On The 10th Anniversary Of His Tragic Death, Wake Up With The Angels Honoring Nick Adenhart After Winning The Division

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGbvT_d3vPc
Crazy that it's been 10 years since a young, promising pitcher, Nick Adenhart was killed just hours after the best pitching performance of his MLB career. April 8th, 2009, Adenhart made his 2009 debut and went six innings, gave up seven hits, three walks, five strikeouts, and 0 runs. He was on his way to a club with some friends to celebrate his great start when their car was hit at over 65 MPH by a drunk driver. Three of the four people in the car were killed. There was a really good article in the LA Times yesterday about it that brought tears to my eyes. The author highlighted the fact that Scott Boras, Adenhart's agent told Nick's dad to come out to see his start being something special was going to happen. The morning after the accident the Angels let Nick's dad into the locker room alone and let him hang out at his locker. His father then went out to the mound and cried. So fucking sad. It also talks about how one of his good friends, Jered Weaver named his future son, "Aden", after Nick. He also wrote his initials on the mound for every start for the rest of his career.
While he was insanely young, only 22, there was no doubt he was going to be good. The way his old teammates talk about him it sounds like he was a hell of a player and a better person. The Angels slumped after his death but rebounded to win the AL West that season. This video that was shot by a fan shows the Angels celebrating their division title by going out to the padded wall with Adenhart's name and number on it. They went to celebrate with their fallen teammate and brother. I think about Adenhart every now and then because he was from a small town in Maryland so I was familiar with him when he was coming up and it's wild to think it's been 10 years since he was killed. I thought this was an awesome way for the Angels to honor Nick.