Former Major Leaguer and current Tulsa Drillers hitting coach, Mike Coolbaugh, passed away at the young age of 35 after being struck with a line drive while coaching 1st base in a game. Coolbaugh had just taken over the job on July 3. The Drillers are the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
He was knocked unconscious by the line drive and had CPR adminstered to him on the field. He was still alive when they put him in the ambulance but as they were going to the hospital, he stopped breathing and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Coolbaugh spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues. He played in 39 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2001 and 5 games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2002. He retired after spending 2006 in the minor leagues with the Kansas City Royals. He had 256 career homeruns in the minor leagues.
He is survived by his wife and two children and has another on the way that is due in October. My thoughts and condolences go out to his family and the Drillers and Rockies organizations.
