As Mike Matheny and Darryl Kile rode to the airport for a Chicago flight, they talked about life, and they talked about death.
Earlier that 2002 day, they attended the memorial service for Jack Buck, the legendary radio voice of their team, the St. Louis Cardinals.
“Whenever you’re faced with the fragile nature of life, you just kind of have those conversations,” said Matheny, the manager of the Kansas City Royals, by phone this past week. “And I’ll never forget, I was just talking about the impact that Mr. Jack Buck had on so many different people and how in this game we have that opportunity.