Sunday, September 21

ST. LOUIS -- Even now, some 23 years after the shocking death of her father, former Cardinals’ pitcher Darryl Kile, Sierra Kile was floored at how welcoming the Busch Stadium crowd was for her special appearance on Friday and at how her father’s legacy lives on in St. Louis.

Sierra, who lives in Dallas and has worked with the Rangers, was flattered to be back in St. Louis in July at an event organized by Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, where she listened to the many stories about her dad from Cardinals teammates. Then, before going out to the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch to Cards legend Adam Wainwright -- who said Kile threw one of the sharpest-breaking curveballs he studied on his rise to the big leagues -- Sierra caught a glimpse of the DK 57 memorial that still hangs in the Cardinals' dugout.

“For me, it’s amazing, and it makes me wonder if I should just move to St. Louis,” she said. “It really shows what the St. Louis community is about. It’s been more than 20 years [since my father’s death], and I feel like I’m back home here. It’s like my dad was playing here a week ago. It’s always felt like a family here.”

Kile, a three-time All-Star who threw a no-hitter in 1993 and starred for the Astros, Rockies and Cardinals during his career (1991-02), died from coronary artery disease in 2022 while he and the Cards were in Chicago to face the Cubs. Kile, a 133-game winner who piled up 1,668 strikeouts, was just 33 years old and at the height of his career when he was found dead in his hotel room.

In Kile’s memory, the Cardinals have teamed with Merck and WomenHeart to launch a heart health educational program dubbed as “Playing with Heart.” The program aims to raise awareness of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in high-risk communities such as St. Louis.

“What people don’t know out there is that this thing called ASCVD is the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S., and it’s due to the LDL, which is the bad cholesterol,” U.S. Pharma at Merck cardiovascular leader Cris Regent said. “As you have that high LDL, you don’t feel anything, you don’t know it’s there and it’s symptomless. And then one day you do feel it, and you’ve had a heart attack or stroke. This is a perfect place to start this program to honor the legacy of Darryl, and [St. Louis] is a city at risk. There was a report from the St. Louis Department of Health in 2021 with data from 2018 that showed that 1 in 450 in St. Louis died from ASCVD. So, this is a great place to start the program.”

Sierra wants to raise awareness so others don’t have to endure the same sadness that her family did when her father died.

“We had to wait until the passing of my father, who was a professional athlete and someone who passed all his physicals, and he still had a major life event happen,” Sierra said of her family focusing on their heart health. “The main goal is to spread awareness, go to your doctor, know what your cholesterol looks like and get ahead of it so you don’t have to wait until a major life event happens.”

Having grown up in a military family and with a father who was often half a world away on deployments for various missions, Brendan Donovan is very familiar with the strains and struggles that loved ones must endure.

Every time he meets military veterans, Donovan not only listens to their stories and tries to figure out ways to help, but he also tells them how his father, U.S. Army Col. James (Jim) Donovan, had deployments to Lebanon, Iraq, Korea, Afghanistan and Germany while in command of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance duties and teaching soldiers adaptability techniques needed for combat readiness.

Donovan, the Cardinals' 2025 nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award for his work in the community, knows that those returning from making the ultimate sacrifices for the well-being of their country can often be overlooked and forgotten. Oftentimes, their struggles in readjusting to everyday life are difficult. Therefore, Donovan has made it a goal to work with local and national organizations, such as The Kaufman Fund, so that military veterans can receive the assistance and care they need after deployments.

“Unfortunately, that’s often the case where these soldiers come back and they are forgotten,” Donovan said. “We live in the best country in the world, and we have all of these incredible freedoms. I’m able to go and play a kid’s game for my job because of what guys like my dad, and men and women all around this city have done for our country. So, I think it’s so important to raise awareness about what they have done and what they are going through when they return.”

Donovan, who recently returned after missing 25 games with foot and groin soreness, has partnered with The Kaufman Fund, a Missouri-based outreach program started in 1990 by Vietnam War veteran Ralph Kaufman. It continued under his younger brother, Wayne Kaufman, a Bronze Star Medal recipient for his work in Vietnam.

The Kaufman Fund helps veterans find legal referrals, dental care, mental health services, chiropractic referrals, food services, Christmas tree programs and a Winter Warm-Up program, where veterans are given winter coats, hats and gloves to prepare for winter. The Kaufman Fund has helped thousands of in-need veterans in Missouri and Illinois in the 35 years the program has been functioning.

“Well, no one does exactly what we do because we basically have eight free programs that aren’t offered to veterans at the VA,” said Kaufman, who attained the rank of sergeant during his time in the U.S. Army. “Our biggest program is dental care because most people don’t know that veterans don’t get dental care from the VA unless they are 100 percent disabled.

“The need for dental care among veterans is enormous because some of these guys haven’t been to a dentist in 15 years, and they don’t have insurance or a lot of money to pay for it. So, we try to help them get the [dental] care that they need.”

To subscribe to Cardinals Beat, visit this page and mark "Cardinals Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Cardinals or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online

© 2025 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Please review our Privacy Policy.

You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB. 

Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.

Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.