voluntary reporting date for pitchers and catchers to report. Darr became the second player in the Padres organization to be killed in a car crash in less than year. On July 29, minor league pitcher Gerik Baxter was killed near Indio, Calif., when a rear tire on his pickup blew out, causing the truck to swerve into another car and roll several times. Oakland Athletics draft pick Mark Hilde, a passenger in the truck, also died. Valenzuela said Darr was the driver of the vehicle and it appeared the accident was alcohol related. The vehicle apparently drifted into the dirt center median, then the driver overcorrected, Valenzuela said. It rolled across three lanes of the freeway and crashed through a fence, coming to rest on a frontage road. Valenzuela said Darr and Johnson were not wearing seat belts and were ejected and killed while Howard was in the back seat and was wearing a seat belt. Howard, a right-hander who was a second-round pick in the 1997 amateur draft, was 8-2 with a 2.83 ERA with Class A Lake Elsinore and 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA at AA Mobile. He was selected to the California League All-Star team while with Lake Elsinore. Darr is survived by his wife, Natalie, and two sons, Mike Jr. and Matthew
Let's see, driving a car while intoxicated without wearing a seatbelt. I wonder if he's surprised. Who in the hell gets in a car nowadays and doesn't put on a seatbelt???
Before a while back, I would hardly put on my seatbelt. Thats when i first started, i was young. Now though i understand the safety of seat belts. I always have it on, and i will never drive the car unless the people in the car with me have one on too.
No, not tragic. Dumb. r****ded. Assinine. Tragic is unavoidable circumstances. But driving while intoxicated, without a seatbelt even, is the the very hight of stupidity. Yes I feel sorrow for his wife and children but I think you insult the word "tragic" to use it in this way.
huh?? you don't think his children will view this as a tragedy??? it's absolutely tragic that these kids have to grow up without a dad.
They might, but I don't. Like I said, I view the word "tragic" as applying to unavoidable circumstances. Not saying that's the right way, just my way. I feel nothing but contempt for Darr for throwing away his life (while risking others) and thus rendering his wife and children without a husband/father. I feel much sorrow for them and I can understand if they view it as a tragedy. I just view it as an act of incredible arrogance and stupidity that went wrong.
Seatbelts are automatic for me, I just get in a car and put them on. Still I dont think you tell these kids their father deserved what he got. He should not have been driving that car period, But what can be done now?
i really don't wanna belabor the point...but all i said was leaving behind two fatherless children is tragic. i think that's a tragedy for everyone...particularly since they have to live with the fact that their father's demise was due to his own irresponsibility
Hey, I'm not advocating telling his children that he got what he deserved. Hell, even I don't think he got what he deserved; I don't think anyone deserves death. I just find it difficult to express sadness over something as destructive as what Darr did. He was completely at fault for his death and if I were his widow/children I would be incredibly angry with him. I would presumably still love him and be devestated by his death but Darr served his own death warrant on this one. As far as what can be done now, this can be used to stop more idiots from drinking and driving for one, driving without a seatbealt for two, and worst of all freaking drinking while driving without a seatbelt...
His decision to drink and drive was stupid. The fact that his children have to grow up without a father is tragic.
Yeah, I think I overreacted to some degree in this thread. I just hate drunk drivers so much that it makes me get too emotional at times. If I have come across as an unfeeling b*stard I apologise. It is tragic that his wife is now a widow and that his children now have no fathers. As one who never had a father in my life I know how painful this can be. I feel nothing but sorrow for his family and I hope that they deal with it as best they can. I just hope that maybe one person who hears of this story thinks about what effect drunk driving can have on his or her family and decides to call a cab for just one hight. The true tragedy would be for nothing to change as a result of this man's death...
Whether you think he got what he deserved (which he didn't), or you thought it was stupid (which it was), it was a tragedy no matter what you think about it. A young guy did something dumb and he's dead, and that's a tragedy whether you could avoid it or not, another person is dead, and a family is left without their husband and father. I feel sorrow for the family AND Darr.
