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Former professional wrestler Randy "Macho Man" Savage died this morning of an apparent heart attack while driving near his home in Tampa, Florida. He was 58. Savage's wife, Lynn, sustained minor injuries in the accident.

Savage (born Randy Poffo) is best known for his run in the WWF (now WWE) and later in Ted Turner's now defunct World Championship Wrestling (WCW) during the 1980s and 1990s. Although he usually wrestled as a heel and had a storied rivalry with Hulk Hogan, Savage has long been a favorite of wrestling fans with his flamboyant costumes and distinctive voice.

However, not many people know that Savage played professional baseball in the early 1970s with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox organizations. Savage was a catcher and an outfielder. Unfortunately, injuries kept Savage from advancing beyond Class A ball. So he followed his father's footsteps into the family business. Angelo Poffo had been wrestling for a quarter century and his younger brother Lanny had also just started his wrestling career (some old WWF fans might remember him as The Genius.) It turned about to be the right career move.

It would have been nice to see Savage inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Savage and WWE owner Vince McMahon were not on the best of terms. The WWE did, however, release a Macho Man action figure last year and Savage cut one of his classic promos. Perhaps Savage will be posthumously inducted next year. But it won't be the same without him.