Former Stranahan, MLB pitcher Hope dies at 47

John Hope, a former Major League Baseball pitcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates and graduate of Stranahan High School, died on Wednesday. He was 47. A post on Facebook page “Stranahan High School Baseball,” which is run by current Mighty Dragons coach Jay Cohen, announced Hope’s death on Wednesday. Greg Grimmett, Hope’s coach at Stranahan, confirmed it Thursday to the Sun Sentinel.

“It’s with great sadness to announce that former Stranahan Mighty Dragon baseball alumni and former Professional baseball player John Hope passed away [Wednesday],” the post read. “RIP John.. the number 10 will live on at Stranahan.”

Hope was the Sun Sentinel’s Player of the Year in 1989 as a senior at Stranahan.

“The thing I’ll remember was that he pretty much carried us to the state final four,” said Grimmett, who led the Dragons from 1982 to 1994.

“Nobody had what he had. He had the best fastball-curveball combination. Back then, it didn’t seem like many people could throw 90 [mph] … He was 93 on the gun.”

That June, the 6-foot-3 right-hander was drafted by the Pirates in the second round. He went on to appear in 24 big-league games from 1993 to 1996, starting 11 of them. He was 1-5 with a 5.99 ERA.

In addition to his prowess on the mound in high school, he was an all-state punter on the football team who could have played collegiately had he chosen that path, according to Grimmett.

Funeral arrangements for Hope have not been released, and his cause of death was not known.

Hope