Cardinals legend Adam Wainwright honoring team's late pitcher Darryl Kile while raising heart health awareness

The Major League Baseball world was stunned when Darryl Kile, who threw a no-hitter in 1997, suddenly died of a heart attack at age 33 more than two decades ago.

Kile's St. Louis Cardinals were in Chicago on June 22, 2002, to take on their NL Central rival Cubs when catcher Joe Girardi announced to the Wrigley Field crowd that their game had been canceled due to a "tragedy in the Cardinals family."

Former Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, who was in the Atlanta Braves organization at the time, said that Kile's death was the "first time" he "felt kind of vulnerable."

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Adam Wainwright is paying homage to Darryl Kile. (Getty Images)

"I was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. And I looked over at our guys and our guys were like … you felt kind of fragile," Wainwright said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. "If an All-Star, no-hitter-throwing pitcher in the big leagues can just die out of nowhere, then what's to say it couldn't happen to us, too?"

Wainwright joined the Cardinals the following year, and Kile's presence was still felt. His jersey hung in his locker untouched at the old Busch Stadium until it was demolished in 2005.

"That was his locker. That's how much he meant in that locker room to the guys in there. to the Mike Matheny’s and Matt Morris’s and Rick Ankiel’s and Chris Carpenter’s. Those guys were able to study under him every single day," Wainwright said. "He would teach a guy who was sitting right next to him and say, ‘What are you thinking about this right here? What are you thinking about? Why is he going to throw this next pitch? What's the hitter looking for and this and that?’ He taught them how to prepare. 

"So by the time I got there, I'm sitting next to Matt Morris and Chris Carpenter, and Matt had learned from Darryl, and Matt was able to pour into Carp, and Carp was able to pour into me. It was just passing it down, and it takes that great veteran leadership a lot of times in a clubhouse to make it run. But that was Darryl Kile. And when you look at the success of the last two decades we’ve had in St. Louis… when I look back at the lineage of the Cardinals have had in the great success we've had, so much of it comes from great leaders like Darryl Kile."

The St. Louis Cardinals stand on the field and watch a video presentation in honor of Darryl Kile, the Cardinals pitcher who died of heart failure at age 33. (Elsa/Getty Images)

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The Cardinals' bloodline still runs deep, and generations of Cardinals are coming together later this week. Wainwright and Kile's daughter, Sierra, will each throw out the first pitch at the Cardinals' game on Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers to kick off the team's partnership with Merck to help raise awareness for the risk of heart disease and high cholesterol. 

"What we're just trying to do is spread awareness for the silent killer. The thing that kills more people and the country and in the entire world every single year is esoteric cardiovascular disease," Wainwright said. "If you're conscious of your health, and you're going in and seeing medical professionals a lot, most of the times, this is caught early, but so many times, it's the silent killer. … So what we're trying to do is raise awareness. It's a great collaborative effort here that if we could get in front of as many people as we can, we could hopefully change, even if we just change one life, that's a big deal. So it's important to me for many reasons, but especially to be a St. Louis Cardinal and to be associated with Darryl Kile."

Wainwright is encouraging everyone to speak with their doctors before it's too late.

A Darryl Kile jersey hangs in the St. Louis Cardinals dugout just days after his death. (Elsa/Getty Images)

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"When you're young, you feel invincible, and so this is a message not just for people who are up in years - this is for a message for young people as well. Make sure you go in and meet with your medical professionals and see what needs to be done for you," he said. "It’s very important to meet with your medical professionals and see what's exactly that you need in your life."

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