Jose Lima, a former MLB All-Star who once won 21 games in a season, is dead. ESPN first reported the news, and the Los Angeles Dodgers have since confirmed the report. Lima died of a massive heart attack in Los Angeles. He was 37 years old.
Lima spent 13 seasons in the big leagues for five different teams, including multiple stints with the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals.
After winning 21 games with the Houston Astros in 1999, Lima almost set a Major League record by allowing 48 home runs the following season. In 2005, he posted the worst ERA of all time for a pitcher with at least 30 starts.
Since 2008, Lima has pitched for professional baseball teams in South Korea, California and Canada.
The AP has more:
LOS ANGELES — Jose Lima, a right-hand pitcher who was a 20-game winner and an All-Star during a 13-year major league career, died Sunday, the Los Angeles Dodgers said. He was 37.
Lima, who won 13 games with the Dodgers in 2004, died of an apparent heart attack, according to the Aguilas Cibaenas, a winter ball team that Lima had played for in the Dominican Republic.
"Lima was an exceptional man. This is a great loss for Dominican baseball and the country," Llenas said.
Referring to his often colorful outings as "Lima Time," Lima posted his best season in 1999 when he was selected to the All-Star game as a Houston Astro. He went 21-10 in 35 starts with a 3.58 ERA for the NL Central champion Astros.
In 13 major league seasons, the native of the Dominican Republic was 89-102 with a 5.26 ERA. He hadn't pitched in the major leagues since a four-game stop with the New York Mets in 2006.
"He was a man full of life, without apparent physical problems and with many plans and projects on the agenda," his wife, Dorca Astacio, told ESPNdeportes.com.
Lima went 46-42 with the Astros between 1997-2001, and he was a 20-game winner and an All-Star with the Houston team.
With the Dodgers in 2004 and 2005, Lima had a record of 13-5, with a 4.07 ERA. In the 2004 National League Division Series, Lima pitched a 5-hit shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals in front of a sell-out crowd at Dodger Stadium. It was the Dodgers first postseason win since Game 5 of the 1988 World Series.
He also spent two stints with Detroit and Kansas City.
"This is a shock for us because Lima was a young man who seemed healthy and nobody imagined this," said Tomas Jimenez, manager of the Aguilas Cibaenas.
Read full story here:
