RIP Rusty Staub, 1944-2018

[G-Fafif]

Sad, sad news to open the season with. From Bill Madden in the Daily News:

In every way, Rusty Staub, the beloved Mets' hitting icon, who passed away early Thursday morning at age 73, was bigger than life — a bigger-than-life baseball personality, humanitarian, gourmet chef, wine connoisseur, friend-to-all and, to the fans of Montreal, quite simply, "Le Grand Orange." The hulking 6-2 Staub, whose post-retirement weight fluctuated from 250-300 pounds, had battled a number of health issues in recent years, including a near-fatal heart attack, October 2, 2015, on a plane flight from Ireland to New York. He reportedly became woozy while playing golf near his Palm Beach Gardens, Fl. home in late January and was later discovered to be suffering from cellulitis, which evolved into a blood infection that resulted in a shutdown of his kidneys. Staub died at 12:30 a.m. Thursday at the Good Samaritan Medical Center in Palm Beach, Florida, due to multiple organ failure. He was initially admitted with pneumonia, dehydration and an infection and spent the last eight weeks in the hospital. He would have turned 74 on Sunday. Staub’s legacy is immense, and will be immediately felt at Citi Field where the Mets open their season Thursday afternoon.

[Guest cooby]

Oh no!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Crud.

Orange (instead of black) band on the sleeve would be a nice tribute.

[Edgy MD]

No tribute seems enough.

My first clear baseball memory is him wrecking the his shoulder smashing into the wall in right in the 1973 post-season, and throwing underhand later in the series.

[Guest 41Forever]

Tremendous loss to the Mets family, especially after Ed Charles' passing a few weeks ago.

How I'll always remember Rusty -- sleeveless and ready to mash!

[Benjamin Grimm]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Orange (instead of black) band on the sleeve would be a nice tribute.

That's a great idea.

Such sad news.

[dgwphotography]

Just devastating news, especially on Opening Day.

RIP Rusty. As good as he was on the field, he was a first ballot hall of famer off the field.

Edited March 29, 2018 by Guest

[MFS62]

He gave so much. He did so much. And in later years, he suffered so much.
RIP.

Later

[Guest d'Kong76]

Aw crap, and Keef said not long ago he was doing much better.

RIP, Big Guy.

[seawolf17]

An all-time Met, by any metric. One of the Metsiest Mets who ever Metsed.

[Lefty Specialist]

Wow. That really sucks. Not just a good player, but a good person. He did a lot for the 9/11 police and fire widows, among many many other things.

Agreed on the orange stripe- it would be so perfect.

[Farmer Ted]

Always giving. RIP.

http://www.answerthecall.org/

http://www.rustystaubfoundation.com/

[Edgy MD]

A great apple polisher.

The ideal of what a ballplayer-citizen could be.

[G-Fafif]

Only one Rusty Staub.

[metirish]

How sad, loved seeing him in the booth over the years

[Chad ochoseis]

Goodbye, and au revoir.

It's pretty much impossible to be 50ish, a Mets fan, and not have some early memory of Rusty. Mine is this game, from August 14, 1974, which featured a walkoff single by Rusty with bases loaded, one out, and the outfield playing at what he described in the following day's Daily News as "deep Little League".

[Benjamin Grimm]

I remember the first-inning grand slam that he hit on Mother's Day, 1972. Put the Mets ahead of the Giants 4-0. The Giants later tied the score at 4, but the Mets would get the winning run on a solo homer by the new guy, playing against his old team. (That new guy is also known as "Willie Mays".) Final score: Mets 5, Giants 4.

[Zvon]

Ugh. This sucks. RIP Rusty.



[fimg=500]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/k5LDiAfSHHAo5kIHkCfB0eDhg2XMTG64QhJlTI5ctsdkT23kuMjwhL2e63uWZ7FTBx820-UF5dWqwa_6JdmcvJ7MUGnYh0HTvoGE2ofxRCCpR6aHR6GSvot2XjRnqasop2T4QZyNT9KPSiyIRgsp2EYn5l7xkXoMuMAFmc0Xu3K4J91sYzVB6J4pLZbKy2tQMFZfi4j1s7GbWl7Ob2tHGNSXbn-ZzEVVshqil3rVLIknUxF-5rqLYgfET-4zneVwlpZce9gtgjHqhLW82Xh2JrA4k3FhV0UbTEsAzwCXkb0S-rG0i5bRDccpwIfOc8PlHynz3O25skLFwyx0kVcTH6dIksbFaqjhI0PED2a-5GhqqMpoxeQmx97T9H6earmXyTIKqRE-xdJBeankZUokQYsmb423v3J_mEyjvC-XRw6ryyKtQ9nzs00DeFGyE1zswrAU6LJ3pTSRk8D2LqnlwtGZFn76wqwL4LdOwDYmGDbYifkGopQ0eJxV3N46KA2EWgS9bAgkInLuKACdviOv-3Gek_B9gcU1Vc5gDTRXdh9XuTtNqFBylA_iV9jon3SbAVn7GSfnqe9kohUvLeq8XEm4F900LbHObrER9h37=w692-h488-no[/fimg]

[Guest cooby]

So awesome. My first Mets crush

[batmagadanleadoff]

Zvon wrote: [fimg=500]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/k5LDiAfSHHAo5kIHkCfB0eDhg2XMTG64QhJlTI5ctsdkT23kuMjwhL2e63uWZ7FTBx820-UF5dWqwa_6JdmcvJ7MUGnYh0HTvoGE2ofxRCCpR6aHR6GSvot2XjRnqasop2T4QZyNT9KPSiyIRgsp2EYn5l7xkXoMuMAFmc0Xu3K4J91sYzVB6J4pLZbKy2tQMFZfi4j1s7GbWl7Ob2tHGNSXbn-ZzEVVshqil3rVLIknUxF-5rqLYgfET-4zneVwlpZce9gtgjHqhLW82Xh2JrA4k3FhV0UbTEsAzwCXkb0S-rG0i5bRDccpwIfOc8PlHynz3O25skLFwyx0kVcTH6dIksbFaqjhI0PED2a-5GhqqMpoxeQmx97T9H6earmXyTIKqRE-xdJBeankZUokQYsmb423v3J_mEyjvC-XRw6ryyKtQ9nzs00DeFGyE1zswrAU6LJ3pTSRk8D2LqnlwtGZFn76wqwL4LdOwDYmGDbYifkGopQ0eJxV3N46KA2EWgS9bAgkInLuKACdviOv-3Gek_B9gcU1Vc5gDTRXdh9XuTtNqFBylA_iV9jon3SbAVn7GSfnqe9kohUvLeq8XEm4F900LbHObrER9h37=w692-h488-no[/fimg]

Sad day for the Mets family. What I remember most about the footage above of Rusty crashing into the outfield wall is the umpire running into the frame and making the out sign.

I like the orange colored armband idea. And this being the Mets, it'd be cheaper than an orange with the numbers 4 and 10 inside.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Zvon wrote: [fimg=500]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/k5LDiAfSHHAo5kIHkCfB0eDhg2XMTG64QhJlTI5ctsdkT23kuMjwhL2e63uWZ7FTBx820-UF5dWqwa_6JdmcvJ7MUGnYh0HTvoGE2ofxRCCpR6aHR6GSvot2XjRnqasop2T4QZyNT9KPSiyIRgsp2EYn5l7xkXoMuMAFmc0Xu3K4J91sYzVB6J4pLZbKy2tQMFZfi4j1s7GbWl7Ob2tHGNSXbn-ZzEVVshqil3rVLIknUxF-5rqLYgfET-4zneVwlpZce9gtgjHqhLW82Xh2JrA4k3FhV0UbTEsAzwCXkb0S-rG0i5bRDccpwIfOc8PlHynz3O25skLFwyx0kVcTH6dIksbFaqjhI0PED2a-5GhqqMpoxeQmx97T9H6earmXyTIKqRE-xdJBeankZUokQYsmb423v3J_mEyjvC-XRw6ryyKtQ9nzs00DeFGyE1zswrAU6LJ3pTSRk8D2LqnlwtGZFn76wqwL4LdOwDYmGDbYifkGopQ0eJxV3N46KA2EWgS9bAgkInLuKACdviOv-3Gek_B9gcU1Vc5gDTRXdh9XuTtNqFBylA_iV9jon3SbAVn7GSfnqe9kohUvLeq8XEm4F900LbHObrER9h37=w692-h488-no[/fimg] Sad day for the Mets family. What I remember most about the footage above of Rusty crashing into the outfield wall is the umpire running into the frame and making the out sign. I like the orange colored armband idea. And this being the Mets, it'd be cheaper than an orange with the numbers 4 and 10 inside.

Wow. I've been reading some of Staub's obituary articles out there and I had no idea of the size and scope of his philantrophic contributions.

[seawolf17]

Two Rusty games stand out in my memory. The switching from LF to RF one, obviously, and a game-winning pinch HR late in '84 or '85.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I met Rusty at a banquet in 1983 when he refused to sign a baseball card. Michigan/batmags on the cards, Michigan blog linked here too: http://www.mbtn.net/?p=2870

[Guest 41Forever]

I met Rusty at a banquet in 1983 when he refused to sign a baseball card. Michigan/batmags on the cards, Michigan blog linked here too: http://www.mbtn.net/?p=2870

That's right! We solved the mystery of the worst card ever!

[Benjamin Grimm]

And that inspired this:

[smg58]

Not sure the Mets ever had a more universally liked player. I also like the orange stripe idea.

[seawolf17]

smg58 wrote: Not sure the Mets ever had a more universally liked player. I also like the orange stripe idea.

The only other player who comes to mind is Mookie.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Would it be tacky or respectful to have him lie in state in the Citi Field rotunda?

If it's a respectful thing, he certainly deserves it, but I'm afraid it probably falls more on the side of tacky.

[G-Fafif]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Would it be tacky or respectful to have him lie in state in the Citi Field rotunda? If it's a respectful thing, he certainly deserves it, but I'm afraid it probably falls more on the side of tacky.

Fitting in the scheme of baseball history, but given that he died in Florida (I don't know where his final resting place will be), the logistics might be tricky.

[Edgy MD]

I wonder if Washington will see fit to honor him in some way also.