Kevin Foster, who appeared in 11 games for the Trenton Thunder during the 2000 season, has passed away at age 39 after a battle with renal cell carcinoma.

Foster was 4-3 with a 4.21 ERA for the Thunder, including one complete game. He appeared in 100 Major League games for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers over the course of seven seasons.

I attended many Thunder games as a fan that year, back when I was 17 years old. I was fortunate enough to see him pitch that year, and also vividly remember him jokingly encouraging Angel Santos to sign an autograph for a young fan after the kid was calling for Santos by his number.

“Santos, you heard the man,” Foster said with a smile.

My Thunder signed baseball from that year, complete with Foster’s autograph, just became a little more special.

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com