By Tim Ryder
The murkiness surrounding the death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher, Tyler Skaggs, who died after choking on his own vomit while under the influence of opiates and alcohol on July 1 in Texas, has come alarmingly into focus in recent days.
T.J. Quinn’s report for ESPN’s Outside The Lines sheds a disturbing light on the situation. Reading the entire piece is highly recommended. I’m just here to make a point.
According to Quinn, Eric Kay, the Angels’ director of communications with a 24-year tenure within the organization, “provided oxycodone to [Skaggs] and abused it with him for years”, adding that “team officials were told about Skaggs’ drug use long before his death”.
Kay’s mother, Sandy, told ESPN she instructed Kay’s former supervisor and current president of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Tim Mead that “the team needed to intervene and get Skaggs off [her son’s] back” after Skaggs allegedly texted Kay for drugs while he was hospitalized following an April 22 opiate overdose.
From Quinn’s report:
According to the two sources familiar with what Kay told DEA investigators, Kay told agents that he had first mentioned Skaggs’ use to Mead in 2017. In addition, Kay told investigators about a second Angels official who knew of Skaggs’ use.
Mead told ESPN “no one mentioned Skaggs’ name in [the conversation with Kay’s mother] or that Skaggs was an opioid user at any other time”.
Per the report, the Angels announced they “had no prior knowledge of [Skaggs] or any other member of the Angels organization having abused opioids or any narcotic and continue to work with law enforcement to get answers”.
These allegations are concerning on many levels. First and foremost, the addicted mind lacks conscience. Right and wrong are loosely defined, if at all; only one thing matters. Sadly, Skaggs and Kay keeping their dealings between themselves is par for this course.
But if the Angels — who assumedly were not in the throes of addiction — supposedly knew of what was happening here — which, as per the article, is entirely plausible — and decided to keep things under wraps, well, this is a foundation-shaking break of trust, and potentially much more.
Without sounding overly dramatic, if the Angels knew — or even had a hunch — of what was going on here and allowed it to continue, their negligence directly led to this 27-year-old’s death.
As per Quinn’s report, Kay “gave U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents the names of five other players who he believed were using opiates while they were on the Angels” in late September.
Let’s hope their teammate’s death and the many lessons to be learned from that heartbreaking development — and these eye-opening aftershocks — lead those five to a resurgence of their own. Tyler Skaggs won’t get that chance.
Skaggs’ untimely passing should remind all of us that the ongoing opioid epidemic knows no bounds. Musicians, actors, artists, athletes, friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers; no one is beyond the reach of this crisis.
If you or someone you care about is battling addiction of any kind, talk to someone. That first step towards recovery is the toughest one. A simple act of support could have unimaginable reverberations.
