Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura died in a car crash today

[Clipper Nation]

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Just awful news. R.I.P.

[Clipper Nation]

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[Pelicans78]

:cry:cry:cry:cry:cry:cry

[lefty20]

RiP :depressed

[unleashbaynes]

Drunk driving?

[Robz4000]

God damn, two of the best young pitchers in baseball die way too young. RIP Ventura.

[Aztecfan03]

The fuck is with baseball players dying in car accidents in the Dominican Republic? http://m.mlb.com/news/article/214108460/former-major-leaguer-andy-marte-passes-away/

[Clipper Nation]

The fuck is with baseball players dying in car accidents in the Dominican Republic? http://m.mlb.com/news/article/214108460/former-major-leaguer-andy-marte-passes-away/
This probably has something to do with it:


The Dominican Republic consistently ranks among the deadliest countries for motor-vehicle crashes in data compiled by the World Health Organization. In 2015, it was ranked 15th-highest in the world, and first in the Americas, with an average annual rate of 29.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

In 2013, after the country ranked as the deadliest country in the world for motor-vehicle crashes, at 41.7 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, The Washington Post calculated the chances of a Dominican Republic citizen dying in an auto accident by age 70 at 1 in 480.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/01/22/royals-pitcher-yordano-ventura-killed-in-car-crash-in-dominican-republic/?utm_term=.442fcd661785

The league needs to do something about this. So many of their brightest stars come from the DR. They can't have them keep going home in the offseason and then dying young in car crashes. Especially if there's alcohol and/or drugs involved like there was with Oscar Taveras.

Drinking and driving has traditionally been glamorized in Dominican culture and the authorities over there haven't done enough to crack down on it:

Stepping up regulation and enforcement would go a long way towards reducing the number of Dominicans who will suffer Mr Taveras's fate. But even a firm government crackdown on dangerous driving can only go so far. The final missing piece in any comprehensive programme to improve road safety would be a public-education campaign to combat the hallowed roles of drinking and speeding in Dominican culture. In 1976 the merengue singer Johnny Ventura lamented (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKCGths96W0) that "mi mujer y el radar no me dejan vacilar" (my woman and the radar won't let me have fun). It is high time that today's celebrities—and above all baseball players—started to convey the opposite message.


http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2014/10/road-safety-dominican-republic

If the DR isn't willing to fix this, it's up to the league to figure out how to keep their players safe.

[Clipper Nation]

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Something's got to change. The MLB can't just keep letting this happen.

[The Gemini Method]

Growing up, I had a friend from the DR. He had a real bad time in terms of losing members of his family to car accidents in the Republic. He lost his 2 uncles and a cousin in the same manner. As CN posted, it is not a great place to be driving and it's really sad to hear Ventura and Marte were killed in this matter.