Baseball Passings 2019

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Skaggs family also signaling a plan go medieval on any culpable parties, this could get really bad for the Angels

[Frayed Knot]

Welcome to the monkey house Joe Maddon!

[G-Fafif]

Eric Cooper, the umpire who ejected Mike Piazza for routine kvetching in the first inning of a well-attended Sunday game at Shea in Piazza's final Met season, 52.



Far too soon in both cases.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Wow. he apparently just had knee surgery and was felled by a blood clot

[Frayed Knot]

I was gonna say ... just 52 y/o and worked playoff games as recently as two weeks ago (Yanx/Twinz)

You figured there had to be an odd story to it.

[Edgy MD]

Still, umps have long been prone to a host of male morbitities. It's a challenging life. I'd be fat as a whale if I lived out of hotels.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Another umpire, Chuck Meriwether, dies at 63. He retired a few years ago.

[G-Fafif]

Ron Fairly, 81, a first-year Los Angeles Dodger, first-year Montreal Expo and first-year Toronto Blue Jay. Played with the Cardinals, A's and Angels, too. Longtime broadcaster on the West Coast. His 1967 Topps was one of the first cards I ever had.

[Frayed Knot]

Whenever Keith talks about great-fielding 1st sackers, Fairly is his go-to guy from his youth.




=G-Fafif post_id=25502 time=1572469588 user_id=55]
... first-year Los Angeles Dodger, first-year Montreal Expo and first-year Toronto Blue Jay.

[Edgy MD]

Ron was probably the most consistent hitter on those highly-successful-but offensively-spotty Koufax/Drysdale Dodger teams of the early-to-mid 60s. Their 1965 team was probably the poorest hitting squad to win a championship going back to the dead-ball era. Drysdale had a better OPS than anybody in the regular starting lineup.

[G-Fafif]

Fairly played in 21 different seasons, homered for six teams, went deep 215 times overall, yet didn't total 100 homers for any one team. Never hit as many as 20 in a single year nor drive in as many 80 runs in a season. Still seemed solid as hell for a long time.

[Double Switch]

I recommend his recent book:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51LDWDf8mGL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg>

I had the privilege to visit with him several times and enjoyed his graciousness and wit. A sad loss indeed.

[Edgy MD]

=G-Fafif post_id=25511 time=1572476981 user_id=55]
Fairly played in 21 different seasons, homered for six teams, went deep 215 times overall, yet didn't total 100 homers for any one team. Never hit as many as 20 in a single year nor drive in as many 80 runs in a season. Still seemed solid as hell for a long time.

[G-Fafif]

Revered in life, punned in death.

[G-Fafif]

John Delcos, veteran baseball writer. Covered the Mets for the Journal News in the late Shea years and pioneered press box-fan interactivity pre-Twitter, responding to questions during games in the comments section of his blog. Struck a very respectful tone, which isn't always easy or common. Covered other teams over the years and later worked with Mets Merized Online. A very nice man in my experience.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I didn't know Delcos but I observed it as kind of sad he'd been let go by a paper then was blogging it with the mom's-basementers. Not sad for him so much as sad for everything.



Anyway I just read that Bob Johnson (Bob W Johnson) passed away. He was an ace righthanded-hitting pinch-hitter for the '67 Mets , hitting .348 in 90 games/248 PA. Then traded after the season for Art Shamsky

[G-Fafif]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I didn't know Delcos but I observed it as kind of sad he'd been let go by a paper then was blogging it with the mom's-basementers. Not sad for him so much as sad for everything.

For a couple of years, the Mets had us MB types in for a hot stove sounding board dinner. Delcos sat among us once. He was perfectly polite about the whole thing, and conducted himself as if we were all BBWAA members, but I kept thinking this man did not belong at the children's table with the rest of us.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Anyway I just read that Bob Johnson (Bob W Johnson) passed away. He was an ace righthanded-hitting pinch-hitter for the '67 Mets , hitting .348 in 90 games/248 PA. Then traded after the season for Art Shamsky

What is this shit? Mets get their own death threads.

[G-Fafif]

Matt Silverman offers some Delcos memories.



http://metsilverman.com/recalling-dear-departed-delcos/http://metsilverman.com/recalling-dear-departed-delcos/

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: Fairly played in 21 different seasons, homered for six teams, went deep 215 times overall, yet didn't total 100 homers for any one team. Never hit as many as 20 in a single year nor drive in as many 80 runs in a season. Still seemed solid as hell for a long time. Fairly solid.

Revered in life, punned in death.

[fimg=555]http://www.athletesquarterly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Fairly15_preview-823x1024.jpeg[/fimg]



[FIMG=444]https://vintagecardprices.com/pics/1792/164265.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=288]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51hYsxBh0dL._SY445_QL70_.jpg[/FIMG]



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49064672286_4a2acd7db5_c.jpg>

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: Fairly played in 21 different seasons, homered for six teams, went deep 215 times overall, yet didn't total 100 homers for any one team. Never hit as many as 20 in a single year nor drive in as many 80 runs in a season. Still seemed solid as hell for a long time. Fairly solid. Revered in life, punned in death. [fimg=555]http://www.athletesquarterly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Fairly15_preview-823x1024.jpeg[/fimg] [FIMG=444]https://vintagecardprices.com/pics/1792/164265.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=288]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51hYsxBh0dL._SY445_QL70_.jpg[/FIMG] https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49064672286_4a2acd7db5_c.jpg>

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/keith-hernandez-book-stats-cardinals-mets-trade-broadcast-interview/ktn2tv1tar4k1swk28fzlccsdhttps://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/keith-hernandez-book-stats-cardinals-mets-trade-broadcast-interview/ktn2tv1tar4k1swk28fzlccsd





SPORTING NEWS: I did a little research while reading the book and found some fascinating nuggets. The Oct. 14, 1974, St. Louis Post-Dispatch story on the Joe Torre trade had a great opening line: “Okay, Keith Hernandez. First base is yours.” Did you have a sense that Torre, who won the NL Most Valuable Player award as well as the batting title for the Cards three years earlier, was going to be traded during the 1974 offseason?



KEITH HERNANDEZ: I was pretty certain that he would be, yes. I hit .351 that year at AAA Tulsa. They called me up and gave me a long look in September.



SN: Would you say going into 1975 spring training that the first base position was yours to lose?



KH: Even after the Torre trade I didn't feel it was mine to lose so much as it was mine to hold onto. I really wasn't ready emotionally at 20, I was still a little kid, you know, overawed by playing in the big leagues, facing guys like (Tom) Seaver.



SN: Was that because of Ron Fairly's presence? The former bonus baby's final statistics for '75 came out very similar to the type of numbers you would normally produce during your career (.301 batting average/.421 on-base percentage.) When the Cardinals acquired Fairly from the Expos in December of 1974, did you think he was going to eat into your playing time?



KH: I felt that, yeah, they got him as an insurance policy, but also a veteran bat off the bench. But at that age, I didn't have the brain to consider how St. Louis was molding the club. I learned a lot from Ron. He showed me how to break in my first baseman's mitt, even better than I knew how to break in a glove. He also taught me how to cheat around first base on defense. But at the same time, he was a no-nonsense guy, kind of a Marine, a rough and gruff guy. Look, he wanted the job, too, and I sensed his hunger to still want to play regularly — and why not? So when I started struggling, I felt his presence. It didn't help, but that's the name of the game — the game's full of competition.

[G-Fafif]

Vera Clemente, 81, widow of Roberto. Represented his legacy for more than half of her life.

[whippoorwill]

A beautiful woman

[Edgy MD]

Matt Silverman https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/remembering-john-delcos-matthew-silverman/?trackingId=UmXd18B1f2VHLRUaIavR6A%3D%3Dremembers John Delcos.



[FIMG=350]https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQEiVgemEhoRzA/article-inline_image-shrink_1000_1488/0?e=1579737600&v=beta&t=eIaNR19AUKvQmPwDLpIqDX1Ff7PUl6iRYlwq5s1fxvw[/FIMG]

[G-Fafif]

[G-Fafif]

Ted Lepcio, 90, utility infielder with the Red Sox in the ‘50s. The Mets signed Ted after the expansion draft but released him at the end of Spring Training, after which he retired.