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Baseball Passings 2013

G-Fafif Jan 13 2013 11:03 PM

The 2012 thread is here. The 2013 thread begins with sad news regarding the reported suicide of light-hitting 1970s Padre shorstop Enzo Hernandez, 62.

Edgy MD Jan 14 2013 08:33 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Sheesh. Suiciding shortstops. Make it stop.

G-Fafif Jan 16 2013 12:26 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Fred Talbot, Seattle Pilot, 71.

Frayed Knot Jan 16 2013 12:30 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Hope it wasn't the stress from that fake paternity suit that did him in.

SteveJRogers Jan 19 2013 08:05 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 19 2013 08:35 AM

Hall of Famer, The Earl of Baltimore, Earl Weaver

Benjamin Grimm Jan 19 2013 08:16 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Even though he's now dead, I'd still be willing to replace Terry Collins with him.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 19 2013 08:19 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 19 2013 08:24 AM

Greatest manager that ever managed in my lifetime as a baseball fan. (Though he couldn't beat the Metsies). R.I.P.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 19 2013 08:24 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

ugh.

Nymr83 Jan 19 2013 08:45 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Even though he's now dead, I'd still be willing to replace Terry Collins with him. He does a nice job of ripping bunting as a strategy in his book, before "bunting is dumb" was widely accepted (by everyone but mets management)

Edgy MD Jan 19 2013 10:29 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

It's odd. You think "Who was the greatest manager of my lifetime?" and many of the names that come up --- Weaver, Whitey Herzog, Davey Johnson, Bobby Cox --- were guys that won one and only one championship.

DocTee Jan 19 2013 10:39 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Tony LaRussa begs to differ...

SteveJRogers Jan 19 2013 10:50 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

DocTee wrote: Tony LaRussa begs to differ... Bobby Valentine would beg to differ as well! Not to mention legions of MFY fans, depending on era they grew up in, clamoring for either Saint Joe or Battlin' Billy.

SteveJRogers Jan 19 2013 10:53 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Edgy MD wrote: It's odd. You think "Who was the greatest manager of my lifetime?" and many of the names that come up --- Weaver, Whitey Herzog, Davey Johnson, Bobby Cox --- were guys that won one and only one championship. Do you want to give Earl an "honorary" title for 1983?

Edgy MD Jan 19 2013 01:01 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Nymr83 wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: Even though he's now dead, I'd still be willing to replace Terry Collins with him. He does a nice job of ripping bunting as a strategy in his book, before "bunting is dumb" was widely accepted (by everyone but mets management) I'd be willing to bet this isn't close to true. The Mets were right at the league average of 64 successful sacrifice hits last year. This number may not be exactly indicative of where they stand in terms of general usage --- as one would have to account for bunting opportunities and unsuccessful bunts --- but it certainly is enough for me to think they do not, in fact, stand apart from the league as far as their attitude toward bunting.

Edgy MD Jan 19 2013 01:06 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

SteveJRogers wrote: Edgy MD wrote: It's odd. You think "Who was the greatest manager of my lifetime?" and many of the names that come up --- Weaver, Whitey Herzog, Davey Johnson, Bobby Cox --- were guys that won one and only one championship. Do you want to give Earl an "honorary" title for 1983? No. My point was largely about how (1) the World Series winner doesn't necessarily give you the best team, and (2) great managing doesn't necessarily result in successful teams. Earl's best years came in the midst of the rise three of baseball's great teams --- the Swinging A's, the Red Machine, and the Battlin' Bombers, plus some damn good Dodger and Red Sox and Phillie teams, but I'd take Weaver over Williams, Anderson, and Martin (and Zimmer and LaSorda, and Green), probably without even thinking too long on the issue. (I'd think long and hard about Herzog, though.)

MFS62 Jan 19 2013 04:22 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

RIP, Earl. Umpires and fans everywhere will remember you. Later

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jan 19 2013 05:55 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Geeze... Musial, too?

Swan Swan H Jan 19 2013 06:06 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

"Here stands baseball's perfect warrior. Here stands baseball's perfect knight."

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 19 2013 06:07 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

The Man had been in bad health for awhile (or good health for a 92 year old, however you wanna look at it). Vescey's book on Musial was one of the best things I read last year.

metirish Jan 19 2013 06:07 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

There can't be too many days like this when the games loses two giants. RIP.

seawolf17 Jan 19 2013 06:19 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Common thread: the Rochester Red Wings. Both in their Hall of Fame.

MFS62 Jan 19 2013 06:43 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

RIP, Stan We'll remember that stance that we tried to copy as kids. Later

seawolf17 Jan 19 2013 06:53 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Bought a lithograph of Frontier Field right before we left Rochester in 1999, and framed it with autographed cards from Red Wings legends and guys we enjoyed watching over the few years we were there. Stan never played at Frontier Field, but I made sure to put him front and center when I put it together.

d'Kong76 Jan 19 2013 08:11 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Very cool, gotta love stuff like that.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 20 2013 06:24 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Joe Posnanski on Earl Weaver (with a nod to GPrince for the link-to): In 1979, for instance, [Weaver] had ... a a 35-year-old defensive legend named Mark Belanger.... Belanger? Couldn't hit. At all. But could still play a brilliant shortstop. He played 101 games -- but only 40 of them were full games. He started and was pinch-hit for in 14 games. And he came in a defensive replacement in 47 games. It's too bad that 1999 SI cover boy - the uber-feeble Rey Ordonez - didn't receive the Earl Weaver treatment that season. There probably would've been a Subway Series a year before the Subway Series. Instead, the Mets gave the Willie Mays treatment to a scrub that usually couldn't hit the ball past the pitcher's mound even if you spotted him five and a half bounces. Then a year later, the Mets trade a shortstop who would put up MVP caliber numbers over the course of the decade because they preferred their Rey replacement to be more like Rey and less like Ripken. On small ball: "If you play for one run, that's all you'll get." Playing against Weaver's Birds almost 20 times a season obviously didn't rub off even a smidgen on Wee Willie Small Balls. Otherwise, the Mets probably make the playoffs three straight years. His teams finished first or second 12 times in his 15 years as manager of the Orioles (not counting the ill advised year and a half when he returned in the mid-1980s). In 1979, for instance, he had a 34-year-old Pat Kelly, who had kicked around for a decade, who was on his fourth team, who was about at the end. He also had a 32-year-old John Lowenstein, who had also kicked around for about a decade and had only been an everyday player once... a 28-year-old Benny Ayala and so on. Well, here's what he knew about Pat Kelly: Guy can hit with power against right-handed pitchers. So, he gave Kelly 177 plate-appearances -- 164 of them against righties -- and the guy banged nine homers and slugged .536 for him. Lowenstein? Crushes righties. He got 215 of his 232 plate appearances against righties and he hit 11 homers and slugged. 500. Ayala? He could hit lefties pretty well. He had 85 of his 94 plate appearances against lefties and slugged .513.... This gets at the heart of Weaver -- he didn't care what the player looked like or, more to the point, he did not let a players' weaknesses define him. The player is the player. The manager is the one who has to figure out how to get the most out of his. The 1979 Orioles went to the World Series. Earl woulda batted Magadan leadoff. http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/41037246/

MFS62 Jan 20 2013 08:23 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Every kid who saw him wanted to try Stan's batting stance at least once (I did). Every manager who saw him wanted to kick dirt on an umpire like Earl Weaver. He raised "Pissing off an Umpire" to an art form. They will both be missed. Later

Mets Guy in Michigan Jan 20 2013 10:48 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Had the pleasure of meeting both of them. Both seemed very nice, especially Musial.

Nymr83 Jan 20 2013 11:13 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

According to Jason Stark, Musial was one of only two players (the other was Ted Williams) to hit 400+ HRs and walk more than twice the number of times he struck out.

G-Fafif Jan 20 2013 02:43 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Musial drove in the first run ever scored against the Mets, went 3-for-3 in their first game and never stopped taking it to them until he retired.

Ashie62 Jan 20 2013 08:49 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

MFS62 wrote: RIP, Earl. Umpires and fans everywhere will remember you. Later For sure..

Edgy MD Jan 21 2013 06:49 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

It strikes me that Musial may be one of the last great players whose entire career came in the pre-Edgy era. Hang in there, Yogi.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 21 2013 07:09 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Do you define the "pre-Edgy" era as the time before your birth, or before your awareness? Musial (and Berra and Koufax) did play in my lifetimes, but they had retired before I knew who they were.

Edgy MD Jan 21 2013 07:21 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

I mean my birth. But in truth, I trace my awareness to my birth. My literacy also. My handwriting, sadly, has never improved.

G-Fafif Jan 21 2013 08:23 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

What about that Ralph Kiner fella?

Frayed Knot Jan 21 2013 08:34 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Speaking of which, we need some Ralph stories about Stan.

G-Fafif Jan 21 2013 09:00 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

BTW, longest-tenured living HOFers now that Stan Musial, inducted 1969, is no longer in that category: Yogi Berra and Sandy Koufax, 1972; Monte Irvin, 1973; Whitey Ford, 1974; Ralph Kiner, 1975; Ernie Banks, 1977; Willie Mays, 1979; Al Kaline, 1980; Bob Gibson, 1981; Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson, 1982.

Edgy MD Jan 21 2013 12:44 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

G-Fafif wrote: What about that Ralph Kiner fella? Not bad. Why not?

DocTee Jan 27 2013 05:17 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Not sure really where to place this. Horrible no matter where it's read. Thoughts and prayers to the family of this recently-inked Met: [url]http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/5-month-old-daughter-of-Mets-Landon-Powell-dies-4227383.php

d'Kong76 Jan 27 2013 05:39 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Just so sad hearing stuff like that.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 27 2013 05:41 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

awful. terrible. yiuuuh

themetfairy Jan 27 2013 08:54 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Too sad....

G-Fafif Jan 28 2013 02:14 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Chuck Hinton, the Senator's representative at the only Shea All-Star game, 78. Reported by MLB Players Association Alumni, an organization he founded in 1982.

Edgy MD Jan 28 2013 02:22 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

One of the mystery men in the mysteriously named Hall of Honor/Ring of Honor/Wall of Fame that honors DC-related sports achievement and is simultaneously displayed at RFK Stadium and Nationals Park.

G-Fafif Jan 31 2013 01:31 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Earl Williams, National League Rookie of the Year five minutes ago...I mean in 1971, from leukemia, 64. [H]e slugged 33 home runs and compiled 87 RBI on his way to being named the senior circuit's top rookie. He did so playing catcher for the first time in his life, a position the Braves asked him to play because they were desperate to include his bat in the lineup when there was a logjam at first and third base -- his usual positions. "He had to learn from scratch," Williams' 83-year-old mother, Dolores Reilly, recalled in a phone interview. "He used to tell me that if he could've he would've used two gloves to catch Phil Niekro's knuckleball." Williams hit 28 home runs in 1972 and impressed Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver enough to say, "Give me Earl Williams, I'll win the pennant." Weaver got his wish when the Orioles traded four starters, including former Mets and current Nationals manager Davey Johnson, for Williams and another player before the 1973 season.

Edgy MD Feb 02 2013 11:50 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Good Times story on his slide from Rookie of the Year to untouchable.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 02 2013 12:05 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

I remember watching a Mets-Phillies game in 1971 when the Mets announcers were high on Willie Montanez as that season's likely ROY. Also, it was rumored that the Mets-Braves trade that would eventually send Felix Millan to the Mets would also include an exchange of catchers Williams and Jerry Grote.

G-Fafif Feb 02 2013 01:34 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

I wrote a composition in third grade sizing up the 1971 Rookie of the Year races and indeed identified it as a two-man affair in the National League between Williams and Montanez. I had Vida Blue running away with it in the A.L., unaware he was not eligible.

Benjamin Grimm Feb 02 2013 02:46 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

If everything happens in threes, if my name was Earl W., I'd be pretty nervous right around now.

G-Fafif Feb 02 2013 06:39 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Benjamin Grimm wrote: If everything happens in threes, if my name was Earl W., I'd be pretty nervous right around now. Yikes, says this guy. Less worried? Him -- and him.

Edgy MD Feb 16 2013 03:02 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Go shatter a glass ceiling in honor of Edith Houghton.

Frayed Knot Mar 17 2013 02:17 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Ruth Ann Steinhagen - 83 Who?, you might ask. Well I would too. Turns out that she was the woman who, as a Chicago area teenager, became obsessed with 1940s-era Cubs ballplayer Eddie Waitkus, an obsession which included not just keeping a virtual shrine to him in her apartment (cards, tickets, photos, newspaper articles) but even extended to her developing a craving for baked beans and learning Lithuanian due to Waitkus being from Boston and of Lithuanian decent. It all came to a head in June 1949 when she invited Waitkus, now with Philadelphia, to a room in the hotel where the Phillies were staying and immediately pulled out a rifle and shot him once in the chest. If this all sounds familiar it's because the incident became the basis for the fictional Roy Hobbs in the book and later movie, 'The Natural'. The two-time All-Star Waitkus nearly died and underwent six operations, although did return to play a full season for the pennant winning 1950 Phils and in the majors through 1955. After an insanity ruling, as well as three years of psychiatric evaluations and Waitkus saying he did not intend to press charges, Steinhagen was freed. She apparently spent the 60-plus years out of the public eye and in relative seclusion with her parents and sister in Chicago to the point where her death in December was only recently stumbled upon by the Chicago Tribune while searching records for something else. She out-lived Waitkus by 40 years as the effects of the shooting may have contributed to his early death in 1972 at age 53. Waitkus - http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... ed01.shtml

batmagadanleadoff Mar 17 2013 02:24 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

If this all sounds familiar it's because the incident became the basis for the fictional Roy Hobbs in the book and later movie, 'The Natural'. The two-time All-Star Waitkus nearly died and underwent six operations, although did return to play a full season for the pennant winning 1950 Phils and in the majors through 1955. Not only The Natural, but the Naked City TV episode (9/26/62), Idylls of a Running Back was based on the Waitkus incident, guest starring Aldo Ray as the Waitkus based star running back and Sandy Dennis as the disturbed fan. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0656796/

G-Fafif Mar 25 2013 12:00 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Virgil "Fire" Trucks, 95. Pitch a pair of no-no's for the '52 Tigers. Won 177 games in 17 seasons plus one in the 1945 World Series -- and started against the Cubs in the last WS game they won, 68 years ago.

Edgy MD Mar 25 2013 12:09 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

A giant. At least, he is in some beanstalks.

Frayed Knot Mar 25 2013 02:01 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Virgil Trucks was a relative of the various musical Trucks (Butch & Derek) of Allman Bros and related bands fame. Also: prior to this I had no idea VT was still alive. Also also: now that I actually read the link (it didn't work for me at first) I see that it says in there about his relation to Butch & Derek

seawolf17 Mar 25 2013 02:26 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Trucks was a member of the "TTM (Through The Mail) Autograph" Hall of Fame. Super friendly guy.

G-Fafif Mar 31 2013 10:06 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Bullet Bob Turley, 82, from when guys with nicknames like that were identified so readily that you assumed "Bob" was his middle name. Ruined the 1958 World Series by pitching the MFYs to victory in it.

seawolf17 Apr 25 2013 01:00 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Rick Camp, hitter of the most unlikely home run of all time. Dead at 60. 26th Anniversary video: http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story ... yid=196661 Story: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/breaking-n ... -60/nXXhs/

Edgy MD Apr 25 2013 01:03 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Ah crap. My first Strat-O-Matic team was the 1978 Braves.

smg58 Apr 25 2013 05:52 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Danny Heep's reaction remains priceless. Did anybody actually stay up for it?

Benjamin Grimm Apr 25 2013 06:46 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

I did. I was up until 4 a.m. watching that game. It came during the period after I had graduated college, but before I found a job, so since I didn't have to get up in the morning, I was able to stick it out. That game was so much fun to watch. And the late hour made it even more special somehow. I recall that at around 3 a.m., Steve Zabriskie starting recapping the game to that point, and he said, "If you're just tuning in..." (pause) "...write to us to tell us why!"

seawolf17 Apr 25 2013 07:10 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

July 4 was always a big deal for us, because my dad and sister were both born on that date. So every July 4 was a big mega-birthday extravaganza, where we'd be out at my aunt's house until the wee hours of the morning. Being nine, I didn't usually make it that far, so I watched the game in and out of dozing on the couch. Don't specifically remember making it to the 19th inning, but I definitely remember watching it very late.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 29 2013 02:24 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Brad "The Animal" Lesley, 54. Of kidney failure. Was the prototype of today's roided up, high energy reliever. Had a good career in Japan and later acted.

Edgy MD Apr 29 2013 02:47 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

He was a phenomenon in Japan. I think he rapped.

G-Fafif Jul 29 2013 01:55 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

George "Boomer" Scott, Red Sox and Brewer slugger, 69.

Edgy MD Jul 29 2013 02:04 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Finished his career with the Yankees in a legacy-tainting final 16 games. Inexplicably wore 41 for them.

seawolf17 Jul 29 2013 02:07 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Scott was at the last baseball card show I went to, a few years ago at a little VFW in Centereach. He was at a table in the back singing autographs and the guy on the microphone introduced him as "Yankees legend George Scott."

G-Fafif Jul 29 2013 02:13 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

1979 MFYs also marred the legacies of Lenny Randle (20 games) and Roy Staiger (4 games). Ray Burris and Dick Tidrow at least sought to cleanse themselves sooner and later, respectively.

G-Fafif Jul 29 2013 03:08 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Frank Castillo, Cubs pitching mainstay in the '90s, drowned. He was 44.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 29 2013 03:09 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

oh yuk.

G-Fafif Jul 30 2013 11:43 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Scott not a happy man in retirement, writes Gordon Edes on ESPNBoston.com. Williams made his reputation as a taskmaster, but Scott felt that Williams frequently berated him publicly more than his teammates. Williams never showed him the same sensitivity, he said, that Eddie ("Pops") Popowski displayed when he managed Scott in the minors, and later as a Red Sox coach. Scott was keenly aware that he was one of the first African-Americans the Red Sox had promoted as an everyday position player. In 1961, under heavy public pressure for being the last major league team to integrate, the Sox had hired a former Negro League star, Ed Rogers, to scout the deep South. Rogers, who had discovered a young Henry Aaron, first saw Scott on a rock-filled field in Mississippi, picking grounders with ease. Rogers also showed the power the Red Sox would see first-hand when Scott hit a 500-foot home run in Yankee Stadium in 1966, and throughout a career in which he hit 271 home runs for the Sox and Milwaukee Brewers. But while Rogers may have discovered him, it was his white counterpart, Milt Bolling, who signed him. Back then, Anderson said, African-American scouts could not negotiate financial terms with players. That was a job left to white scouts. As fate would have it, Scott was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2006, in the same class as Dick Williams. The manager came up to Scott and thanked him, Anderson said, for letting Williams off the hook with his remarks at the dinner that night. "I was standing right next to him when he came up to George," Anderson said. But even that evening did not bring about a reconciliation for Scott. He complained afterward to Anderson that no one came to his table to congratulate him. By his reckoning, none of the other former players in attendance, and no one from Red Sox management. "I really don't remember that evening very well," Sox CEO Larry Lucchino wrote in an e-mail Monday night. "I do know I met a lot of people that night, and I'm sorry if I missed George. "I know that we welcomed him here subsequently, as late as 2010 and 2011, and we were hoping he'd be here last year for our 100th anniversary celebration." By then, there was probably little the Sox could have done to ease the pain Scott felt for his inability to land a job in a major league organization after his 12-year playing career ended. He managed in the Mexican League, and kicked around a few independent leagues, including a stint with the Massachusetts Mad Dogs in Lynn, but it never went beyond that. "I think he spent a lot of time waiting for that phone call that never came," said Anderson, who first met Scott in 1996.

G-Fafif Jul 30 2013 11:44 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

From above article: Five notable facts about George Scott 1. Scott was known for his power (271 home runs), his fielding (8 Gold Gloves), his weight issues (he wore rubberized suits on his second go-round with the Sox) and his nicknames. His own was "Boomer," a name that began, he said, after his teammate Joe Foy said the ball made a boom off his bat. Home runs were "taters," an acknowledgment of his love of sweet potatoes, and he named his glove "Black Beauty." He also wore a batting helmet in the field, like Dick Allen and later John Olerud. 2. Scott played third base in the minors, but as a rookie in 1966 was moved to first base by manager Billy Herman, with another rookie, Foy, playing third. 3. As a rookie, Scott hit a home run estimated at 500 feet into the third deck of Yankee Stadium on April 26, 1966. It came off Yankee Hall of Famer Whitey Ford. 4. While Carl Yastrzemski is forever remembered for his MVP exploits during the stretch drive of the 1967 Impossible Dream pennant winners, Scott hit .344 over the seasons final eight games and hit a tie-breaking home run in the penultimate game of the season, a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins. 5. Scott played twice for the Red Sox, from 1966-71, then again from 1977-79. He was part of a nine-player deal with the Brewers the first time, then was swapped back for Cecil Cooper. He also played for the Royals and Yankees before ending his big-league career.

Frayed Knot Jul 30 2013 11:51 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

I saw Scott up close down in Florida during a ST one year. He had come out of the game by that point and was not too enthusiastically doing some exercises in the outfield while the end of the game played out. He had gotten quite large by that point but would smile broadly and do a little jig as Sox fans yelled out "Disco George" in his direction, clearly more interested in the fans and their reaction than he was in the "work" he was doing.

G-Fafif Aug 10 2013 10:42 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Johnny Logan, shortstop on the world champion Milwaukee Braves of 1957, at 86. He drew an affectionate writeup in David Lamb's Stolen Season: He sat among a group of stoic scouts, who said not a word, and yelled encouragement to the Brewers. I asked him if he was going on the Braves' reunion cruise to the Caribbean in the fall. "I talked to Pafko and a couple of the guys about it," he said. "You know what happens? Mathews, Aaron, Spahn, they go for free. And the rest of us got to pay. What an insult. You think I'm going? Hell, no. It was true. Logan had not been among the titans on the Braves and his value on the baseball-card circuit -- the measure of a retired player's worth in today's marketplace -- was only five hundred dollars per appearance [...] But Logan had played so beautifully. He had the heart of a lion and for a while there was no finer shortstop in the National League. He was the Brave you wanted at the plate with the game on the line, the infielder you prayed Snider or Kluszewski would hit the ball to in the last of the ninth. Logan was more guarded than the other former Braves I had met and he didn't seem much interested in revisiting the past. Whenever I probed, asking about his life after baseball, wondering if he saw the same ghosts in County Stadium that I did, he would go back to concentrating on his radar gun. "I got memories, he said, "but they're not really what you'd call memories, if you follow what I'm saying."

G-Fafif Aug 16 2013 08:41 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Marty Adler, Brookyn Dodgers flamekeeper, 76. Marty Adler, Brooklyn’s Enduring Dodger Fan, Dies at 76 By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN Thirty years after Jackie Robinson broke the modern major league color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers, his legacy was honored in classrooms only a home run shot or so away from the housing development where Ebbets Field once stood. Marty Adler, the assistant principal at Jackie Robinson Intermediate School 320, bordering what had been the Dodgers’ third-base stands, organized projects in which the predominantly minority student body learned of Robinson’s baseball exploits and his pioneering role in the civil rights struggle. That anniversary tribute in 1977 inspired Mr. Adler to keep memories of the Dodgers alive in Brooklyn long after their departure for Los Angeles and the demolition of Ebbets Field. When he died of a stroke on Tuesday in Bethpage, N.Y., at 76, Mr. Adler was remembered as the founder of the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Fame. It never had a permanent home — it was essentially a personal journey down his baseball memory lane — but it enabled him to share his passion for the Dodgers with his fellow Brooklynites. Mr. Adler saluted the heroes of his youth by bringing them back to Brooklyn for annual induction ceremonies at Grand Army Plaza. He donated memorabilia to the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn baseball gallery at the minor league ballpark in Coney Island where the Mets’ Brooklyn Cyclones play. “I’m reliving my childhood,” Mr. Adler once said. “The Dodgers lived in the neighborhood,” he recalled. “Their kids went to the schools. Their wives shopped in the shopping places. They were an integral fabric of the pattern of the whole community, and we loved the guys. “You could walk down the street and put a radio on — a black person or a white person. ‘How’re the Bums doing?’ It was one common denominator that tied everybody up together.” Martin Norman Adler was born in Brooklyn on July 11, 1937, and grew up in the Borough Park neighborhood. He received a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College and a master’s in education from St. John’s University. When Jackie Robinson died in 1972, Mr. Adler campaigned to have his school, then known as Crown Heights Intermediate School 320, named for him. “The parents wanted it to be named after somebody in the civil rights movement,” Mr. Adler told The New York Times on the 50th anniversary of Robinson’s debut with the Dodgers, “but I reminded them Jackie walked with Dr. Martin Luther King. Jackie gave impetus to all the other movements that developed in the 1960s.” And so the school bore Robinson’s name and graced its lobby with an oil painting of him. Mr. Adler gave annual talks over the school’s public-address system about Robinson, saying, as he recalled it, “This is what took place here, this is American history.” In the late 1970s, Mr. Adler began sending letters to former Brooklyn Dodger players explaining his idea for a memorial to the team, and as word of his mission got around, memorabilia began to flow in. His early collection, stored in his school custodian’s office, included seats from Ebbets Field, which was torn down in 1960, two years after the Dodgers departed for Los Angeles; a uniform worn by Casey Stengel when he managed the Dodgers in the 1930s; and jars of Ebbets Field soil used as landfill at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn. In June 1984, Mr. Adler helped create a Dodgers exhibit at the central Brooklyn Public Library on Grand Army Plaza and held his first Hall of Fame induction ceremony outside the building. His first three inductees were figures from the 1950s teams that came to be known as the Boys of Summer: pitcher Carl Erskine, right fielder Carl Furillo and first baseman Gil Hodges, who died in 1972 while managing the Mets and was represented by his widow, Joan. None of the three have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Mr. Adler remained assistant principal at the Jackie Robinson school until his retirement in 1992, and he continued his induction ceremonies for a few years after that. Tommy Lasorda, who pitched in a total of eight games for Brooklyn in the 1954 and 1955 seasons before bleeding Dodger blue as their longtime manager in Los Angeles, was inducted into Mr. Adler’s Hall of Fame in August 2009 in a special ceremony at the Cyclones’ ballpark celebrating his 60 years in the Dodger organization. Mr. Adler, whose death was announced by his family, lived in Plainview on Long Island. He is survived by his wife, Linda; his sons, Eric and Jeff; his brothers, Richard and Stephen; and two grandchildren. Although he rallied Brooklynites of a certain age around their heroes of years past, Mr. Adler left one goal unaccomplished: He was never able to help propel Hodges to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He sent bumper stickers to the 5,000 subscribers to his quarterly newsletter in 1999 that read “Cooperstown Needs Gil Hodges.” He organized a letter-writing campaign to the Hall of Fame’s committee on veterans calling for Hodges’s admission. “It’s total disappointment for the Brooklyn Dodgers community,” he said at the time, “but we’re never going to give up. We’re from Brooklyn.”

MFS62 Aug 16 2013 08:48 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Olevai Sholom Later

G-Fafif Aug 30 2013 08:56 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

National League umpire Frank Pulli, 78.

Edgy MD Aug 30 2013 01:18 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

In my mind, he was still active, fourteen years after his retirement.

Frayed Knot Oct 01 2013 11:04 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Pinch-hitter deluxe (and occasional left-fielder) Gates Brown - 74 Had a 13 year career --all with the Tigers-- but was the definition of PHer/part-timer as he only got as many as 300 plate appearances twice and had fewer than 200 in eight of those seasons. Came up with the team in 1963 at age 24 but even that was only after serving time for armed robbery. PH'ed his way to a .370/.442/.685 // 1127 line over 104 PAs in the Tigers WS-winning year of 1968. The LH-swinger finished with a career line of .257/.330/.420 and one would think that had his career not been ending just as the DH era was beginning that he would have made for a scary DH in at least a platoon role. I remember having a baseball card of a hatless and thuggish-looking Brown (listed at 5' 11"/220) with a scowl that scared my sister.

Edgy MD Oct 01 2013 11:13 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Famously the roommate of Kevin Collins, where he persecuted his Metly teammate with snoring and sartorial issues.

G-Fafif Oct 01 2013 12:31 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Carl Willey was coming off about as good a season as a pitcher could have for the 1963 Mets, 9-14 with a 3.10 ERA, and was enjoying a marvelous spring in ’64 (26 consecutive scoreless innings) when a line drive off the bat of Brown, then a relatively obscure second-year man, broke his jaw. There, in essence, went Willey’s career. He’d be out ’til June, yet would not be forgotten by the likes of us. Recalled Jerry Mitchell in his outstanding early history, The Amazing Mets: There must have been Mets fans at Yankee Stadium one midsummer afternoon when Detroit was the visiting club. When Gates Brown, a total stranger, was introduced as a pinch-hitter, Met banners were waved and Brown was lustily booed.

G-Fafif Oct 09 2013 12:43 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Andy Pafko, 92, who went as far back as he could in left at the Polo Grounds in the bottom of the ninth on October 3, 1951, but had no hope of catching a Shot that was about to be heard 'round the world. He would make it to the Series in 1952 with Brooklyn. Also a member of the Milwaukee Braves that won a World Series in 1957 and took the MFYs to seven games in 1958 -- and one of the last two surviving National League champion Cubs from 1945 or, for that matter, ever. Pafko had been traded to the Dodgers in '51 along with, among others, Rube Walker. Roger Kahn, in visiting with the Brooklyn Dodgers who became his Boys of Summer, surprised Pafko at lunch by asking him for his autograph. "Now for me," I said. "Don't kid me," Pafko said. "It's just nice being remembered." "I'm not kidding." I had been traveling with a glove, a Wilson A-2000,huge, $50 retail, more elaborate than any glove that had been designed when Pafko played in Brooklyn. "I'm asking everybody on the team to sign it, for a souvenir." Pafko looked at some signatures. Then he turned the glove over and wrote his name on the back. "I don't belong with those others," he said. "Thanks for a good club sandwich. Maybe I saved you a little money, huh? "Furillo, Snider and guys who could play like that, you oughta buy them the steaks."

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Nov 21 2013 08:05 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Much-beloved MLBPA jefe Michael Weiner, at 51, of an inoperable brain tumor. Your interim MLBPA exec director will be ex-Met Tony Clark.

G-Fafif Dec 26 2013 12:06 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Mike Hegan, 71, original Pilot, later a Brewer and A, author of the final batted ball at MFYS I, longtime Tribe broadcaster and guy I inevitably conflated with Mike Epstein. Profile from when he hung up his mic in 2011 here. Oh look, I got his card again.

MFS62 Dec 26 2013 12:44 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

G-Fafif wrote: Mike Hegan, 71, original Pilot, later a Brewer and A, author of the final batted ball at MFYS I, longtime Tribe broadcaster and guy I inevitably conflated with Mike Epstein. Profile from when he hung up his mic in 2011 here. IIRC from Ball Four, it was Mike, in response to a question about the toughest thing you had to do in baseball, answered, "Convincing my wife why she had to take a penicillin shot because of my kidney infection". RIP Mike, son of long time coach and player Jim Hegan. Later

G-Fafif Dec 26 2013 08:45 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Two more American Leaguers: Ed Herrmann, 67, catcher, mostly of White Sox pitchers. Said teammate Dick Allen: As he did with everything he faced on and off the baseball diamond, Ed gave all he had to give during his long battle with cancer. He was a good man and he will be missed. Without a doubt, Hoggy has already jogged out to the bullpen in heaven and has started working with some of God’s pitchers. Paul Blair, 69, briefly a Met farmhand before the Orioles drafted him away. He became the junior circuit's premier defensive center fielder for a generation, though ironically robbed by Tommie Agee in the 1969 World Series. Hit nearly .500 in the next year's Fall Classic, won by the Birds. Finished up with the champion MFYs in the late '70s, with a stop in Cincinnati.

Edgy MD Dec 27 2013 06:28 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

On Pafko: I missed that he passed. He almost made me cry in his insistence of unworthiness in Boys of Summer. On Hermann: Did you think you'd live long enough to see Dick Allen turn into the go-to guy for a tribute to a teammate. On Blair: He would have hit .500 in the 1969 series too if it wasn't for Agee. He made a lot of folks lists --- back in the day anyhow --- as the greatest defensive centerfielder ever.

MFS62 Dec 27 2013 08:20 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

On Pafko: I missed that he passed. He almost made me cry in his insistence of unworthiness in Boys of Summer. On Hermann: Did you think you'd live long enough to see Dick Allen turn into the go-to guy for a tribute to a teammate. On Blair: He would have hit .500 in the 1969 series too if it wasn't for Agee. He made a lot of folks lists --- back in the day anyhow --- as the greatest defensive centerfielder ever. 1) I remember Pafko playing for Brooklyn. He was a decent major leaguer playing among greats. 2) No 3) He makes my list, along with Curt Flood, Bill Virdon and Willie Mays. When I first saw Legares I thought he reminded me of Blair, but with a better arm. Later

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 27 2013 08:59 AM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Blair would probably have been the Best Met Ever until Seaver surpassed him. He was better than Agee and a better all-around player than Jones (also better for longer than either). The rules back then allowed for some real greaseball moves like taking one another's newly signed players if the team didn't move to protect them immediately, which could retard their development. The teams in turn would try to hide those guys from other team's scouts as well as they could. The Mets signed Blair in 1961 before they even had a team to stash him with; they apparently tried to get other teams to believe Blair was injured by holding him out of workouts but the Orioles didn't buy it. I suppose in the end the Mets would have been better playing Blair as an 18-year-old than say, holding onto sketchy expansion picks like B.G. Smith but it was a damn tragedy. They should have been exempt from this process then.

batmagadanleadoff Dec 29 2013 01:04 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

http://www.examiner.com/article/how-did ... -slip-away

Lefty Specialist Dec 29 2013 01:33 PM Re: Baseball Passings 2013

Cool Toyota Corona.