I've been reading bits and pieces on blog sites.
He was traded to the New York Yankees from the Philadelphia Phillies this past July. Was a good pitcher, not a star but reliable. Reports say the Phillies weren't thrilled with his piloting hobby. There are conflicting reports: four people or two people on board dead? Perhaps just him and an instructor. Now it's said he was the sole person on the plane. Also a distress signal before the crash.
A famous NY Yankee catcher, Thurman Munson, died in a plane crash in 1979 while he was practicing touch-and-go landings. And it didn't need to be a name athlete for New Yorkers to get that terrorist chill all over again.
I might also add that this incident has given rise to a LOT of bad judgment from Internet users who have used the notion of "free speech" to spout some rotten "jokes" which reflect some sort of anti-Yankee sentiment. Yeah we got free speech and all but I pray with all my heart that those people get a brand of unimaginable, burning-shit diarrhea that will inspire the darkest pits of hell.