baseball obituaries 2020

Ralph Pierre LaCock (born March 30, 1926, is better known by his stage name Peter Marshall. He is an American television and radio personality, singer, and actor. (Still alive at 94.)

Duh...that actually occurred to me after I posted--maybe it was dad who changed his name.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ej5YT3IXgAMnJxK?format=jpg&name=small

noooo

Not sure if I got this from Ball Four or not: if Cronin's name wasn't stamped on straight, he could make the baseball drop.

Ford's autobiography was one of my favourites growing up, I read it countless times.

The last of Casey’s Whiskey Slicks

really?! what makes it so interesting? (i know nothing about the man outside of his stats)
xpost

His off the field stories are interesting (plenty of stuff about partying all night in New York clubs), his takes on baseball personalities come across as real, three dimensional opinions, obviously he glosses over some of the seedier stuff that was surely going on but the book feels more honest than those by many of his contemporaries that I read at the time. He admits to cheating in the 60's when he was losing something off his fastball -- it was rare (maybe unprecedented?) to read something like that from a HOFer of his calibre.

Thanks, I might make that my next book!

Whitey Ford: A HOF Cheater
by The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall

joe morgan

What a month this has been, jfc

Christ.

RIP

Reading his capsule bio, I had no idea he was 5'7".

Glad I witnessed his historic '75/76 peak.

That's what, five HOFers who passed away in the past month? Can 2020 get any worse?

His '75-'76 peak was really something, no 2Bman since then has really come close to his combination of power/speed/patience/defense.

I always thought it ironic how much Morgan hated sabermetrics etc, but as a player he excelled at a lot of the stats that advanced Stats people loved.

indeed

New Favorite Joe Morgan stat I discovered today.

His line in the 1976 NLCS: .000/.462/.000

0-for-7 with 6 BB, 2 SB, 2 R

(And the Reds swept the Phillies)

— Matt Meyers (@mtmeyers) October 12, 2020

As I've mentioned before, I was a huge Reds fan in the early '70s, before the Jays. Between Rose, Morgan, and Bench (not so much Perez), they had an arrogance about them that I'm not sure any baseball team has equaled since. Maybe those '90s Yankees teams, but that felt more like a revolving cast (with a core, true), and there was also the late '80s A's.

Xpost to Thermo

Definitely. His reasoning was that it was his job to set the table so it made sense for him to take a walk, whereas other guys had to drive him in and thus shouldn't be taking walks. I think he understood the value of what he was doing but for him every player has a label that he couldn't escape. Like why can't an RBI guy also work the count? Why can't a middle infielder be a power hitter? He just never got it.

I'm probably one of three living people who's read his autobiography--I bought a remaindered copy for the free baseball card!

http://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/514kY1EQj+L._SX328_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/514kY1EQj+L._SX328_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Best 2B I ever saw. RIP.

class a greensboro grasshoppers bat dog miss lou lou gehrig, aged 9

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EkOIT3jXYAAkSwE?format=jpg&name=small

goddammit. miss lou :(

Forgot about this, from Ball Four--someone posted it on Facebook.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/mfc.jpg

http://phildellio.tripod.com/mfc.jpg

I don't get that at all...is Tripod blocking images now? Anyway.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/mfc.jpg

Weird...They seem to be blocked on Chrome (along with every poll image I've ever posted on ILX: Neil Young, road films, etc.) but not Explorer.

MLB is deeply saddened by the passing of 34-year Major League Umpire Derryl Cousins at 74. The Californian worked nearly 4,500 games & three World Series ('88, '99, '05). He was behind the plate for the White Sox clincher in '05 & the '08 ASG at Yankee Stadium (pictured below). pic.twitter.com/lSRd89ZsxW

— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) October 20, 2020

New York Mets fan Bill Weber, 59.

Dr. Morbius (Bill Weber) RIP

Getting the chance to see a Mets game with him was nice. Seeing a Yankees game with him was a highlight of my time in NY because I thought he was going to get us killed.

hahaha

I think I saw more Yankees games than Mets games with him!

so of my closest brushes with death with bill were during the military salutes at mets baseball games at citifield, lol

Ya. Him yelling into their air about brainwashing during god bless America got us some attention.

He invited me to a game when he was in T.O. for the SABR convention, it was the one and only time we met irl. I remember only two things about that game, 1) Bill James sat about three rows directly in front of us (Morbs pointed out a bunch of SABR-celebs from where we were sitting, 2) he was scoring the game and asked me to take over for a few minutes while he went to the bathroom. I hadn't scored a game in years and was so nervous about making a mistake and ruining his Blue Jays Experience. Needless to say, this place won't be the same without him.

Apparently Tommy Lasorda is in p bad shape right now.

tommy sandt, 69

only played 42 big league games but did some managing in the minors and was on jim leyland's staff in pittsburgh, florida and colorado

David Lander has passed away. Many know him as Squiggy in Laverne and Shirley with Michael. He also was an incredible baseball man who was a scout for the Mariners. Always thought his role in League Of Their Own was a perfect fit. #RIP https://t.co/LgGwHbvsnS

— Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) December 5, 2020

dick allen

who might have been elected to the hall of fame yesterday had covid not forced the cancellation of the golden era committee meeting

That's really too bad; should have already been in, of course, so they'll end up with another Ron Santo/Marvin Miller-induction on their hands, a year or two too late.

Rest in power to Dick Allen, underrated slugger and owner of one of the best SI covers ever pic.twitter.com/6OPqs6y6uT

— Jon Tayler, Smiling Politely (@JATayler) December 7, 2020

dude was maybe two more productive years away from the HOF.

Just posted that cover on Facebook--unforgettable (and probably the first thing most people remember about him).

Another instance of how you weight longevity/peak: his rate stats still have him high on some all-time lists (Top 20 in adjusted OPS), and he's at 5.3 WAR per season on Baseball Reference. But, yeah, it's pretty much impossible to get in with fewer than 2,000 hits, unless you're a catcher.

i had never seen that cover! badass. also weird to think about smoking a cig and then running onto the field

i used to play ultimate (tons of running) with a guy that would hammer back a smoke between each quarter and i have no idea how he didn't collapse into a hacking pile.

12 playoff PA in his second-to-last season was it for the post-season; must be high on the list of best players without a WS appearance. (Ignoring position/defense, he was a better hitter than Ernie Banks.)

Rogelio Moret today, too:

https://www.lonestarball.com/2020/12/7/22159957/dick-allen-roger-moret-pass-away-death-mlb

I remember him because he went 14-3 for the famous '75 Red Sox team (also 13-2 for the '73 team). But I have no recollection of this (from Wikipedia): "His career ended in 1978 in bizarre fashion. Scheduled to be the starting pitcher against the Detroit Tigers on April 12, Moret was spotted in the Ranger locker room in a catatonic state, with his arm extended holding a slipper. He was unresponsive to examiners, and was immediately taken to a psychiatric facility and placed on the disabled list. He appeared in only six more games after the bizarre incident."

Allen wanted to be called Dick, writers insisted on calling him Richie; I'm guessing Moret preferred Rogelio to Roger.