Early in the morning of April 9, 2008, just hours after pitching six shutout innings, 22-year-old Nick Adenhart was killed when a repeat-offender drunk driver ran a red light and plowed his minivan into the Mitsubishi sports car Adenhart was riding in. He died in emergency surgery a while later. Two other passengers died at the scene.

Today the Royals traded a relief pitcher to the Boston Red Sox for center fielder Coco Crisp.

Crisp is a bit overrated, as most Boston players are, but I have to say I like this trade on several levels.

Thirty years ago next week, during a heated division title race with the Kansas City Royals, star California Angels outfielder Lyman Bostock was murdered in Gary, Indiana at the age of 27.

ESPN has a tribute.

He's the best baseball player you've never heard of, and quite possibly also the greatest human being you never heard of.

I don't think I've been able to write those words since 2003, so I'd better use them when I can.

This team has been making me eat my words almost non-stop since 1986. Aside from briefly recapturing the magic in the summer of '03, the only highlights I can think of revolve around the twilight of George Brett's career. Kids born the year Brett retired are eligible to get their learner's permits this year.

Scott Spiezio was a mediocre baseball player who could really rise to the occasion. A good defensive first baseman with a so-so bat, he was nevertheless a key part of the Anaheim Angels' 2002 World Series team. During the regular season he hit .285 with 12 home runs, and when injuries called for it, he slid across the diamond, filling in capably at third base. During the postseason, he hit .327 with three home runs.

In 2004 he signed a lucrative contract to play third base for the Seattle Mariners. His career quickly imploded, with only a .215 batting average in 2004. The next season, he sported a microscopic .064 batting average in 29 games and the Mariners released him in August.

In 2006, the St. Louis Cardinals gave him a chance as a bench player. Filling in at five positions, he hit well, and his clutch hitting in the postseason when other players faltered made him a fan favorite. Unfortunately in 2007, the honeymoon ended.

It used to be that Mark Littell was known for two things: Giving up a walk-off home run to the Yankees' Chris Chambliss in the 1976 playoffs (a la Brad Lidge), and being traded for Al Hrabosky.

Now he's a YouTube star.

Buddy Bell resigned his job as Royals manager at the end of the season to spend more time with his family, then promptly took a minor-league job with the White Sox. Given their last-place finish, it's not much of a loss. They named a replacement today.

Joe Posnanski just did an entry on his childhood baseball idols, and lots of people chimed in about their unlikely heroes. So I got to thinking about mine. When it comes to likely heroes, of course George Brett and Ryne Sandberg were on my list, but that makes me no different from about 10 million other people. Bo Jackson is more of an underdog because his career was so short, but he's a pretty obvious choice too. There's an old joke in Kansas City that nobody can name a current Royals player except for George Brett. I mean Bo Jackson. I mean Bret Saberhagen.

If you followed the Royals through the 1990s, it's funny. I'm sure the overwhelming majority of people who come across this page will have to take my word for it.

Anyway, here's my list.

Joe Posnanski is a columnist for the Kansas City Star. He writes about baseball. He writes about the Royals sometimes, because that's his job.

But he's probably at his best when he writes about the Indians. He grew up in Cleveland, after all.

Rod Beck was once one of the most intimidating relief pitchers in baseball. Part of it was because he could throw a baseball hard, but part of it was because he looked like the meanest guy in the entire south.

I never was much of a fan, until I read the story of his 2003 comeback. He was pitching in the minor leagues hoping someone would need him, living in an RV parked outside the stadium, hanging out with the fans afterward.

That's class.