Brad Halsey is most famous for delivering the pitch that gave Barry Bonds his 714th career homer to tie Babe Ruth. Now, however, the ex-MLB star has turned up dead after mysterious consequences. Sources claim that no drugs or alcohol were in his system at the time of death. However, other reports concerning Halsey's unstable mental condition might add some clarity to the situation.
In 2002, the New York Yankees drafted Halsey into the MLB. In the beginning, he spent most of his time with a AAA international team, until his was brought onto the Yankees' pitching rotation in 2004.
That was an impressive year; he averaged a 2.63 ERA over 144 innings.
However, on Halloween of this year, police responded to Halsey's home in New Braunfels, Texas, to find that the 33-year-old had passed due to blunt force trauma to the head.
It has now been determined that the cause of the injury was from either a fall or a jump off the nearby cliff.
The Sheriff's office seems to believe that the tragedy was an accident, but many questions still remain. According to TMZ Sports, Halsey did not have drugs or alcohol in his system:
"...Brad Halsey was clean and sober when he fell more than 100 feet to his death in a remote area of Texas...Sheriffs say he either jumped or fell off the cliff, which was on private property. The autopsy report says Halsey's body was screened for a slew of drugs, including...opiates, cocaine, oxycodone, barbiturates, amphetamines, marijuana, benzodiazepines...and many more -- but pathologists found nothing. Same result for alcohol."
Even though Halsey did have a reputation for substance abuse, with that ruled out one, starts to wonder what else could have played a part in the young athlete's death. Reported on by the NY Post, Halsey had a background of mental issues:
"Brad was a down-on-his-luck vagabond who identified as bipolar and schizophrenic. He accosted strangers, ranting about the devil, and alarmed acquaintances, mumbling about the "fourth dimension." He was slovenly, slumped at the local bar after six beers and a vodka chaser. He smoked meth, and would go missing for days at a time, strung out on Adderall."
True he was sober at the time, but did his previous drug use alter his mind in a permanently negative way? Either way, it is a sad situation, and our thoughts go out to the Halsey family at this time.
