I was shocked to find out yesterday morning that Jose Lima had died of a heart attack at age 37. Considering I started following baseball in 1998 and he was just reaching his statistical peak right around that time, he was one of the first pitchers I vividly remember through ESPN clips and what-not.
Lima went 27-18 in his first two years of being a starting pitcher (he was predominantly a bullpen guy at first). In 1999, he won 21 games. Unfortunately, he fell out of the form for the rest of his career, with a 21-8 combined record in 2003 and 2004 being somewhat of an aberration.
His MLB Showdown 2000 card was awesome and absurdly good, if you ever played the game as a kid. If there was an award for “Athlete Who Looks Most Like a Colombian Druglord”, he would have won it unanimously. (Currently, the ballot for the award is a tie between Dani Alves of Barcelona and Albert Pujols.) He was an arrogant man, and when he was on, he dropped diddicks on all hitters. I'll never forget him throwing a complete game shutout against the Cardinals in the 2004 playoffs. We thought he would continue his strong form again. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.
Rest in peace, Jose. Heaven just went into Lima Time.
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