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Breaking News

Orioles Pitcher Steve Bechler Found Dead

Aired February 17, 2003 - 11:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now 21 minutes away from the top of the hour. We have some breaking news to tell you about right now.
A tragedy taking shape or taking place rather in training camp, least likely place you would expect to hear this kind of story, but this happening in the Baltimore Orioles training camp. Word that we are getting here that Steve Bechler, you see him there. He's a pitcher with the Orioles. Word is that he has died.

No word on exactly what has happened but we do here from the Associated Press reports that we've been able to garner that he experienced, a some dizziness after a conditioning drill and was then taken to the hospital by way of an ambulance. And in the end it turns out that Bechler has died.

Now Bechler was a draft choice in the third round, I believe it was, back in '98 for the Orioles and made some three appearances with them. He spent most of his time at Triple A, but he did appear three times in the majors with the Orioles last year. And he was looking forward to making the team this year. They were giving him close attention and a close look at his skills, but apparently now he has met with a tragic fate there in training camp.

Hopefully, we'll get some more word on this for you. But for those of you who were fans of the Orioles and have been following the players in the system there, Steve Bechler who was with the Orioles Triple A firm -- and Triple A team rather, and is now in training camp with the rest of the team, has died.

We hope to get more information on that for you later on. Stay with us, we'll take a break right now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 17, 2003 - 11:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now 21 minutes away from the top of the hour. We have some breaking news to tell you about right now.
A tragedy taking shape or taking place rather in training camp, least likely place you would expect to hear this kind of story, but this happening in the Baltimore Orioles training camp. Word that we are getting here that Steve Bechler, you see him there. He's a pitcher with the Orioles. Word is that he has died.

No word on exactly what has happened but we do here from the Associated Press reports that we've been able to garner that he experienced, a some dizziness after a conditioning drill and was then taken to the hospital by way of an ambulance. And in the end it turns out that Bechler has died.

Now Bechler was a draft choice in the third round, I believe it was, back in '98 for the Orioles and made some three appearances with them. He spent most of his time at Triple A, but he did appear three times in the majors with the Orioles last year. And he was looking forward to making the team this year. They were giving him close attention and a close look at his skills, but apparently now he has met with a tragic fate there in training camp.

Hopefully, we'll get some more word on this for you. But for those of you who were fans of the Orioles and have been following the players in the system there, Steve Bechler who was with the Orioles Triple A firm -- and Triple A team rather, and is now in training camp with the rest of the team, has died.

We hope to get more information on that for you later on. Stay with us, we'll take a break right now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com