baseball obituaries 2020

only difference maker I think is Hunter played for the Yankees.

During Hunter's prime though, the Yankees had lost their mystique. The A's were the cool, fun, and successful team with larger than life stars sporting nifty mustaches. He was there for the Yanks' '77 and '78 WS wins, but he was done as a star player.

Hunter was elected to the HOF thanks to 1) a great nickname and mustache combo, 2) winning 20 games in five consecutive years, 3) being one of the youngest pitchers ever to reach 200 wins, 4) being a key player on the A's three-peat (they're still the only non-Yankees team ever to do it).

Putting aside analytics, the A.L. '74 Cy Young field has to be the apex of the '70s workhorse era (the DH probably contributed):

1. Hunter - 25-12, 318.1 IP
2. Jenkins - 25-12, 328.1 IP
3. Ryan - 22-16, 332.2 IP
4. Perry - 21-13, 322.1 IP
4. Tiant - 22-13, 311.1 IP

sad to hear this

We mourn the passing of Tim McCarver, an All-Star catcher and decorated baseball broadcaster for generations of fans. He was 81. https://t.co/af8eb0Yyuf pic.twitter.com/6P9LLlDMJD

— MLB (@MLB) February 16, 2023

i've been reading october 1964. good insight in to mccarver as a player.

He was prickly, but I always liked him in the booth. Saw him as a player on the downside of his career, don't remember much, but he caught Gibson and Carlton in their primes, and that's something.

https://i.postimg.cc/hPzN6dNc/32179165-B76-C-490-B-B2-F8-D66-B0-ACE9-A3-A.jpg

Every time I read about pitchers and catchers this quote comes up again and again.

another tim mccarver quote - i'm sure there's a million different slightly different versions of it because he would tell this story pretty much any time bob gibson came up during a broadcast:

“I remember one time going to mound to talk with Bob Gibson. He told me to get back behind the batter; that the only thing I knew about pitching was that it was hard to hit.”

first encountered him alongside ralph kiner (basically insane) and steve zabriskie (utterly straight) doing mets games on WOR in the eighties -- and he was honestly good, unlike his later cardinals/national broadcast persona

also he seemed like a really decent guy. rip

I only knew him from the national broadcasts. He was definitely an old school colour commentator much like Joe Morgan was, relying on his wit and intuition about the game to tell a story. I enjoyed listening to him for the most part.

I hadn't realized that he had a 20-plus year career as a player. He played in four decades!

lol, i missed this 2013 all-star game moment from mccarver. very hard to explain

This will always be remembered as the moment Tim McCarver crossed over into legendary status — hands down #STLCards pic.twitter.com/zaEkdf0313

— 𝙰𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚠 𝚆𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚛 | 🗺 (@drewmaniac) February 16, 2023

(xpost) As a player, I always group him in my mind with Bob Boone and Jim Sundberg, although the other two are much closer in terms of timeline and being mostly about defense.

(kramer voice) joe pepitone!

I literally just read the part in Ball Four where they prank him by putting talc in his hairdryer so when he blow dries his wig after a game he looks like George Washington.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vqJ-WSC-QI

I think I've got this right: it's him in Ball Four who puts a piece of popcorn under his foreskin and tells the trainer he's got some new form of VD...As flakes go, he sounded like one the greatest--he was near the end when I started watching.

rip dick groat, 8-time all-star, 1960 NL MVP, 2-time WS champ

Hobie Landrith, first Met, last week or so, i think

Vida Blue!

We mourn the passing of Vida Blue, a Cy Young, MVP and three-time World Series winner. He was 73. pic.twitter.com/dTJScoMstO

— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2023

damn, a guy with hall of fame talent but not quite enough of a career to get in there. dominant during his relatively brief career though, kinda like ron guidry in that respect.

and one of the best names of all time

As I've mentioned many times, my fandom began in 1970, so his '71 season looms so large for me: one of those things that you spend the rest of your life measuring everything else against. (Everything baseball...I think.) Greatest season (eclipsed by Gooden and a few others since), greatest name, greatest decade, greatest everything.

All in all, underrated after that, in that '71 was an albatross he could never duplicate, plus the holdout, plus the drug issue, plus the itinerant nature of his career. For his career, his numbers are probably better than at least a few pitchers in the HOF.

Vida Blue was awesome, RIP. Loved hearing him talk too.

There's a decent argument for him being in the HOF and sometimes I think briefer peak value types like him really belong. That's more in line with what the NBA and NFL halls do. I know the MLB HOF loves longevity though.

The other thing he has going against him besides what I mentioned was pitching in a pitcher's era--not to the degree the '60s were, but his old-school stats only leave him with 45 bWAR after adjustments. Plus he's surrounded on all sides by 300-game winners like Seaver, Carlton, Perry, Niekro, and Sutton, and also legends like Gibson, Marichal, Palmer, and others.

Looking at his '71 game log is amazing:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=bluevi01&t=p&year=1971

He made a DeGrom like run at Gibson that year (without going down). His ERA was 1.03 after his May 23 start (12th), and he was still at 1.37 as late as July 25. He tailed off a bit after that and ended up with 1.82.

Lots of other eye-opening stuff in there, like six consecutive CG more than once.

Thought he moved around more than he actually did: only three teams (two stints in San Francisco). That's not many in the free-agent era. (His '72 holdout, where--surprise--Finley railroaded him into coming back should get more credit than it does in ending the reserve clause.)

Posnanski on Vida, with a nice tweet from Fergie Jenkins:

https://open.substack.com/pub/joeposnanski/p/blue-monday?r=1jtu0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Reminded me of how close his career numbers were to Catfish Hunter's.

roger craig, 93

Last words, as he sat at home watching the A's: "Can't anybody here play this game?"

People you thought were 80 years old already when his team humiliated yours in the 1989 NLCS

He had been in ill health for some time aiui

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/419Yf4Bi7WL._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg

Enjoyed this book as a young Tigers fan. (Shout-out to scott pl.)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F1mlG0PXgAIHZDF.jpg:small

We mourn the passing of Jim Price, a treasured member of the Tigers organization for decades.

He spent all five years of his playing career wearing the Olde English ‘D’, including the 1968 World Series championship season.

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 8, 2023

A Statement from the Robinson Family and the Orioles:

“We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Brooks Robinson. An integral part of our Orioles Family since 1955, he will continue to leave a lasting impact on our club, our community, and the sport of…

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 26, 2023

Ah happy trails

Just heard that. He was something else in the '70 Series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_XHZbhR9qc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6FkSuRWZtA

Apparently he was left-handed, and did everything left-handed, except bat and throw

Jim Palmer said Brooks "never had a bad day in his life"

Thanks for the videos, clemenza. Wild to see video of that time. Great play

Jim Palmer reflects on the legacy of Brooks Robinson. pic.twitter.com/2UlvMt5gBd

— Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) September 26, 2023

Nice clip. I'm going by memory here--and will feel silly if I'm wrong (can't seem to find confirmation online)--but I think Ken Burns used "Theme from Shaft" for the segment on Robinson and the '70s Series. He cheated by a year, but it was great. Clemente and Santana's "Oye Como Va" for the '71 Series was a perfect match; Robinson and "Shaft" was a brilliant contrast.

jim palmer is in awfully good shape for a guy who'll turn 78 in a couple weeks

Sorry, forgot this thread existed for a moment.

Our hearts are broken with the loss of Tim Wakefield.

Wake embodied true goodness; a devoted husband, father, and teammate, beloved broadcaster, and the ultimate community leader. He gave so much to the game and all of Red Sox Nation.

Our deepest love and thoughts are with… pic.twitter.com/ah5kV2Yt8j

— Red Sox (@RedSox) October 1, 2023

Highly recommend Knuckleball, about his quest for his 200th win but really about this small fraternity of four or five people who account for almost everyone in the world who knows how to throw that pitch well. They golf together, keep in touch, and mentor Wakefield.

rip The Young Knuckleballer

went to see him do a rehab start for the carolina mudcats in 1993, but he ended up being scratched. andy van slyke was there rehabbing tho

classic pirates move to waive a guy who would win 186 games and put up 33 bWAR elsewhere. always rooted for him ;_;

Tim Wakefield, Knuckleballer Extraordinaire pic.twitter.com/QElTCrnSMT

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) October 1, 2023

For those that didn’t notice, George Kirby threw a first-pitch knuckleball to Corey Seager for a swing and miss. Statcast had it as a splitter, but Kirby has been threatening to throw his knuckleball once in a game.

— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) October 1, 2023

This Mike Timlin-Tim Wakefield video from the 2007 World Series resonates even more now. Seemed like the absolute best teammate you could have. pic.twitter.com/4A3hx6nEIi

— Mike Cole (@MikeColeNESN) October 1, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZf9UeZa4uA