The Case of the Broken Baseball Player | Tyler Skaggs | Signal 51 Chronicles

This is the Signal 51 Chronicles, the tragic case of the broken baseball player. I'm John Henry with my compadre here to the left. Jake White, retired police sergeant at Fort Worth Police Department. We come to you from Fort Worth, Texas. We come from an undisclosed location because well, I mean, Jake, after that Bronx thing, everybody wants a piece of us now. I know. I know. We hit it. Did you have a good time over there? Because y'all are awesome. I did. It was fun. Yeah. We need to do another one. We need to get some other people on board to get us out there. I haven't seen that busy a happy hour in I know. Ages. I know. We gotta get some of those more some more of those going. Yeah. Yeah. It was fun. Bronx on the side in the in the in the stockyards, in the four stockyards, had a Mike Reiner show out there, and we joined him for a few segments. That food was phenomenal. Was don't know had any. Yeah, had to buy it a couple bites. It was really good. Yes, I liked it. And the beer was cold. I'll be going back. Which is always important. Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. Now, we've got a baseball case today and earlier in the week, I got a text message from you saying, hey, I've got a dollar says No. The royals will sweep the Texas rangers. Correct. I did say that. Did you did you not bet me a dollar? No. I was I said I was not going to wager. Oh, okay. Because every time I do Oh, they they flap fires. So I figured this time I wouldn't. Yeah. So backfired. And I told you there's no way I'm betting on the rangers. Yeah. You did. Rangers. I mean, in four they're two terrible teams this year. I yeah. Rangers Rangers could Two not good teams. I don't know what's a terrible Yeah. Not not good. Yeah. No one had well, no one can hit anyway. This is a new kick you're on with this. Nobody can hit thing. No. I'm I've been on it for years. Well, you okay. You have been on it for years, but this year, there's a little more passion with Because it's gotten worse. That's gotten worse. That all agree with. I mean, last game I went to, it is the I mean, they're fun to you know, it is the home runner strikeout. That's about it. I don't know. I think as you said earlier, Michael Young would be an MVP if he were playing today. I tell you, he'd be fanny. Yeah. He'd be the best player in the league. Yeah. You might be right. But chicks dig the long ball, so I'm blaming that I'm I'm blaming analytics and chicks on ruining baseball. Okay. I got a hot opinion right there. K. Alright. We got the colonial also this week. I was out there yesterday. It's it's warm. Out there sweating. Yeah. Of course, I've got access to the indoors. So See, that's the only time I'll go is if I have access indoors. Otherwise, I don't go. Because I really don't know anything about golf anyway. Oh, golf's great. Golf's a lot of fun. Ashley. Sup, guys? Our fantastic producer on the other side of us. Did you have fun at Bronx? You looked like you were working very hard. Yeah. Had so much fun, y'all. You were you were you were doing all the work there. Yeah. We just got No. It was fun. Yo. It was a good it was a good show. I think that everybody really enjoyed it and Bronx was happy and I think we made some really good connections with some new people along the way too. Yeah. So I think that from that aspect, it was a very y'all were the headliners. Come on now. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Star of that show. Let me tell you. I thought so. We got some fine tuning to do on those. Now that we kinda know the setup and know what we're doing. Talking to the mic, Jake. Sorry. I'm in an uncomfortable angle here. It is kinda weird. Yeah. This is what I get for moving y'all downstairs. Oh, we don't wanna bring all At our undisclosed location. At our undisclosed location. Ashley was really worth it. Ashley was lazy today. The way. It is. I'll give you that. It's a beautiful property. Yeah. That's nice. But the stairs really suck. Yeah. Yeah. Get an elevator in here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh. Or we get like what freight? One of those freight. Yeah, like those old pulley things. Yeah. See now, that would make life easier. We're we're referring to the fact that my equipment weighs a thousand pounds. Yeah. And that's not an exact And we just didn't feel like lugging it up the stairs today. No. No. I like it down here though. It's very bright. It is bright. It is bright. Well, we did have a great time at Bronx the other day, and we'd love to come back. Know, I'm working on this story. I I don't know if you all know, but I I do. I write for the fourth magazine. I'm working on a story on on 1936. Kind of a consequential year here. I'm not gonna give away the storyline, but so in my research, I found a couple of cases. Found a few cases, actually. We're gonna work on one of those. Stolen water media is making a move. After two plus years, it's time to change and keep up with our growth. You can continue to view all eight of our podcasts on our Patreon pages. But now you can get all episodes at stolenwatermedia.com. That's right. All Stolen Water Media productions, Your Dark Companion, Just Wondering with Norm Hitskas, Al Maximo, Beer thirty Sports O'clock, The Clubhouse Podcast, Ingle Angle, Signal 51 Chronicles, and Sunset Soccer Club are all available on our website. It is a developing story, but you can begin consuming all of our content now at stolenwatermedia.com. Continue to find all audio wherever you find your favorite podcasts and some places you've never heard of. And of course, we are available on YouTube. You all continue to support us in our success. We feel and appreciate the love. As always, please rate us and leave a review wherever you follow us. Share us on social media and recommend us to your family and friends. Thank you. So for the blotter this week, let's go to 1936, Fort Worth, Texas 1936. Okay. And we're gonna go to a criminal district court which on January 15. It's a criminal district court in Tarrant County, which on January 14, pardon me, convicted missus Estelle Crum. Now, Jake, if this gets a little too close for too close to home, you just let me know. Convicted missus Estelle Crum of kidnapping her husband, Harvey Crum, and imposed as punishment a five year sentence in the Texas penitentiary. Harvey Crum had testified that he was held prisoner, tied to his bed, while being whipped whipped. Oh my god. With all due respect, mister Crumb, I know this must have been must have been a terrible experience for him for you. Anyway, he was tied to his bed while being whipped and threatened until he signed a quitclaim deed to certain to certain property. Oh, he signed that deed. Wait. He signed that quit claim deed. I'm sure he did. So Mrs. Crum was seeking a new trial and she had been at quote liberty on bond. They wrote better in 1936. But, missus Crum had been charged on a new Texas kidnapping statute, which provided a penalty ranging from death down to a prison sentence of no less than five years. The jury was also charged that mere presence of a person at the time and place of commission of an offense does not render that person a principal. Such a person, the court said, would not be a principal without acting with others in commission or aiding by acts and encouraging by words or gestures. That came into that was relevant, because four other persons were under indictments in the same kidnapping case. They were all, apparently, female friends of Mrs. Crum. Missus Maureen Hyde, missus Milton Adams, missus Billy Farrish, and missus Celeste Adams. Jake, have you ever, now I know that you've been under threat of death by your beloved. It's that time. I have not been under threat of death. I had that I have not been. This does this is one of my absolute favorite things to see. You know when you got a buddy and he's just getting the business end of an ass chewing from his wife, dude? That is one of the funniest things to watch. Unless you're there. Yeah. It's not good being on the other end of it, but if you're the outside observer, there is nothing more comical than that, dude. Just watching the beat down guy like, you know, just constantly trying to make excuses. The the facial expressions are my favorite, man. I love watching that. You bet you well, you you missed it at our favorite bar a few weeks ago, you know? Oh, I've, yeah, I missed that one big time. My phone, I I leave for ten minutes and miss the most one, probably one of the most iconic ones of all time. It was good one. So iconic. My wife even calls and she's like, oh, you missed it. And I'm like, oh. It is funny. Well, off to prison, old missus Crum went. Yeah. Well, you know, I need to follow-up on this because, you know, she she was seeking a new trial. Maybe she got one, whatever, but I don't think she did. So, yeah, think she she went off to to prison for five years for kidnapping and whipping her husband. A little bit earlier in the month of January 1936, police had a question. Where did two did where did two Mexicans get this is this is a news story in the four star telegram. Where did two Mexicans get $6,200 and $20 bills? What were they doing so far from the border in case they are they were political refugees? And why were they throwing the spotlight of their new automobile on the storefronts of Alston And Terrell Streets at 2AM Tuesday? Did you ask all those questions, Jake, while you were on radio car officers? K. What are radio car officers? Are those patrol officers? Yeah. Well, it would have been when the radios in the car were new. K. I assume. I don't know. So the Hispanic fellows that the police ran into gave their names as Fidel Faz Garza, 46, and Roberto Pinera, 31. Mr. Pinera had a pistol in his pocket and was charged with carrying a weapon. The police headed over to the Reverend G. A. Wall, head of the Presbyterian Mission, serving refugee Mexicans. The two said they had come from Mexico City and were en route to Eagle Pass when they had gotten lost and finally decided while they were so far from the Rio Grande, they might as well have a look at the whole state. They refused, by the way, to say anything about the money that they were carrying. Six stacks of $20 bills and a small roll containing $200. Except that it was their money. They engaged a lawyer who finally announced they plan to settle in The United States. They liked it here. They decided after touring the state of Texas, they liked it here and their passports by the way were in order. So the next day, January 9 editions of the, Dallas Morning News, Paracotte and Fort Worth with cash held an embezzlement. The two fellows arrested in Fort Worth early Tuesday, the story goes on, in possession of $6,200 and then released on a writ of habeas corpus were rearrested Wednesday on a warrant from Laredo, Texas. The warrant charged Mr. Garza and Mr. Pinera with embezzlement of $9,000. They were allegedly former employees of fast Fausto Trevino customs agent for the National Lines of Mexico in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. And then on January 11, we find out that misters Garza and Pinera charged with embezzling $9,000 from the customs agency of the National Railways of Mexico surrendered Friday to John A. Valls district attorney. Valls promised the men and their attorney Carl Mays of Fort Worth that their examining trial would be held as soon as possible, probably Sunday or Monday. A Sunday? That's what I said. It turns out that Mr. Garza and Mr. Pinera were a former cashier and accountant of the customs agency when they were jailed, then they had access to $9,000 Mexican railway authorities were notified at once of the surrender of the men who drove here from Fort Worth with their attorney. They were shipped back to Mexico to face charges of this investment trial. That's the last we heard. Interesting. God knows what happened to them. The equivalent of 148,000. I was about to ask what that $148,000. That's a good chunk of change. Yeah. Good chunk of change there. It's enough to take a trip around the state. Just see what's up. All right. Well, today we go to the realm of professional sports, professional athletes, and specifically Major League Baseball. It's the tragic death of two thousand and what year was this? 2019. 2019, so right before the world fell apart with COVID-nineteen, we get the tragic death of Tyler Skaggs, Anaheim Angels baseball pitcher. Now baseball has a mixed history with drugs. Yes. When I was growing up, it was quite widespread. Major League Baseball pitchers, not pitchers, players, dabbling in the fun stuff. Of course, it's baseball lore that they had the greenies just sitting in the middle of the clubhouse. You picked them up and can you tell us what greenies were? There's some sort of methamphetamine, some sort of Yeah. Kind of methamphetamine that was legal. Mhmm. And players used them because of of the boost of energy, the, you know, it's a difficult schedule to play in Major League Baseball. That stuff's gotta be terrible for a ADD guy like me. Instead of going down like a 100 rabbit holes and getting nothing done, I'd go down like a thousand and get nothing done. And get chewed out by your blood Yeah. At the same time, just get yeah. Oh, man. It'd be bad for me, man. So so one of the most notable of of baseball's brush with with, illegal drugs was was the Pittsburgh drug trials of 1985. It's often remembered as the Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh pirate scandal. But they weren't the only ones by far. Mean, well, that just merely exposed the cocaine culture that reached across MLB during the late 70s and early 80s. That investigation began when federal authorities targeted a cocaine distribution network in Western Pennsylvania. And at the center of it was a guy named Curtis Strong, who was a former clubhouse employee of the Pittsburgh Pirates who was accused of supplying cocaine to ball players. To build their case, prosecutors granted immunity to numerous players who testified about their drug use and purchases. What emerged shocked baseball fans. Players described a clubhouse culture in which cocaine was readily available, particularly during the late 1970s and early 1980s. And testimony implicated players from several organizations, not just Pittsburgh. Now I believe it was also Pittsburgh that Doc Ellis threw his perfect game wall on LSD. Correct. Yes. I just read about that. That was in 1972 or something. Yeah. '3, early 70s. Well, any rate, back to this, the Pirates were hit hardest because several current and former players testified, including star outfielder Dave Parker, who admitted using cocaine and described introducing teammates to dealers. Other Pirates connected to the testimony included Dale Barra, son of hall of famer Yogi Barra and several former teammates. Now have you ever heard of the story about Del Barra desecrating the Alamo? No. No. He got drunk one night in San Antonio and took a piss on the Alamo, Got arrested and thrown to jail for public intoxication whenever else. Now, no telling what else he was It should be a felony in Texas, man. I don't know. I don't know. Good god. Anyway, this scandal, of course, spread across spread well beyond Pittsburgh, including your Kansas City Royals who were among the most who had among the most prominent players implicated. Vita Blue. Vita Blue. Yep. Remember that. Willie Wilson, Jerry Martin, Willie Mays Akins Mhmm. Had already pleaded guilty 1983 to misdemeanor charges stemming from a separate cocaine investigation in Kansas City. And though it says they avoided, my research says they avoided prison time, I recall very vividly that Willie Wilson and maybe somebody else, maybe Willie Mays Akins, force federal prison for a little while on that charge. Anyway, the testimony from that investigation ensnared stars from a bunch of franchises. Tim Raines admitted using cocaine. Rock Raines did? Yeah. I didn't know that. Oh yeah. Keith Hernandez, you remember him? Yeah, knew he did. I knew he was wrapped up. He acknowledged cocaine use. I don't remember Lee Mazzili admitting it, but Jeffrey Leonard, the Giants, and many others testified under immunity agreements. So these revelations came at a particularly bad time for baseball. Cocaine had become a national concern, it was everywhere. And the testimony painted a picture of a sport in which drug use was common enough to be discussed casually among some players. Newspapers ran daily stories from the courtroom and the sports reputation suffered significantly. Now Jake White, retired sergeant of the narc unit in the Fort Worth PD, is cocaine nearly as widespread today as it was forty years ago? No, right now, I think real quick, side note. You are correct, Willie Wilson. I did not know this. I don't wanna call him a childhood hero, but I was a childhood fan. No George Brett. Yeah. Yeah. He was no George Brett. I'll give you that. But he did in fact serve eighty one days at the at FCI here in Fort Worth. Yeah. Yeah. I thought he did. I didn't know that. Yeah. So the cocaine thing it is it around? Sure. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Still it exists. I mean, it's nothing like if you go back to the early two thousands, crack was 100% the most common form of dope that was out there. Now, no, it's not anywhere near as common. Meth and fentanyl is And of course meth and fentanyl, it seems to me, has far greater consequences than like cocaine to me, it seems like it's kind of a party drug, you know? Yeah, for the most part, yeah. Like X used to be. Right. You know, people would be popping X just to get some wild ass. Those are some What's that? Like in the eighties, they would have No. Was all legal. You could buy it behind a bar. Mhmm. No. Yeah. But it's not anywhere near as prevalent in my understanding and and definitely in my experience as it once was. Yeah. Right. I mean, it's kind of a hat, I mean, gotta smuggle it, you know, I mean, it's not produced here, there's no way of producing it here. Yeah. You know, so I think it's And there's other stuff that can be produced here. It's easier to get here. Yeah. Well, anyway, this all ended in 1985 when Peter Ubaroth handed down one year suspensions to 11 players. That was a pretty good year if I'm not Right? In '85, that was a pretty good year. They beat the Cardinals. The Royals beat the Cardinals, yeah. And you're gonna give the technicality. Yeah, we know about Don Dinginger. We know all about that. Anyway, rather than immediately removing them from baseball, he allowed the suspensions to be suspended on condition that the players submit to drug testing, remain drug free, and perform hundreds of hours of community service speaking to young people about the dangers of drug abuse. So in other words, they got their wrists slapped. But that scandal ultimately became a turning point. While the Pittsburgh trials did not reveal every instance of drug use in baseball, they exposed enough to force the sport to confront a league wide cocaine problem. The pirates became the public face of the controversy, but the testimony made clear that the issues stretched from Pittsburgh to Kansas City and throughout the major leagues. So as we were just discussing, well cocaine, I'm certain that it's still around Major League Baseball and elsewhere, players started relying and becoming addicted to probably more powerful stuff like pills, OxyContin and other stuff, fentanyl. And that brings us to 2019 and the ballpark, well, I still call it the ballpark in Arlington, I guess it was Globe Life Stadium at the time. The Angels were in town for a series, I believe it was a weekend series, if I'm not mistaken. Can't remember. I was actually out there when this happened. They were in town playing the Rangers on a three game series and a 911 call comes in from Yep. July To South Lake Police. Yep. 07/01/2019, Southlake, Texas. For the listeners, affluent area, an affluent part of our metroplex. It is very affluent up there. Yeah. And that and there so they received the 911 call to the Southlake Town Square Hilton. The Hilton at okay. Alright. The and we we may do this story at a later date, but there's been another there was a high profile crime at in the South Lake Town Square, I don't know, five or six years prior to this. Yeah. When police arrived to the South Lake Town Square Hilton, they found the body of 27 year old Tyler Skaggs deceased in his hotel room. They're here coming to Texas, so they've got their series with the Rangers. They go to Houston next. So they were here in they were in Texas five weeks. The Texas swing. Yep. The Texas swing. When they go in, like I said, the deceased body of Tyler Skaggs donned in western themed attire, jeans, boots, buckle. He'd gone out doing some Texas two stepping, shit kicking probably maybe. Well, we'll we'll we'll get to that. We're gonna get to that. That actually ties into something. No forced entry in the room. No sign of a struggle. Just deceased body and a bunch of questions. Let's talk about Tyler Skaggs first, find figure out who this guy is. So he was born on 07/13/1991 in Woodland Hills, California. Tyler grew up in a sports family. His mom, Debbie, was the head softball coach at Santa Monica High School. His father Darnell was a baseball player in high school, and his stepfather Dan played in college. While in high school, Skaggs was a baseball standout. He was a star for his team. He was named the Ocean League Player of the Year in 2008, The Santa Monica School District athletic director said Skaggs was the best player to come out of Santa Monica Santa Monica High School since Tim Leary. I believe he might have swimmed through many of teams, but the Expos was one of them if I'm not mistaken. I recall the name. Skaggs baseball skill, talent, stardom, if you will, earns him a scholarship to play at Cal State Fullerton. Great baseball tradition. Great baseball tradition. But Skaggs like many enters the two thousand and nine MLB draft. Look this up. There's fifteen twenty one draft spots, at least in the February. I don't know if that's increased, shrunk, I don't know for sure. This class, it was pretty stacked. You got some big names, some guys that are still playing. One, without question, 11 time all star, future hall of famer, teammate, and friend of SKAGGS, Mike Trout. Yep. You've got He turned out pretty good. He turned out pretty good. You got Paul, Paul Goldschmidt. He's Yeah. Solid. Good career. Good career. Nolan Arenado, another Yeah. Dang good career. He's bounced around, but he's had a definitely had a solid career. To put it in perspective of how highly regarded Skaggs was in this draft, he was the number fortieth pick. So he goes ahead of Goldschmidt and Arenado. Trout was the only one picked higher, and and the Trout was number 25. So his fortieth pick would have been in the second round. Second round. Yep. So gets picked number 40. And he's 18 years old. 18 years old. Yep. Dollars 1,000,000 signing bonus. So he puts the college plans on hold like many do. I would. I mean, you can't blame him. He needs to go to school if he doesn't accept a million dollars. Yeah. That's a that's a good way of looking at it. You may be right. Yeah. That's kinda stupid. He can go to school in the off season, I'm sure. So 2009 season not 1817, by the way. '18. Sorry. You're right. So 2009, 18 year old Tyler Skaggs pitches five five games in the Angels farm system, low low level rookie ball league. Yep. Pitched only 10 innings, wrapped up 13 strikeouts. So making some progress. 2010, Skaggs was promoted to the single a club known as the Cedar Rapids Colonels. Eyre. Yes. Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Colonels is a appropriate name, I I think. I don't know if you've ever been to Iowa, but there's a lot of corps. No. I've never been invited there. There's a lot. Oh, you're not talking about, like, current colonel Klink or colonel No. Sanders. No. You're talking about, like, corn K e r m e l s. Corn kernel. Yes. So it was here, Cedar Rapids. Skaggs group became buddies with Mike Trout. Like I said, future hall of famer for sure. I didn't know that. I didn't know that. I didn't know that Trout played in Cedar Rapids. Yeah. Yeah. That's was part of the the path. Right. Pharmacist path. However, year later, two and or I'm sorry. In the same year, 2010, Skaggs gets traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Skaggs played minor league ball in the Diamondbacks system until 2012. Finally, on 08/22/2012, Skaggs gets the call. You see those videos where the you know, now they always record them. The minor league manager brings the player in. Hey. How's the arm feeling? You ready? Okay. Well, you're gonna be pitching in Baltimore tomorrow or whatever. Some fit yeah. Some some ruse to get him in there. Yep. Yeah. So Skaggs makes it 08/22/2012. He finishes out that 2012 season with a one and three record. I don't know how solid the Diamondbacks were back then. I don't think they were incredibly strong. 2013 season gets here. Skaggs still pitching for Arizona. But in December 2013, Skaggs gets traded back to the Angels. I believe it was a trade involving Dan Heron. I don't remember if that was the first trade or the second trade, but at some point, Skaggs and a cadre of players were traded for Dan Heron and a few other players. There's a problem, though, in Scagg's life during this 2013 season. You know, the the grind, if you will Yeah. Of pitching professional baseball and pitching your entire life, injuries happen. You know? Pain aches and pains happen, and these guys are gonna try to mask that the best they can. You know, especially when you're early in your career like this, you don't wanna you don't wanna miss games. You don't wanna miss opportunities. Exactly. So Skaggs divulges to his mom, Debbie, that he had a he had an addiction. He was addicted to Percocet. Hetman, his mom's, married name, and, like, this is a quote from a ESPN article. Hetman explained how Skaggs came to her and Skaggs' stepfather following the 2013 season when Skaggs pitched in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization and told them he was addicted to Percocet. They worked with Skaggs to see doctors and a psychiatrist with experience in addiction. She described her son taking drug tests, part of his medical plan, and assisted upon by his mother. As late as the following summer to make sure he was staying clean. By then, he had been traded to the angels. Hetman believed her son was okay following the 2013 admission because he looked more like himself than the very sullen and lost person she saw after the 2013 season. So in short, he divulges this addiction. They get help. He gets clean. The way it was described, it's not wasn't like an inpatient type treatment. Like I said, I think just through doctors, through psychiatrists, things like that. He gets clean. So 2014 season gets here. In this season, Skaggs pitches 18 games. He's starting starting roster or or rotation, I should say. Yeah. Starting rotation. Season's going okay for for Skaggs. He's, you know, mediocre, and that's gonna be a theme that we're gonna get to as well. However, on 07/31/2014, his season came to an end. Pitching in the top of the fifth inning, Skaggs tore his UCL in his left elbow. The injury we hear about All the time. All the time. Major League pitchers. Major League pitchers. It's almost gonna better than fifty fifty fifty fifty chance this is gonna happen to you. Yep. On 08/13/2014, Skaggs has the infamous Tommy John procedure. Ligament replacement surgery. Ligament replacement surgery, indeed. Surgery was performed by a Doctor. Neil L. Atrache. I may be butchering that name. Got me. An eighteen month recovery on the way for Skaggs following that surgery. But what comes with recovery is pain meds. Pain meds. Yeah. That same ESPN article, Skaggs' mother Giving a guy who already has Well, that's what yeah. An addiction. Skaggs' mother, and that that article said, quote, Hetman, quote, said she spoke with doctor Neil L. Atrache, who performed Skaggs' Tommy John surgery in 2014 about her son's Percocet issue and that she wanted them to prescribe different painkillers for him. She also told Skaggs' agent and had an in passing conversation with his then girlfriend Carly about it. The thing again, the surgery, the pain, that's what they all that's what always seems to be prescribed. Right? I think they were probably unavoidable in this case. The opioid based medication may have been I'm not a doctor. I don't know. But here we are, right? So I don't know if you have ever been doctor to where they've tried to prescribe you an opioid based medication? I have actually. I believe this was recently. Maybe not. With me? Yeah, when you had your razor blade sore throat. Oh, when I had the cicada variant of the COVID vaccine? I mean, COVID. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. They no. Actually, he did not. I I thought he as you know, I do a lot of diagnosing. A lot of times, I'm correct, and you've got to admit this. I this is had to be been circa 2021, the Omnicron variant Right. Right. Struck. Right. I didn't know what it was. I all I know is I had the worst sore throat I ever had in my life. And I go to my doctor, and he's out with the Omnicron Mhmm. Or whatever it was. Yeah. So there's another doctor in his place. This guy is an older guy, mid seventies, fit, lively, full of energy. I walk in. He's like, what's going on? I said, have a really bad sore throat and I can't sleep. Normally, would fight through this, but it's going on for three days, and I'm pretty sure there's something you can give me to cure this misery. Well, that's exactly what I was hoping. Hoping. Well, that's partially when I knew you were screwed. So he says Well, was convinced it was like, you know, strep or something because it was so bad. It was a razor blade sore throat, just like they described the cicada variant. Yes. So anyway, yeah, I went to the doctor and he said, well, you don't have strep. You have a virus of some kind. Well, I'm glad it cleared up. Mine, instead of saying suck it up and you have you have COVID, says, well, I can give you something, but you've gotta be careful. It's going to make you loopy. Yeah. And I said, what do you mean I have to be careful and it's going to make me loopy? He goes, It's promethazine with codeine, aka the drink. That's what it's a pop highly You mean the purple drink? Purple drink. Yeah. It's highly abused on the streets. Mhmm. Promethazine with codeine. Opioid based. And I said, I don't think that's a good idea. And I'm not going to take that. And I got up and left. Well, I tried to get up and leave, but then they treated me like like I was they they escorted me out. You were you had you were you had, like, a a a, you know, leprosy or something. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm walking out, and they're like, oh, no. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Follow me. I go out a back door, like around, I was like, do I need to sign out or anything? They're like, nope. You're good. Just No one no one wants your cooties. No one wants them. And I get this. I get this. But the whole point is, and and and this is the theme of this, The dude had a problem big time and now he's an MLB player. We'll get to in short, he's a functional addict. Yeah. Right? Right. I don't know that Once an addict, always an addict. Right? Is that what the Mhmm. What they say? But the the Tommy John hits at the worst time. Right? Even look. I hope he was clean after that Percocet addiction was disclosed. I hope that he was. And he he probably you know, I mean, by all accounts, he was. But he gets that surgery. The first thing they're gonna give him is that demon that he has. Right? He could be as strong as he wanted to, but I guarantee he's like, wow. I mean, the doctor's prescribing it. I better take this. Medical professional. He's he's he's the professional here. Now, you and I have you and I have a difference of opinions on medical professionals, but anyway. We'll get to that too. Go ahead. So, Skaggs finishes this eighteen month recovery after his Tommy John surgery. The injury happened July 3134. He returns to the mound almost two years to the date. July 2636. Over the next few seasons, he's mediocre at best. Almost we we looked it up. A a four forty one. Right? A career four forty one. Yeah. Yeah. A career four forty one. You know, just almost the perfect 500, if you will. Wins, losses. His his war was good. Right? His war was 3.6. Yeah. So was he mediocre because of skill and a lack thereof or mediocre because he's a functional opioid addict? Who's to say? Well There's a lot of people who are mediocre in big leagues. It's the big leagues after all. Brad Osmus, maybe you know the name. Yeah, I do. Manager. Yeah. At the time, Skaggs' manager. This is the day of his death. You you may have been at the same venue. This is at Globe Life Field. Yeah. I was there. When he says, quote, I told Skagzy I thought he could be an all star. I still think he can. The more I'm around him or the more I was around him, he was just a happy person. He got the type of personality that draws others in. Like I said, he's goofy in a very funny way. This road trip to Dallas, he comes up to me four or five days before and said, hey. We're going to Texas for two series for two series. Do you care if we all dress up in western gear or cowboy gear? So he kinda spearheaded that. That's the one that's one of the last pictures we had we have of Skagsy was with his teammates all dressed up in cowboy gear. And the last image I have of him is standing on the plane with his awful cowboy shirt playing cards. So manager says, hey. I I think you can be an all star. Right? I think, you know, to me, that would be an ode that he has talent. We don't know what what was going on behind the scenes in the now the the criminal trial and the civil trial that just wrapped up, we're not gonna get too much into the civil trial just wrapped up at the end of this year or at the end of twenty five, though. Because the one thing about an addict, right, is that they're always in disguise. They're always trying to hide whatever ails them. Yeah. Yeah. And especially with this stuff. Yeah. So we're gonna fast forward back to 07/01/2019. Like I said, unfortunately, a a 500 record more or less at this point. Nothing material. You know, he's not an all star. He's not really a high caliber. He's not a name that, you know, a baseball fan in Texas may know of even. Unfortunate. Going back to the hotel room where this all began. There's not much evidence in there, probably to the untrained eye. Inside Skaggs' hotel room, investigators discovered a number of pills, including a single blue pill with the marking of m 30. An analysis of the pill, which closely resembles a thirty milligram oxycodone tab, was tested later and revealed that it had the powerful synthetic opiate opiate fentanyl. Fentanyl. The devil. The devil of all devils. At this time, in 2019 in North Texas, it certainly was that. Yeah. We were North Texas was kinda late to the fentanyl party, if you will. Right? Like, it had surfaced in, you know, New England and other parts of the country sooner than it did here for whatever reason. I don't know. So hold on here. We probably ought to cut it right here, but before we do, or maybe we want to take this into the next episode, Give us, from your professional perspective, a lesson on fentanyl. Where does it come from? Is it imported from the South? Is it manufactured here? Is it both? What is it? Why is it so popular? So I'll tell you just because it's dangerous as hell. Yeah. I mean No? Yeah. I mean, it is. Don't get me wrong. I mean I saw something not too long ago where more fentanyl was actually created in The United States than, like, we give it credit for. Like, we do this bit. We talk about all the time how it's imported from other countries, but that there's a lot more of it here than, like, we even understand that gets put into our, like, recreational, like, hard drugs. Like, it's it's kinda crazy. Because and then and then some guys are cutting cutting it into cocaine, and it's killing these people. They're cutting it into a lot of things. Yeah. Like, the patches. It means a part of more fentanyl's in morphine. Yeah. I think that's changing, What you're describing so it's a it's a synthetic opioid. Uh-huh. Okay. So I don't know. I can only speak to what I knew. It was brand new on the scene when I left. So I my knowledge my actual in the field knowledge of it is minimal. Right? We did not come across it very often at all, and then it it's exploded here in the last few years. Absolutely exploded. It is without question the most commonly recovered drug by the police, the most commonly drug or the most common drug associated with overdose deaths in Fort Worth. Now there's a whole lot of other things, and you know how I get off on these tangents, but again it is the most commonly recovered drug, the most common drug that's associated with overdose deaths without question. And that's because it's easily accessible? Is yeah, it it's cheap. Everywhere. Cheap. It's a fantastic, you know, like an opioid, it's a fantastic. I mean, I sent you that picture just mere blocks from here. I've never seen that before, but yeah, here on the bus stop. Yeah, we're going to see that pop up everywhere. The fentanyl fold is what he's talking about. Yeah. Where they were slumped over on the bench. They're slumped. Yeah. I know it. Yeah. Motionless. Right. They they looked like they're dead. Yeah. They did. But it it's everywhere. Right? So but going back to 2019, it was the the most feared. Now it was concealed though in 2019. Right? These blue m thirties, those were we used to recover those all the time. The real ones. Right? The real oxycodone. Those were very common that we would get those. But what started to pop up was counterfeit ones that were all fentanyl or partially fentanyl, I should say, probably a better descriptor. And that's how that's how fentanyl was being distributed here. Now it could be different in other parts of the country. I mean, you know, different geography has different trends to a certain degree. Right? But on on a a reputable account or resource, I they're not even seeing the the the counterfeit pills here now. It's all a powdered fentanyl just sold in little pieces of aluminum foil. Snort it or smoke it. Wow. Just, I'll say straight fentanyl. It's got some kind of cutting agent in it, I'm sure, because they want to extend Right. Their investment. Beans in that chili. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So definitely a different definitely a different animal than than now. You know, I I I would be surprised that if investigators thought that the blue M30s in Skaggs' room had fentanyl in them. Like I said, that was brand new back then. They probably just thought, Hey, it's an M30. He did consume based on his autopsy, which we'll get to. I mean, he definitely had his BAC was around 0.12. So if you're going to apply it to a driving standard, little bit higher than the one Yeah, 100 a little bit higher. I don't think they would've would've would've thought back then that that's what that that blue m 30 had fentanyl in it. You know, we're also talking Southlake is, you know, it's in the middle. Mean, I it's probably, like, smack dab in the middle of DFW. Mhmm. Right? But it's a smaller, you know, I don't know, forty, fifty thousand population. You know, the furthest thing from a high crime rate, I'm sure. Yeah. It's one Sure. Probably one of the safest places and one of the most expensive places in North Texas to live in. Mhmm. So do their in investigators have in-depth knowledge in in dealing with this? Thirty one thirty one thousand. 31,000. Right? So they're they're police department small. They're they're good by all accounts. I'm just saying that, you know, this is a high profile case. This is a professional baseball player in town to play the freaking Texas Rangers. Right? Yep. So, obviously, DEA wants to now get a piece of this, and they do. And so they respond as well once they get wind of it because they're they're they're more common now, but the overdose deaths back overdose overdose deaths back then, nothing was really ever done with them unless I mean, in Tarrant County, T Boone Pickens grandson, there was consequence in that because it's T Boone Pickens If your average middle class person and you died of a heroin overdose back put you in the ground and that's the end of it. That's it. Yeah. And no knock on the investigators. It just was not commonplace back then. I don't even think I mean, trying to prove that in a trial would have been difficult back then. They have some legislation now that certainly makes it easier. The Do recall ever in your career at Fort Worth that they ever pursued criminal charges on a dealer? We actually, and we'll do this story at some point, we did. Now we didn't do it through the state though, we did it through the feds. Building those conspiracy style cases were much, I don't say easier, but they had more weight. Because we had a, we had an overdose epidemic like a half a mile from where we're at right now in 2013, where there were six heroin overdoses, all within a three month period, all tied to the same group of dope dealers. Right? So we did that. But with this one, some information I did get was they go out there. I mean, it's a big hotel. A nice hotel. I've driven by it. I've seen it. On the one or two times I've been to South Lake Town Square, there's nothing that really ever takes me out there. Shopping. Yeah, I know you like to shop. No. I own seven shirts and five pairs of pants. That's actually I do not like to. I hate it. But I did get one. I did. It's funny you said that. Wear the same kind of pants, and they're from one of the retailers up in Southlake Town Square, and so they have That's where you buy them. Yeah. So but I buy them in bulk. So bougie. Jake White is so bougie. I wear them for years. Just a little bit. He wears $250 pants for years. Should wear them. They're not $250 I know they're not. $2.50 per leg. Per leg, It's a nice area. It is. Alright, they go up there. He cut us off real quick, Ashley. My logic would be, and much like their logic was, well, we should be able to figure out who's gone in and out of his room. Yeah. I mean, every building you go into now there's cameras There's everywhere. Guess what? Not there. Not there. No cameras. No cameras or no camera footage is what the response was. Not for sure. Coincidence? I don't know. I mean, you The cynic the cynic in us says, I don't know. I mean, who knows what's going on? I'm not saying, I mean, I'm not trying to turn this into some nefarious conspiracy crazy thing at all. I mean, it is weird though. Yeah. I mean, where was Jack Ruby this night? You know? I knew you would spin it back to that. I knew somehow you would. Well, I mean, you know. So this initial team finds nothing. There no evidence to any additional evidence. Keep in mind, they're on the scene, they've collected the evidence, now the behind the scenes work, if you will, Right? So you're gonna get the drugs analyzed. You're gonna have your autopsy. You're gonna do the normal steps that that you would go through. This team gets turned or this case, though, gets turned over to a more specialized team for the DEA that handles these prescription drug based cases, if you will. Now 2019, cell phones are relatively the same as they are now. Tyler Skaggs had a cell phone. And when somebody passes away, you don't have expectation to privacy or privacy, right? So they go through Skaggs' cell phone and this is where the break happens. They find some text messages from the night prior from another person involved with the Angels baseball organization. Alright. So with that Let's let's let's let's call it a day. We're gonna call it a day because it gets even crazier. Yeah. Alright. So we'll continue the tragic case of the broken baseball player of California next week where we will be at our undisclosed location in Fort Worth, Texas. Make sure to, catch us on all the platforms. Ashley, you wanna tell us what those platforms are? Yes. So so now we have our website launched. It's stolenwatermedia.com. You can catch everything on the Sunset Lounge there. We also have anywhere that you view and or listen to podcast on Sunset Lunch DFW or the Signal 51 Chronicles, where we run all of our own stuff as well. Alright. That is it. Excellent. See you next week. This is a Stolen Water Media production.