The death of 18-year major leaguer and nine-year Oakland Athletics utility player Tony Phillips on Thursday at age 56, reported by the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser,has prompted an outpouring of reactions and stories from journalists who covered Phillips and from his former teammates and coaches.
We start with Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, who initially shared this story on his Twitter feed and published the whole thing on his Facebook page. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera was entering his final season, and Passan wanted to speak with the first major leaguer Rivera struck out:
I track down his number and ask how he is.