Former Boston Red Sox pitcher and police officer Anthony Varvaro has died at the age of 37.
On Sunday, Sept. 11, Varvaro was killed by a wrong-way driver in a head-on crash early Sunday morning on the New Jersey Turnpike while on his way to work and a commemoration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Also killed in the crash was 30-year-old Henry Plazas. He was driving the car that hit Varvaro’s vehicle.
Raised in Staten Island, Varvaro spent time in the MLB with the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves, and Boston Red Sox. In 2016, he gave up his professional baseball career to join the Port Authority Police.
Varvaro earned a criminal justice degree at St. John’s University before being called up to the big leagues. He spent most of his time in the bullpen, becoming a dominant closing relief pitcher in the MLB.
His funeral was Thursday, Sept. 15, at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church prior to the burial at St. Peter’s cemetery.
“He was so selfless, and we’re all just at a loss for words in the Staten Island community,” neighbor David Carles told NBC News. “He was one of the guys. He was a neighborhood idol.”
He was a father of four, three boys and a girl. His sons wore his different MLB jerseys to his funeral in honor of him.
According to the New York Post, Varvaro gave back to the community by mentoring children at the police department’s youth academy. He also became involved with little league baseball through his sons, volunteering to be an effective coach in his New Jersey community.
In a 2007 ESPN feature film, Varvaro said that while growing up in the Staten Island neighborhood of Westerleigh, he became surrounded by civil service employees, which ultimately motivated him to pursue law enforcement after baseball.
Varvaro’s gofundme page currently has raised over $350,000 as of Sept. 15.
