Riel Cormier, a Southbaw who spent 16 seasons in the major tournaments and noticeably participated in the Olympics before and after playing in the MLB, died on Monday. He was 53 years old.
The Philadelphia Phillies confirmed that Cormer died of cancer at his home in New Brunswick, Canada.
Cormer holds a prominent place in Phillies’ history with the winning stadium in the last Philadelphia match he won at Veterans Stadium in 2003, and he also scored the first victory for Velez when he moved to Citizens Bank Park in 2004.
In his career, he was aged 71-64 with two saves and 4.03 eps with St. Louis, Boston, Montreal, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. A member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, Cormer made 683 matches – among his countrymen, only Paul Quantrell (841) has more games in majors.
Cormer had other notable appearances on the hill.
Three years before his MLB debut, he presented to Canada at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In 2008, a year after his last major league match, he applied again to Canada at the Beijing Olympics – he entered the tournament by playing a major men’s tournament .
“Real was one of the most energetic people I have had the pleasure of meeting,” Jim Thum, his former teammate and Hall of Famer, said in a statement released by Team Phillies. “He loved baseball, but he always put his family first.”
Cormier made his Cardinals debut in 1991 and was a head start in his career. He laid his only luck in 1996 with Expos.
He has survived his wife Lucien, son Justin, and daughter Morgan.
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