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Former U.S. Major League Baseball and Japanese league pitcher Geremi Gonzalez was hit by lightning and killed in his native Venezuela, an official said Monday.
The 33-year-old pitcher, who played for five MLB teams, was struck by lightning on Sunday night in the western state of Zulia, said Herman Bracho, the regional emergency management chief.
Gonzalez was riding a personal watercraft in Lake Maracaibo at the time, according to Antonio Olmos, a friend who witnessed his death.
"It was raining and he got down off his watercraft to grab another one," Olmos told the Venezuelan newspaper Panorama. "At that moment, lightning struck him in the neck and broke a gold chain he was wearing."
Gonzalez started in MLB for the Chicago Cubs in 1997 and later played with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Mets.
The 33-year-old pitcher, who played for five MLB teams, was struck by lightning on Sunday night in the western state of Zulia, said Herman Bracho, the regional emergency management chief.
Gonzalez was riding a personal watercraft in Lake Maracaibo at the time, according to Antonio Olmos, a friend who witnessed his death.
"It was raining and he got down off his watercraft to grab another one," Olmos told the Venezuelan newspaper Panorama. "At that moment, lightning struck him in the neck and broke a gold chain he was wearing."
Gonzalez started in MLB for the Chicago Cubs in 1997 and later played with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Mets.
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