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It's hard for me to believe, but today marks the ten year anniversary of the passing of Cardinal pitcher Darryl Kile.

The memory of that day is still vivid to me. If I recall it was a scheduled noon game that day in Chicago. I arrived home at 12:30 or 1:00 and turned on the television expecting to see a Cards-Cubs game. There was a different game on and I just assumed that it was raining in Chicago. I got busy doing other things and happened to walk by the TV as a message was scrolling across the bottom of the screen: "Today's Cardinal-Cub game was postponed due to the sudden death of Cardinal pitcher Darryl Kile"

It wasn't until later that I learned the details and saw a replay of Joe Girardi's announcement to the crowd at Wrigley. I can still remember just being utterly shocked at the message I was seeing on the screen. Kile had just pitched the Cards into first place that week with a great game against Anaheim. I remembered thinking that week that it was a big boost to the Cards if Kile continued to pitch like that. How quickly life changes sometimes.

Kile was a Cardinal for only a few years, but he was a bulldog and one of my favorite players. A true professional and admired by all. Ten years later, he's gone but still not forgotten.