It’s been nearly two and a half years since Tyler Skaggs sadly passed away from a overdose of opioids. A story that shook the world of baseball because of the veil it lifted on the use of such substances in sport.
It will be remembered that it had shaken his teammates, but that they had launched a game without points or hits in their first home game thereafter. They had honored Skaggs by covering the mound with about 30 uniforms emblazoned with the late pitcher’s #45.
But the Skaggs family have since taken Eric Kay, who allegedly supplied the pitcher the opioids, to court. And yesterday, we were treated to big revelations in court.
Four MLB players tested Tuesday against former Angels employee Eric Kay including Matt Harvey.
Harvey tested that, amongst other things, he gave former pitcher Tyler Skaggs Percocet pills days before his death in July 2019.
đź“š @SamBlum3https://t.co/3dm1LYoH4M
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 16, 2022
Among the witnesses called to the stand yesterday, there was in particular Carli Skaggs, the wife of the former pitcher. She had great difficulty testifying due to emotion, but revealed that she was unaware of her husband’s drug use.
She added that she would have helped him if she had known and that she had already urged him to seek help for a drinking problem. She says, however, that she now understands better what was the real reason behind her behavior and she regrets having only stopped at alcohol.
We also had a few testimonials from former Skaggs teammates yesterday, including Matt Harvey. In addition to admitting that he used cocaine (he is protected by the court since he is testifying in the Skaggs case) and that he has already spoken about his suicidal thoughts to other people without ‘they don’t help him, he returned to the situation at the Angels.
In the lawsuit related to the death of Tyler Skaggs, he even confessed to having spoken about it openly, but was not helped. https://t.co/k83BLFmTEX
— Passion MLB (@passion_MLB) February 16, 2022
Harvey notably stated that he was aware of Skaggs’ use, having given him drugs himself in the past. The two have traded it a few times in the past and Harvey notes he didn’t see fit to talk about it to ‘be a good teammate’.
Looking back, he admits he should have tried to warn Skaggs to limit his drinking. He also added that he shared Percocet (a strong painkiller he got from a ‘hockey player’) with Skaggs and came very close to consuming the day of his death. Skaggs, but threw away his entire stock upon hearing the news.
Context: Before Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died of an overdose in 2019, he texted then-teammate Matt Harvey asking him to put drugs in his locker.
(A former Angels PR director is charged with supplying Skaggs with illegal meds. Harvey is now testifying in case.) https://t.co/KAHoCLV2EB—Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) February 15, 2022
It should also be noted that Harvey, along with Cam Bedrosian, CJ Cron and Mike Morin, all said they knew that Eric Kay was distributing opioids to players. They didn’t all use his services, but they were well aware of what was going on.
This is truly a heartbreaking story, and I sincerely hope that the Skaggs case will be the last of its kind. The culture of painkiller use in sport is far too present to stop overnight, I’m aware of that, but we have to make sure it doesn’t cost the lives of other athletes as much as possible.
