Steve Goodman

On September 20, 1984, Goodman died at University of Washington Hospital in Seattle, Washington , the leukemia from which he had anointed himself with the tongue-in-cheek nickname "Cool Hand Leuk" (others included "Chicago Shorty" and "The Little Prince") finally taking his life. He was only 36. Eleven days later, the Chicago Cubs, the baseball team Goodman rooted for and wrote two songs about, played their first playoff game since 1945. Goodman's ashes are buried under home plate at Wrigley Field.

They didn't make the playoffs in his lifetime. That's about the saddest thing that I know.