Baseball Passings 2021

[Edgy MD]

At different times, Jones had an eephus, a knuckle curve, a big bushy pushbroom mustache, and a curly little mullet coming out of the back of his hat. He threw for seven teams over 16 seasons, usually after coming in on a minor league contract. He had an immaculate inning on his record and 303 saves, despite not being able to break a window with his fastball for most (all?) of his career. And he retired as the oldest guy in the league.



If somebody besides him is the quintessential soft-tossing journeyman reliever, I'd like to know who.

[seawolf17]

Interesting. Jones was drafted in 1978, pitched in four games with the Brewers in 1982, but didn't hit the majors again until the end of the 1986 season with Cleveland at age 29 (!) -- so yeah, he was pretty much always the "old guy."

[Edgy MD]

Story apparently broken by an announcement from Greg Swindell, who reported COVID complications as the cause.

[MFS62]

Bill Virdon 90

https://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Pirates-Bill-Virdon-Astros-manager-dead-obit-16645930.phphttps://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Pirates-Bill-Virdon-Astros-manager-dead-obit-16645930.php

I remember him as a great defensive centerfielder for the 1960 Pirates.

Hadn't realized he was the winningest Houston manager.



RIP, "Quail"

Later

[G-Fafif]

Virdon was Steinbrenner's backup when he couldn't have Dick Williams in 1974 and nearly managed MFYs to a division title. Was cast aside for Billy Martin 1.0 the next year. Only MFY manager to not manage at any of the MFYSes since 1923, but the privilege of calling Shea his home park no doubt was the real prize.



Seems to halve a Buddy Harrelson type relationship to the Pirates: beloved player, let go as manager, back to being beloved alum before long.



https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2021/11/23/Pirates-mourn-passing-Bill-Virdon-center-fielder-World-Series-1960-manager/stories/202111230104https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2021/11/23/Pirates-mourn-passing-Bill-Virdon-center-fielder-World-Series-1960-manager/stories/202111230104

[whippoorwill]

Remember him as a Pirate member

[Edgy MD]

Started his managerial career in the Mets system, including several future World Champions with https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=695b9940Williamsport in 1966 and https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=7ba56317Jacksonville in 1967.



Also gets a slot on the UMDB for putting himself in the game a few times in '66, reaching base one time in eight trips for Williamsport.

[G-Fafif]

LaMarr Hoyt, 1983 AL Cy Young winner and 1985 NL All-Star starting pitcher and victor, 66, from cancer. Dealt Doc Gooden one of his four 1985 losses, 2-0 on May 20. Hoyt not only threw a four-hit shutout, but drove the second of two second-inning runs to provide his own cushion.



In 1984, Hoyt started Opening Day for the White Sox, which is not something many teammates of Tom Seaver could say (Don Cardwell, Frank Pastore and Mario Soto are the others — only Soto is still with us).

[G-Fafif]

Bob Dole, who never gave up on Dem Bums, 98.

Dole Cites ‘Brooklyn Dodgers' Pitcher Before Speech September 18, 1996 LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole took time out from his tough anti-drug speech Wednesday to recognize the no-hitter tossed the night before by Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo. But, in what the campaign insisted was just a joke, Dole mentioned that Nomo pitched the no-hitter for the Brooklyn Dodgers. “I'm going to be like Nomo. I'm going to pitch a no-hitter from now until Nov. 5. The Brooklyn Dodgers had a no-hitter last night. I'm going to follow what Nomo did and we're going to wipe them out between now and Nov. 5,″ Dole said. The Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1957, a few years before Dole won his first election to Congress. Nomo pitched the no-hitter Tuesday night at Colorado, his first. Dole spokesman Nelson Warfield said the candidate was simply trying to “add some mirth to the mix″ before his speech.

https://apnews.com/article/de0eaa173cc4bde47aca43c5d85d9b35https://apnews.com/article/de0eaa173cc4bde47aca43c5d85d9b35

[G-Fafif]

Anyway, good night for those Brooklyn Dodgers (and one of Dole's fellow WWII vets).

[G-Fafif]

Chuck Dobson, big part of the Oakland A's first division-winning staff in 1971, 77. I mostly thought of him as not Pat Dobson, but his SABR bio reveals a pretty intense life story.

In 1968 Dobson broke a longstanding tradition by becoming one of the first white players in major-league history to room with an African American on the road. According to Dobson, it happened as a result of a different roommate and a bad outing. “Reggie [Jackson] would always come to me in spring training and ask if I wanted to be his roommate, but I was rooming with [Jim] Gosger at the time,” said Dobson, explaining that Jackson was the 25th man on the team and had a single room. “After a late, knuckleball flight to Baltimore, we didn't get to the hotel until about 3 or 4 a.m. And I am supposed to pitch the first game of a doubleheader later that day (August 26) at 1. Well, I was woken up at 7:30 by my roommate who had a woman in his bed. I couldn't sleep after that, got dressed, and went to the park. I got shelled that day, gave up seven runs in the first inning. I went to Reggie and asked if he was ready to room together and he said ‘sure.' I didn't say anything. I just got my suitcase and moved.” Dobson was a fiercely independent player, kept his own counsel, and never connected baseball talent to race and politics. Nor was he afraid of any backlash from teammates for a decision that was bound to have repercussions around the league. “The coaching staff didn't say much about us rooming together,” said Dobson, but he added without mentioning names, “A few players asked ‘Why do you want to room with that nigger?' That surprised me, but Reggie was becoming a star so there wasn't much anyone could say or do about the situation.” They roomed for more than two years and developed a mutual respect. In what seemed like an annual tradition, Dobson reported to spring training with questions about his health. Not only did he wear a brace on his right ankle that limited his flexibility, he had to get used to the new, lowered mound that Major League Baseball hoped would generate more offense. Dobson relied on his fastball (thrown from a three-quarters delivery), and a big overhand curve for his success. His concern about the effects of the mound seemed confirmed by his poor start (1-3 with a 6.41 ERA) to the season. “I go out there and I'm King Kong mentally,” he told The Sporting News. “I grimace so hard you can see my veins sticking out of my neck.4 Throughout his playing career, his managers implored him to relax on the mound and throw the ball instead of trying to pinpoint it, which led to occasional bouts of wildness and a tendency to give up the gopher ball. But Dobson adjusted to the new mound and reeled off the most commanding stretch of his career thus far. In a span of 11 starts in May and June, he won eight of ten decisions, averaged a shade over eight innings per start and sported a 2.21 ERA while the A's battled the Minnesota Twins for first place in the AL West. Though Oakland fell off the pace in the second half of the season to finish in second place, Dobson enjoyed a breakout season and his first winning campaign. He tied for the team-high in wins (15) and starts (35), and paced the team with 11 complete games. Dobson loved baseball, taking the mound, the competition with the batters, the suspense, and daily battles. And he had a reputation as a hard-working, committed, hustling player. But he revealed to the author another, more vulnerable side. “My problem in baseball was the lifestyle,” he said. “I wasn't ready for it. I drank too much and became an alcoholic.” Dobson suggested that baseball was a haven for alcoholics and drinking was tolerated if not encouraged. Players drank in the clubhouse, on the road, in the hotel, with teammates, and the list goes on. Alcohol abuse was an open secret that teams ignored as long as players performed. “A member of the coaching staff once told me to stop drinking so much,” said Dobson. “But he was always drunk so it was hard to take the advice of someone like that.” With brutal honesty, Dobson admitted that drinking affected his career, “It wasn't the alcohol; it was the alcoholism that kicked my ass.” Since the team's move to Oakland, Dobson had been bothered by pain in his right elbow. “My elbow hurt the entire year in 1970,” he said. “The problem was that my elbow kept growing out of my arm. The bone was getting bigger and bigger and more extended from calcium deposits. That started to put more pressure on my forearm. But the trainers got me ready for every game and during heat of summer I could still loosen up quickly.” Inconsistent through the first half of the season, he won seven games (all complete games), but lost ten with an ERA about 4.50. After the All-Star break, he commenced the most dominant streak in his career. In a span of 29 days (from July 16 to August 14), he won a career-high eight consecutive starts, tossed three, four-hit shutouts, and posted a minuscule 1.10 ERA. Batters hit just .162. Suffering from excruciating pain every time he threw the ball, Dobson pitched on three and four days' rest throughout the season, but managed only one more win after his streak. In spite of his elbow, he tied for the AL lead in games started (40) and shutouts (5), and established career highs in wins (16), complete games (13), and innings (267). In his first six seasons with the A's (1966-1971), Dobson played for five different Opening Day managers (Al Dark, Bob Kennedy, Hank Bauer, John McNamara, and Dick Williams) and experienced two midseason managerial exchanges. He became accustomed to Charley Finley's notoriously dictatorial ways, perpetual undermining, and cost-cutting approach. “Finley was the owner and general manager (after 1968),” said Dobson who compared him to the Dallas Cowboys' egomaniacal owner-general manager Jerry Jones. “We knew the managers didn't have much control. It was all Finley and he ruined things — until Dick Williams got there in 1971. We respected Williams because he gave the impression that he had some control.” In interviews with A's beat reporter Ron Bergman of the Oakland Tribune, Dobson regularly voiced his frustrations with Finley's meddling, claiming the players had to get numb to Finley in order to concentrate on baseball. Articulate, opinionated, and brutally honest, yet never one to seek the limelight, Dobson made national news during spring training in 1971 when he became the first active big leaguer to admit to occasionally using greenies (amphetamines) on game days. In light of Jim Bouton's revealing and controversial book Ball Four detailing the everyday lives of baseball players (including the use of greenies) and the increased focus on illicit drug use in America at the time, Dobson's remarks were shocking. Like alcohol, amphetamines were tolerated in baseball and their widespread use ignored. “The whole league was taking amphetamines,” Dobson told the author unequivocally. “Starting pitchers, at least. Not every game but at some time or another. They were common.” Dobson's admission to taking greenies spread like wildfire after the Oakland Tribune ran the headline “Dobson Defends Pills.” “I remember a game in California (May 28, 1970) when I was sicker than a dog,” he remembered. “I had a 102-degree fever and broke out in cold sweats. I took an amphetamine and pitched a shutout. I told the writers about that game and they flew with it. It caused all kinds of flak.” In attempt to preserve the last vestiges of a clean, all-American sport free from the evils of society, baseball executives acted quickly and forcefully. “Finley, (AL President) Joe Cronin, and (Commissioner Bowie) Kuhn called me up and told me that I gotta retract,” Dobson said. “They put the fear of God in me. And I did. I lied my ass off. I said to the press that that was the only time I did it. The whole situation quieted down after that.” More than anything, Dobson recognized the precarious relationship between illegal drugs, on-field performance, and the rising salaries of the early 1970s; and his comments foreshadowed the discussion about steroids and performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) 40 years later. “I don't see how [Kuhn] can stop [amphetamines] with the money involved,” Dobson said in 1971.”One victory can mean thousands of dollars on your contract.” Lost in the brouhaha about greenies was Dobson's aching elbow. After he missed most of spring training and all of April on the disabled list, Dobson's season was in doubt. But pitching on sheer determination and guts, and given some extra time between starts, he unexpectedly began the season by winning a career-high nine consecutive decisions. Though not quite as overpowering as in years past, Dobson was given better run support, helping him shed a reputation as a hard-luck loser. He had also added a “slurve,” a slow breaking curveball, to his pitching repertoire. (He said he copied it from Catfish Hunter.) With the A's cruising to the first of five consecutive AL West crowns, Dobson improved his record to 15-3 by blanking the Angels on seven hits on September 1. Unbeknownst at the time, Dobson would not win another big-league game for three years and only two more in his career. “My arm crapped out on me and I really couldn't pitch the last month of the season,” he said. He finished with a 15-5 record and a 3.81 ERA. He did not pitch in the A's three-game sweep by the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Championship Series. During the offseason Dobson underwent elbow surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. A quarter-inch piece of bone was removed from his elbow, which required additional muscle repair. The operation was not career-threatening, but ample recovery time was generally prescribed. “Finley's doctor in Oakland — not my surgeon — told me that I could come back and pitch in seven weeks,” Dobson said with an air of disgust and disbelief more than 40 years later. “That was the beginning of the end for me. I ruined my arm. And Finley blamed me!” In constant pain during spring training, Dobson cleared waivers in April and was sent to the A's Birmingham farm club. After pitching just 19 innings, he left without permission and returned home. “I roomed with Denny McLain, the world's craziest person,” said Dobson, whose alcoholism, and excessive drinking with the former 30-game winner, took a toll on his physical recovery. The A's, still sure that Dobson's elbow only needed time to regain its strength, sent him to Tucson in the Pacific Coast League in 1973. Notwithstanding his 5.23 ERA in 203 innings with the Toros, he was recalled in September but was shelled in his only start. Following a stint with Caracas in the Venezuelan Winter League, Dobson was released near the end of spring training in 1974. “I was depressed when I got released,” recalled Dobson. “I said screw baseball. But my arm was good enough and I could have stuck around playing somewhere. I figured I'd go into business.” He was unable to resist an offer of $3,000 per month, however, and signed a contract with the Mexico City Lions. “I hadn't pitched in about a month and was out on the field and noticed there's no pain.” Dobson said. “And then I thought, isn't this a hell of a situation. I'm down in Mexico and owned by them. All of a sudden I had my fastball back.” Dobson won ten of 12 decisions and had a simple explanation for his unexpected success. “I was pretty dry, didn't drink too much, and didn't take amphetamines.” Dobson got a second chance when the California Angels signed him. He was assigned to the Salt Lake City Angels, and was a September call-up. In his first start he tossed a complete game against the Texas Rangers and got his first win in the big leagues in three years. After three rough outings, he enjoyed sweet revenge: He limited his former Oakland teammates to five hits and struck out nine in a 3-2 complete-game win. “I just went into the dugout after the game and cried.” But he also noticed an undeniable change: “When I crossed the border to the US after I was signed by the Angels I lost my fastball again. I had my scotch again and access to amphetamines. My body just didn't respond.” He pitched briefly for Salt Lake City in 1976. “I didn't retire, I just quit,” said Dobson about the end of his playing career in 1976. In his nine-year big-league career he won 74 games, lost 69, logged 1,258⅓ innings, and posted a 3.78 ERA. He won 38 times in the minor leagues.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/chuck-dobson/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/chuck-dobson/

[G-Fafif]

Roland Hemond, the White Sox GM who snatched an unprotected Tom Seaver from the Mets in the 1984 compensation pool, 92. The man had devilishly good taste.

[Edgy MD]

Hemond ran the Sox from 1970 to 1985, and the Orioles from 1988 to 1995. He was a man who liked an extra helping of Harold Baines.

[G-Fafif]

https://twitter.com/mlbnetwork/status/1474530831444201476