Josh Hancock's Accident Was His Second of the Week

Earlier this morning we relayed the story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Josh Hancock was seen drinking heavily at a local St. Louis restaurant hours before getting into a fatal car accident early Sunday morning. That story was soon pulled off the P-D's servers, and then later re-published with even more info -- such as the fact that Hancock's accident on Sunday was actually his second in three days. From the Post-Dispatch:

Three days earlier, Hancock had a close call when his vehicle edged several inches into the intersection of Yellow Brick Road and Illinois Route 3. A Sauget police spokesman said Monday that a tractor-trailer struck Hancock's GMC Denali, tearing off the vehicle's front bumper. "Just another inch or so and he could have died two days earlier, because that tractor-trailer was traveling about 45 to 50 miles per hour," according to Sauget Police Chief Patrick Delaney.

It seems news of this first accident, which occurred at 5:30 a.m., was slow to surface since there were no tickets issued. But should there have been? According to witnesses, Hancock was overheard telling Dave Campbell, who does radio for ESPN, that he was fined $500 by Tony La Russa after showing up to Thursday's day game too hungover to pitch. Campbell, however, denies that Hancock made such an admission:

Campbell, reached late Monday, said, "I was standing there minding my own business. A kid named Josh Hancock introduced himself to me. I've never met him before in my life. ... A couple people at ESPN (asked me), 'Did you think he was inebriated?' In my opinion, I couldn't tell. I'm not a toxicologist. ...

"As to the statement somebody made that he told me something about Tony La Russa, all I can say that is absolutely 100 percent false. If he said it, I didn't hear it either through the noise or because I wasn't paying attention."

Does Campbell sound defensive to you? And does he sound like he's trying to distance himself from the situation? Because that's the impression I got. He also went on to explain that he didn't come forward when the news of Hancock's death first broke because "I'm not that type of journalist. ... I did not want the family to suffer any more, so I didn't want the fact to be known I was having a drink with him."

La Russa also refused to verify whether Hancock was hungover:

La Russa declined to say Monday whether he had knowledge of Hancock's Thursday accident. "That's not a baseball-related question so I don't think I'll answer it."

In fact, it seems La Russa would rather wash his hands of answering any questions by the media:

La Russa seemed to fire a pre-emptive shot at the media Monday. He said he told his club to be leery of the media seeking to exploit events. "I also had a very important caution: Be careful of the insincerity of some media people ... trying to befriend you then try to slam you with something that they want to turn this into, some kind of story that's not all sweet," La Russa said. "I've already seen signs of that. I'm sitting here listening. The first time I hear insincerity I'll start swinging this fungo because it doesn't have its place."

La Russa is obviously going through an extremely difficult time right now, but is the media the enemy right now? Or is he simply angry with himself for having seen the warning signs of Hancock's drinking problem? In reality he can't be held accountable for Hancock's actions, but that's certainly no consolation to a man who just lost a friend.

Previously at the Fanhouse:
Witnesses Report Josh Hancock Was Drinking Heavily
The Cardinals and Their Fans Honor Josh Hancock
Cardinals Reliever Josh Hancock Killed in Car Wreck