Don Cardwell dead

[Frayed Knot]

Heard it on the radio, no details yet.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I just noticed that his UMDB hits were going through the roof all of a sudden.

I searched and found this page:

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354208469

[Guest AG/DC]

Sixty-nine Mets shouldn't die.

Agee, Cardwell, Clendennon, Frisella, Koonce, and McGraw say otherwise.

Death is hitting the pitching staff the hardest.

[metirish]

Rest in Peace.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Cardwell was the oldest pitcher of the 69 team and something of a mentor to the younguns. Pitched great that August as the Mets caught fire.

Apparently came to blows with Ron Swoboda over Swoboda's wearing "love beads" on the team plane.

[G-Fafif]

[seawolf17]

RIP, Don.

[Guest themetfairy]

RIP

[Benjamin Grimm]

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

.

[Willets Point]

[Elster88]

[Guest AG/DC]

He had 15 career homers.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

[RealityChuck]

Cardwell had a pretty good career with the Mets; he was the one who made the Dennis Ribant for Don Bosch trade into a decent one for the team.

He was also one of the last of the Schenectady Blue Jays to play in the majors. It was fun seeing the word "Schenectady" at the bottom of his baseball card statistics (long before I moved here).

[Benjamin Grimm]

Now there are 45 dead Mets players, and 776 who are still living.

[Frayed Knot]

]Now there are 45 dead Mets players, and 776 who are still living.

One would suspect that the rate of deaths will start to increase over the next number of years before eventually leveling off.
Guys who were young men 40-some years ago are just now getting to be old men which will signal an increase in mortality for the same actuarial reasons that WWII vets are dying at a faster rate now than they were even during the war itself.

]Cardwell had a pretty good career with the Mets

Currently #103 on your CPF hit parade. Just fell out of the top-100 with this year's update.

[Guest AG/DC]

Could you imagine pitching a no-hitter against the Cardinals in your first game as a Cub?

[Guest AG/DC]

Of course, he really helped sink the Cubs in 1969. He threw 29.1 innings in August to the tune of a 1.84 ERA and followed that up with 23 September 23. innigs and a 0.39 ERA.

Forget his guidance of the younger pitchers. He was guiding them by outpitching them.

On September 12 of that year, two days after the Mets pulled in the lead. He was part of a unique double header that really must've broken the spirits of any Cubs fans watching the scoreboard. He won game two 1-0 (save by McGraw) by driving in the only run, after Jerry Koosman won game one 1-0 (complete game) by driving in the only run.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Frayed Knot wrote: One would suspect that the rate of deaths will start to increase over the next number of years before eventually leveling off. Guys who were young men 40-some years ago are just now getting to be old men which will signal an increase in mortality for the same actuarial reasons that WWII vets are dying at a faster rate now than they were even during the war itself.

At some point the number of dead will catch up to, and then exceed, the number of living players. I don't have an accurate estimate as to when that might be. My guess would be about 30 to 40 years from now. Any actuaries in the house?

[MFS62]

The sportscaster on the station I was listening to said "Caldwell".

I couldn't figure out who he was talking about.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

I wasn't even thinking of the raw numbers (eventually that HAS TO surpass the living ones as long as the franchise exits) so much as just the rate of deaths.
A new-ish franchise has a ratio of ex-players that tilts towards the still-young recently retired types plus middle-agers and away from the somewhat older and very elderly. For the Mets that ratio will start to level out in the next decade or two and the rate of dying ballplayers will start to pick up because of it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Cardwell brings the wicked high heat in the 9th inning of his no-hitter.

[Guest AG/DC]

He was sure getting that low strike called for him.

Nice to see fellow future Mets George Altman and Richie Ashburn making plays for him. I had forgotten Ashburn was a Cub.

[G-Fafif]

="John Cougar Lunchbucket"]Apparently came to blows with Ron Swoboda over Swoboda's wearing "love beads" on the team plane.

From an interview with Stanley Cohen in A Magic Summer:

]I remember only one incident of friction, and I was involved in it. Some of the younger guys used to wear those love beads around their necks, and some of us older guys didn't take to that too much. We were on a flight from L.A. to Houston, and I kind of got on Swoboda's case. He was wearing love beads, and I snatched them off his neck and threw them in the trash can. Then I went back to my seat and strapped myself in. He came up to me and we exchanged some words. I started to take a swing at him, but I forgot I had my seatbelt on, and that was the end of it. Rocky's a good guy, though. He thought I was a southern redneck, and I thought he...I thought he was just a Rocky.

"Cardwell," added the author, "laughs at the recollection."

[Guest AG/DC]

That's pretty funny that Cardwell didn't spin it to hide the fact that he was 100% the instigator.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

I enjoyed seeiong the Youtube clip of the 9th inning. Great to see players wearing the uniform pants up near their knees and showing stirrups.