baseball obituaries 2018

Wayne Huizenga

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2018/03/23/wayne-huizenga-former-owner-marlins-dolphins-nhl-panthers-dies/452969002/

le grand orange, 73

Oh damn, that's gonna put a damper on things in Queens.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/in-memory-of-rusty-staub-one-of-the-most-underrated-players-in-baseball-history

I remember Staub mostly in his later days mostly pinch hitting for the Mets. I seem to remember him being a tough out as with that choked up batting stance he seemed to be able to foul off tough pitches at will.

Carl Scheib, who debuted pitching for the Philadelphia A's at 16 in 1943

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/93562fe6

Dave Garcia, baseball lifer

When David was 11, his father died, and his mother went to work in a shirt factory to support her five children. He helped out by selling newspapers in downtown East St. Louis.

Garcia signed a contract with the St. Louis Browns in 1938. Sent to its minor-league team in Springfield, Ill., he was hit in the head by a pitch and did not return to play for more than a year. He subsequently tore up a knee while playing in Lake Charles, La., and broke a leg in Eau Claire, Wis. ...

Finally healthy, he had a strong season in 1947 with the Sioux City Soos, then took on the dual roles of player and manager, first with the Knoxville Smokies in Tennessee 1948 and then the Oshkosh Giants from 1949 to ’53.

...A hard-hitting second baseman in the 1940s and ’50s, Garcia managed many of the teams he played for. But Major League Baseball was not calling him. So, with his family growing, he retired as a player-manager and moved into scouting — then returned to managing in the minor leagues, adding Fresno, Calif., and Salt Lake City to his late-1960s travels.

But as he entered his 50th year, the majors finally beckoned. The San Diego Padres hired him as a coach in 1970, a stint that he followed with two managing jobs: first with the California Angels and then with the Cleveland Indians.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/obituaries/dave-garcia-mlb-manager-minor-leagues-dies-at-97.html

bruce kison, 68

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2018/06/02/Former-Pirates-pitcher-Bruce-Kison-dies-at-68-world-series-1971-1979-baltimore-orioles/stories/201806020081

'71 WS is the first i remember watching, RIP

Kison's big game wasn't quite my first WS game, but close--remember that more than I remember '70. Kind of amazed he was still there in '79.

Red Schoendienst, at 95

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/hall-of-famer-red-schoendienst-dies-at-he-was-mr/article_d32f81fe-c286-5023-8667-10b0fc89b206.html

rip Red

Dutch Rennert

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23837561/former-national-league-umpire-laurence-dutch-rennert-jr-dies-88

best strike call

didn't hit the big leagues til he was about 43

https://www.mlb.com/video/rennert-on-his-umpiring-career/c-503830783

Billy Connors

https://www.mlb.com/news/billy-connors-former-pitching-coach-dies/c-282156366

The Hall of Fame remembers former @Pirates first baseman and longtime trainer Tony Bartirome, who passed away on Friday. pic.twitter.com/DT7Y6NlKZQ

— Baseball Hall ⚾ (@baseballhall) June 26, 2018

Yosh Kawano

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-yosh-kawano-dead-20180626-story.html

Tony Cloninger

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24221679/former-pitcher-yankees-coach-tony-cloninger-dies-77

Johnny Lewis, who played with the Cardinals and Mets from 1964-67

John Kennedy, utility infielder for the Senators, Red Sox, and '69 Seattle Pilots

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=kennejo03

Looks like there are a lot of references to Kennedy in Ball Four though I don't have a copy here.

i was gonna ask... i remember the tail end of his career, but not if Bouton wrote about him.

Aaron Cox (Mike Trout's brother-in-law), retired minor league pitcher passed away at age 24.

I often want to locate a quote in Ball Four and bemoan the lack of an index.

Billy O'Dell, two-time AL All-Star pitcher

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24663912/ex-big-leaguer-billy-odell-won-105-games-majors-dies-85

loooong-time scout don welke, 75. 50 years in baseball, most recently with the padres

Don Welke, the veteran baseball man, was the scout who convinced Blue Jays to draft a Flint, Mich. high school left-hander in 1985. The final words of a very thorough report: "Has no right hand." (Jim Abbott went to Michigan instead.)

— Tim Brown (@TBrownYahoo) September 20, 2018

Peter Bjarkman, historian of Cuban baseball, pioneer and pal, died suddenly yesterday, of a heart attack in Havana. I will miss him. https://t.co/kLDM58lfN4

— John Thorn (@thorn_john) October 2, 2018

Saw him at SABR in NYC last year. This year's Cuba Ball tour just concluded, he must've been visiting with it.

new york times scribe dave anderson, who was the last writer to leave the ebbets field press box

longtime giants broadcaster hank greenwald, 83

https://www.sfchronicle.com/giants/article/Longtime-Giants-broadcaster-Hank-Greenwald-dies-13330066.php

former pitcher/longtime pitching coach bill fischer, 88

in 1962 he threw a record 84 1/3 consecutive innings (for the kansas city athletics) without issuing a walk

The Royals are saddened to announce the passing of Senior Pitching Advisor Bill Fischer. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. Fish touched so many lives during his career, not only with the Royals, but through his eight decades in pro baseball. pic.twitter.com/bkZCrF80Fb

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) October 31, 2018

It is with great sadness that we announce that San Francisco Giants Legend and Hall of Famer Willie McCovey passed away peacefully this afternoon at the age of 80 after losing his battle with ongoing health issues. #Forever44 | #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/ooOYg4ESol

— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) October 31, 2018

Willie McCovey, 80

Between the '30s and the PED era, his '69 season was a benchmark offensively.

Checked that, and his '69 is indeed the highest OPS+ year (209) in that gap by someone not named Williams or Mantle.

He showed up in 1972 healthy and raring to go, and homered on Opening Day off Houston’s Don Wilson. In the season’s fourth game, San Diego’s John Jeter ran into McCovey at first base, fracturing Willie’s right forearm. ("I feel like I killed Santa Claus," Jeter said.)

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/2a692514

Posnanski just posted a McCovey entry in his countdown (#89, obviously bumped up or down because of his death), and he reminded me of one of my favourite moments in Ball Four:

"Hey Willie," Jim Bouton said to McCovey as he and what he called "a group of terrorized pitchers" watched McCovey smash terrifying home run after terrifying home run in batting practice. "Can you do that every time?"

McCovey, Bouton said, did not even smile.

"Just about," he said.

Apparently we failed to note Marty Pattin, AL pitcher 1968-80, mostly for the Royals (and a Seattle Pilot), who died last month.

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article219466410.html

Another Ball Four guy...Line I think I remember: "Marty, how do you hold your gopher balls?" (which Bouton felt bad about after he said it).

RIP Fred Caligiuri — the oldest living former @MLB player — who died Friday at the age of 100. Pitching for the Philadelphia @Athletics, he faced Ted Williams on the final day of the 1941 season when he hit .406. Read Caligiuri's #SABR bio: https://t.co/LtLS5ngBou pic.twitter.com/G9YwJj8S1A

— SABR (@sabr) December 3, 2018

Former Major League Baseball players Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo were killed in a car accident on Thursday night, a spokesperson for their Venezuelan team, Cardenales de Lara, confirmed.

Valbuena was 33. Castillo was 37.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Former major league players Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo were killed in a car crash caused by highway bandits who then robbed them, officials said Friday.

The 33-year-old Valbuena and 37-year-old Castillo died late Thursday when their SUV crashed as it tried to veer around an object on the road, Yaracuy state Gov. Julio Leon Heredia said on his Twitter account.

Officials said some bandits place or throw objects on highways to force vehicles to stop or crash so they can rob the occupants. Heredia said four people have been detained after being found with property of the athletes.

Valbuena and Castillo were teammates on the Cardenales de Lara team in the Venezuelan winter league and were returning from a game in the capital when the crash occurred en route to the city of Barquisimeto.

Third baseman Carlos Rivero was in the car and survived, according to the website BeisbolPlay.

Joan Steinbrenner, widow of Boss Bullshit

The Hall of Fame remembers former @Orioles, @Twins, @Angels, @RedSox and @Tigers outfielder Lenny Green, who passed away on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/lf6tAS8d48

— Baseball Hall ⚾ (@baseballhall) January 8, 2019

Rick Down, former NYY/NYM coach

https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/sports-columns/ron-kantowski/ex-yankees-hitting-coach-rick-down-dies-at-home-in-las-vegas-1569683/

mel stottlemyre, 77

Very interesting career. Helped along by his era a career ERA under 3.00, retired at 32, never had a really bad year (three mediocre ones, never terrible), won 20 three times and lost 20 once, hit 40 WAR in a short career. And his son gets credit for the worst slide in the entire history of baseball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVt84YGtfGo

also unusual in that he was the Yankee ace when they won nothing (after his rookie year), then was pitching coach for the WS-winning Mets

Pumpsie Green--never would have guessed he was still alive.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2019/07/17/pumpsie-green-black-player-red-sox-dies/s7L4dEAIq14aThFN7mnu0N/story.html

The obituaries emphasize that he was the first African-American on the Red Sox, but I think--I might be wrong--they were the last team in the majors to integrate.

They were the final team to integrate (in 1959 -- the Globe article mentions this)

His appearance on the roster had followed picketing at Fenway Park. In spring training that year, Mr. Green hit .400 and was hailed by some reporters as the “camp rookie of the year.”

But to questions about whether Mr. Green would make the team, owner Tom Yawkey said: “The Red Sox will bring up a Negro when he meets our standards.”

We are heartbroken to report the passing of Rob McQuown. Rob has been a pillar of Baseball Prospectus for a decade, and we are devastated by this news. We will pass along more information and appropriate tribute in due time. For now, please join us in grieving his loss.

— Baseball Prospectus (@baseballpro) July 17, 2019

7-foot-1 dutch reliever loek van mil, 34

In the 2017 WBC, he faced Israel’s Nate Freiman (6'8") in what was believed to be the tallest batter-pitcher matchup in baseball history.

RIP to original Met, Al Jackson, who passed away earlier today. pic.twitter.com/nOdjJOxzLx

— New York Mets (@Mets) August 19, 2019

also returned in '68-69

more to come

https://ktla.com/2019/08/30/angels-pitcher-tyler-skaggs-died-of-alcohol-fentanyl-and-oxycodone-intoxication-choked-on-his-vomit/

terrible

i wonder if he was seeing an unscrupulous doctor who overprescribed or if someone on the medical staff of the Angels is pushing oxy. it's an awful drug.

(i recently revived the oxycontin thread on ILE and it was...interesting...to see how willing at least one ILXor was to give advice on how to take it to get high...)

team connection is suspected

Detroit Tigers statement regarding the passing of Chace Numata: pic.twitter.com/H6TCAQO1S8

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) September 2, 2019

Skateboarding accident

Chris Duncan, a 2006 #STLCards World Series champion, has passed away at the age of 38. Our thoughts are with his friends and family. pic.twitter.com/CBWbvGsayc

— FOX Sports Midwest (@FSMidwest) September 7, 2019

Whoa, wtf?

Charlie Silvera, Berra backup and coach

https://www.sfchronicle.com/giants/article/Charlie-Silvera-San-Francisco-native-and-14426637.php

former syracuse chiefs president don waful, 103

he was captured by the germans in tunisia in 1942 and spent the next three years in POW camps -- much of it with davey johnson's dad fred at the oflag 64 camp in poland

Masaichi Kaneda, winningest Japanese pitcher

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2019/10/06/baseball/japanese-baseball/japans-time-wins-leader-masaichi-kaneda-dies-86/#.XaHSkkZKiWY

shortstop jackie hernández, 79, who amassed -3.9 bWAR over nine seasons and had the assist on the final out of the 1971 world series

umpire eric cooper, 52. did the yanks-twins series two weeks ago.

jeez; gather ye rosebuds.

'71 WS was the first i remember watching (most of). RIP Jackie.

I watched the '71 Series intently and have zero recollection of Jackie Hernandez...I thought Gene Alley was the SS then.

Alley played 882 innings at short that year, Jackie 574.

Alley had only 3 PA in the World Series, don't know if he was hurt.

Can't find any clarification on that, but this would seem to be Hernandez's other biggest moment:

"A month before the World Series, Hernandez was part of another historic moment on Sept. 1 when Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh started a lineup consisting only of African-American and Latino players. The Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-7, that day at Three Rivers Stadium."

Hernandez was considered a top defensive SS, at least by Murtaugh and Clemente. He and Alley were the same age though.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/887d2ec2

former dodgers/expos/etc player and mariners announcer ron fairly, 81

def saw him play at Shea in the '70s

Flagship Jay, and I think the first Jays-Expos player.

Think I misused "flagship"...original Jay (1977).

'the only player to represent multiple non-US teams in the all-star game'

Vera Clemente, widow of No. 21

https://www.mlb.com/news/vera-clemente-passes-away

Irv Noren

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/6d0657d1

twins prospect ryan costello, 23, of 'natural causes'

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/18/us/minnesota-twins-prospect-ryan-costello-dead-trnd/index.html

Unnaturally young.

scholar/author Dorothy Seymour Mills

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dorothy-seymour-mills-who-received-belated-credit-for-husbands-baseball-books-dies-at-91/2019/11/20/c6df24d4-0baf-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html

former pitcher and phillies scout will brunson, 49

https://thespun.com/more/top-stories/will-brunson-dies-suddenly-rip