Important Message
Coolbaugh, 35, was standing near first base when he was hit by a foul ball off the bat of Tino Sanchez of the Drillers. He was taken to a hospital in North Little Rock, where he was pronounced dead.
The game between Tulsa and the hometown Travelers was suspended in the ninth inning.
"It's a tragedy for all of baseball," Drillers president Chuck Lamson told the Tulsa World in a story posted on the newspaper's website early Monday. "He just joined the staff and was a former Driller player. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family."
Coolbaugh, 35, was hit either on the right side of his head or the forehead and fell to the ground immediately, according to Travelers spokesman Phil Elson. A report on the Drillers' website late Sunday stated Coolbaugh was knocked unconscious and CPR was administered on the field.
Sgt. Terry Kuykendall, a spokesman for the North Little Rock police, said Coolbaugh was still alive when he was put in an ambulance, but stopped breathing as the ambulance arrived at the hospital.
A native of Binghamton, N.Y., Coolbaugh went to high school in San Antonio, Texas, and was a 16th-round selection of the Blue Jays in 1990.
He played 44 games in the majors for the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers over two seasons before joining the Tulsa staff on July 3 as a batting coach. He played for the Drillers — the Colorado Rockies' double-A affiliate — briefly in 1996.
Coolbaugh played third base and bounced around the minors for a decade, before reaching the major leagues for the first time in 2001 with the Brewers.
He played 39 big league games that season and five for the Cardinals in 2002, hitting two home runs in 70 at-bats.
Coolbaugh is survived by his wife, Mandy, and two young sons, Joseph and Jacob, all of San Antonio. Mandy is expecting another child in October.
Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?
The speaker at church Sunday gave a very clear call that if you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior,
you need to come forward to the altar.
Life IS fragile. Mike Coolbaugh has entered eternity.
How about you? Have you committed your life, what's left of it, and your eternity, to the Lord?
The Bible says everybody has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
Like sheep we all have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his or her own way. Isaiah 53:6
However, God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, Jesus, that whoever believes in Him, Jesus, shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
God made Him, Jesus, who had no sin to be a sin offering for us, making peace through the shedding of His blood on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21, Colossians 1:20
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out. Acts 3:19
If you confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised Him, Jesus, from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9,10
If you've followed these biblical instructions, I would love to hear about it.
jim@christiancommentary.com
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