Carli Skaggs, the wife of late Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, gave an emotional eulogy at her husband's funeral, where she looked back on their love story.
"I made a last-minute decision to speak. I didn’t think I’d be able to," Carli Skaggs said in a video from Monday's service in Santa Monica, posted on MLB.com. “But Tyler has given me some strength today.”
Tyler Skaggs, 27, was found dead July 1 in his hotel room in the Dallas suburb of Southlake during a trip to play the Texas Rangers. He had just pitched for the Angels two days before.
Carli Skaggs, who married Tyler Skaggs last December, delivered her eulogy next to a giant flower arrangement in Angels colors showing her husband's uniform number, 45.
“When I look back at our life together, I have no regrets. We said ‘I love you’ every hour. We never missed an opportunity to say how fortunate we are to have found our true love," Carli Skaggs said.
“Six years later, we never got tired of being together and looked forward to those sacred off days," she added. "I’m grateful we never took our love for granted, always showing the utmost respect for each other."
She reminisced about how he "fell in love with a girl wearing sweatpants and no makeup, and in these moments, would tell me how beautiful I am."
But she was equally enamored with her husband.
"I'm the one who couldn't take my eyes off of you," she said.
"You are my forever soul mate, lover, confidant and best friend," she said. "You are my rock and I know you are by my side helping me to move forward one step at a time. I will love you until my last breath. Until we are together again, miss you, babe."
The Angels organization has been feeling the tremendous loss of a beloved teammate. On July 12, during the first home game following his death, the team wore jerseys with Skaggs' name and number.
His mother threw the first pitch that night to honor her son, while the Angels delivered a win — and a no-hitter — in his honor.