A Smile in the Sky: A Tribute to Oscar Tavares.

     Oscar Tavares was one of the best youngsters in the Major Leagues who played for the Cardinals. He always had a smile on his face. He was glad to be a player in the big leagues. He did many big things in his short time as a player. We now look at the life of Oscar Tavares.

Oscar Tavares was the rookie 22 year old right field fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was happy to play and took every chance he got to play. He played his best and never gave up. He made his debut before the all-star game.  In only his second at-bat, he homered. In only 80 games that season, Oscar hit 8 home runs. That is a really good amount for only eighty games. He helped lead his team to the 2014 postseason.  That postseason would put Oscar Tavares’ name in the record books. In the NLCS the St. Louis Cardinals faced the soon to be World Series Champions. That team was the San Francisco Giants. During one game, Oscar was a bench player. It was a tight game. With the Cardinals trailing by only one run, they sent Oscar Tavares on to the on deck circle to pinch hit. Once Oscar Tavares came up, everybody was holding their breath. Then the pitch came. The next thing you know, the game is tied. Oscar Tavares had just homered and tied the game up! With that homer Oscar Tavares had become the youngest player to hit a pinch hit home run in the postseason. Oscar Tavares would play his best to try to keep his team in the race for the trophy. Sadly, the St. Louis Cardinals lost and the San Francisco Giants were on their way to the World Series where they would face the Kansas City Royals. But Oscar Tavares didn’t complain. He tried his best and he hadn’t given up. To celebrate his success, he took a trip to the Dominican Republic.

As the World Series matchup continued to Game 6, everybody in baseball got sorrowing news about the young star. Just the night before, Oscar Tavares got into a car accident and died with his 18 year old girlfriend. The Cardinals general manager made the following statement about Oscar. ‘’I first met Oscar when he was sixteen… he lived every day to his fullest.’’ Everybody in the baseball world and outside of that was deeply sorrowed. But the World Series had to go on. The Game 6 starter Yordano Ventura could be seen pitching with a special message on his hat. The message was, ’’R.I.P, O.T #18.’’