Tyson Brummett: Phillies lose their own Moonlight Graham
By Rick Soisson
Former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tyson Brummett passed away when his airplane crashed in Utah. He was 35 years old.
The Philadelphia Phillies and their fans got sad news late July 3 and early Independence Day when it was reported that Tyson Brummett, a former player, died in a plane crash in Utah early Friday.
Brummett, who pitched very, very briefly for the Phillies in 2012, thus became Philadelphia’s Moonlight Graham, albeit a more tragic figure indeed. The former Phil was only 35. Graham, an early twentieth century, momentary player with the Giants, went on to a rewarding career in medicine and immortalization in W.P. Kinsella’s novel, Shoeless Joe, then the film based on that book, Field of Dreams.
Four people died in the crash that took the life of the pitcher (who was piloting), a friend, and the lives of Brummett’s aunt and uncle in the Wasatch Mountains, south of Salt Lake City. The crash was apparently witnessed by hikers in American Fork Canyon.
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Former teammates at UCLA reacted with love and sadness at the news. Head Coach John Savage said shortly before midnight, “He loved competing in a Bruin uniform, and was always about the right things. Our players and coaches will miss him very much. He was the definition of a winning pitcher. We love you Tyson.”
Brummett’s Phillies and MLB careers were restricted to two-thirds of an inning in 2012, when he appeared in the last game of the season, giving up two hits, but striking out two and giving up no runs. It had been a five-year struggle for the former Bruin to reach that point after the Phillies drafted him in the seventh round of the MLB draft in 2007.
Tyson Brummett never came to bat in his one game, a mirror of Moonlight Graham’s experience – two flash careers entirely on defense. Two bittersweet moments in MLB’s vast history.
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Early on July 4, the National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the crash. In April of this year, that group delivered their findings in the small-plane death of former Phillies Hall of Famer Roy Halladay in late 2017.