Baseball Passings, 2009

[DocTee]

Couldn't find the original thread...





Ask the most hard-core baseball fan about John C. Odom and most likely you'll get a blank stare. Yet millions of people have heard of the slender right-hander.


He was "Bat Man" or "Bat Guy" or "Bat Boy," the minor league baseball player traded for 10 maple bats.

It became a big joke last May when word of the unusual swap jumped off the sports pages, and the former San Francisco Giants prospect went from pitcher to punch line.

"People are like, 'I'd kill myself' and stuff," Odom said at the time, dismissing any such notion.

Three weeks after the trade, he abruptly left the team.

Six months after the trade, he was dead.

The medical examiner said Odom's death in Georgia on Nov. 5 at age 26 was an accidental overdose from heroin, methamphetamine, the stimulant benzylpiperazine and alcohol.

Odom's death had drawn little notice by the start of spring training this year. Now, former teammates, managers and club officials keep asking a question for which there is no satisfying answer.

"I guarantee this trade thing really bothered him. That really worried me," said Dan Shwam, who managed Odom last year on the Laredo Broncos of the United League. "I really believe, knowing his background, that this drove him back to the bottle, that it put him on the road to drugs again."

Shwam added: "There were some demons chasing him, they'd been after him for a long time. But there's no way to really know whether the trade did it, is there?"

At first, Odom seemed to handle it well. He gladly agreed to interviews. He kidded about the kooky deal and said it would make a better story if he reached the majors someday.

Odom certainly wasn't on the path to the big leagues when the Calgary Vipers of the independent Golden Baseball League made him an instant curiosity.

By his own account, the 6-foot-2 Odom was a "lost youth" who got tossed off his Roswell, Ga., high school team. A few years later, he showed up in Florida at Tallahassee Community College, a small-school baseball powerhouse.

"This guy comes into my office, hair hanging below his shoulders, earrings, and asks if he could use my field," TCC coach Mike McLeod recalled.

With a sharp curveball, 90 mph fastball and good changeup, Odom made the team as a walk-on. He pitched well, going 9-3 in 2003-04.

Odom had another talent: He was tremendous on the guitar, playing so often he hurt his elbow and missed some games.

"He had a musician's heart, not an athlete's heart," McLeod said. "He was manic. He'd sometimes come in with dark glasses and you'd know he was in a black mood. But he had so much going for him."

Odom later committed to Oklahoma State and instead signed with the Giants, who had drafted him in the 44th round in 2003.

He had a bumpy four years in the Giants' system, none above Class A. He went 9-8 in 38 games, missed most of one season because of a wrecked right elbow and lost another year to a dislocated left shoulder.

The Giants released Odom in spring training last year. Calgary offered a job, but because of a 1999 conviction for aggravated assault when Odom was a minor, he couldn't get into Canada. On May 20, the team made the famous trade.

Calgary team president Peter Young and Laredo general manager Jose Melendez nearly traded him for a slugger, but it fell apart. Melendez proposed buying Odom's contract for $1,000. Young rejected that, saying the Vipers didn't do cash deals because they made the team look financially unstable.

Bats, though, the Vipers could use. At $665 for 10 bats � made by Prairie Sticks, double-dipped black, 34 inches long, model C243, Laredo agreed to the unusual deal.

"This was not done as a publicity stunt," said Young, now the Vipers' director of baseball operations. "I talked to John several times and told him this wasn't done to embarrass him."

Odom did more than change teams. He changed identities.

One day a ballplayer, the next day a bit of trivia.

"It really is sad," Giants ace Tim Lincecum, who used to bunk on Odom's couch in Class A, said last weekend.

Eager to play somewhere, Odom packed up after the trade and drove 30 hours, nearly 2,000 miles, to Laredo. When he arrived in Texas, everyone wanted to ask him about the bats.

At first, Odom lapped up the publicity. "Batman survives," he said. His first outing went OK, too.

Then came a particularly bad night in Amarillo.

Baseball isn't always the warm and fuzzy game of "Bull Durham" and "Field of Dreams." It can also be cruel and unforgiving.

Reliever Donnie Moore shot himself to death three years after giving up a big home run that kept the Angels from winning the American League pennant. Boston All-Star Bill Buckner became a scourge after letting a ball roll through his legs in the World Series. A Cubs fan, Steve Bartman, retreated from public view after trying to catch a foul ball and possibly costing his team its first National League championship since 1945.

On June 5 in Amarillo, the "Batman" theme played while Odom warmed up for Laredo, and he tipped his cap to the sound booth. But he was battered for eight runs in 3 1-3 innings and mercilessly taunted by the crowd. Shwam went to the mound.

"The chants, the catcalls, they were terrible. I had to get him out of there for his own good. He was falling apart, right in front of our eyes," Shwam said.

When Shwam noticed Odom becoming more withdrawn, he called a team meeting. The message: No more talking about the trade or the bats by anyone.

Odom pitched five good innings at San Angelo on June 10 in what turned out to be his third and last start. On the bus after the game, Odom said he needed to speak with Shwam the next day.

"He came in and said, 'Skip, I'm going home. I just can't take it. I've got some things to take care of. I've got to get my life straightened out,'" Shwam recalled.

And with that, Odom disappeared.

Several baseball people tried calling him, but got no answer.

In January, Shwam called Odom's cell phone, seeing if he wanted to pitch this year for a team in Alexandria, La., but got only his voice mail. A few weeks later, Shwam learned that Odom was dead.

"I was shocked," he said. "Unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me."

His roommate in Laredo, former Twins prospect Nathan Crawford, now lives in Australia and didn't learn about Odom's death until a few weeks ago. Melendez and Young found out only recently, and his old Giants teammates hadn't heard.

Remembered infielder Kevin Frandsen: "He was always wanting to joke around, always wanting to keep the clubhouse mood light."

The medical examiner's office figured out Odom's fame when they saw a tattoo on his right elbow over suture marks that read "Poena Par Sapientia" � a rough Latin translation of "Pain equals wisdom" � and did a Google search.

Details of his final days are elusive. His death was obscure. There is no record on where he was living, no explanation of how his body wound up at a hospital, no police report, no public record of where he is buried. Numerous telephone messages left for his family and friends were not returned.

The actual 10 bats that Odom got traded for, they're easy to discover. An Internet search shows a picture of them, stamped with "John Odom Trade Bat."

They were never used.

The Vipers planned to auction them for charity. When Ripley's Believe it or Not! heard about the trade, it offered $10,000 to the team's children's charity.

So the bats are now stored away at a warehouse in Orlando, Fla.

"We're still hoping to create an exhibit around them," said Tim O'Brien of Ripley's. "It would still attract a lot of interest."

[Guest Edgy DC]

That wasn't easy to read.

[Benjamin Grimm]

How awful.

It's nice that money will go to children's charities, but those bats really shouldn't be part of a museum exhibit.

"I was shocked," he said. "Unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me."

Huh?

[metirish]

Horrible....as noted above it was not easy to read.

[Guest Edgy DC]

"I was shocked," he said. "Unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me."

Huh?

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Sad, sad story. Ripley's should do the right thing and run those bats through a wood chipper. Of course, they are far more likely to create some macabre exhibit to play to the worst of humanity in hopes of making a few bucks.

[Guest Edgy DC]

VARIED CAREER: Whitey Lockman's hit in the 1951 National League playoff game was followed by the Giants' Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard Round the World." Lockman, shown in 1957, later was a coach, manager and executive.

Whitey Lockman dies at 82; ballplayer helped set stage for 'Shot Heard Round the World'
By Claire Noland
March 20, 2009

Whitey Lockman, whose key hit for the New York Giants in the decisive 1951 National League playoff game against the Brooklyn Dodgers set the stage for teammate Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard Round the World," has died. He was 82.

Lockman, of Scottsdale, Ariz., died Tuesday at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, his daughter Linda McCorkle said. He had pulmonary fibrosis and pneumonia.

After a 15-year playing career, Lockman managed the Chicago Cubs for parts of three seasons in the early 1970s.

He then spent more than 25 years as a front-office executive and scout for the Cubs, Montreal Expos and Florida Marlins.

Carroll Walter Lockman was born July 25, 1926, in Lowell, N.C., and was signed as a free agent by the Giants in 1943. Two years later he made his major league debut with the team as an outfielder, hitting a home run in his first at-bat. By the 1951 season he was starting at first base for the Giants.

In the third game of a playoff series against the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds on Oct. 3, 1951, Lockman came to bat in the bottom of the ninth facing starting pitcher Don Newcombe and hit a one-out, run-scoring double that cut the Dodgers' lead to 4-2.

Dodgers Manager Charlie Dressen brought in reliever Ralph Branca, who gave up a three-run home run to the next batter, Thomson, which unleashed Giants broadcaster Russ Hodges' famous call, "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"

The next season Lockman played all 154 games for the Giants and made the All-Star team.

In all he played 13 seasons with the Giants in New York and San Francisco and had stints with the St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds. A right-hander who batted left-handed, he ended his playing career in 1960 with a .279 average, 114 home runs and 563 runs batted in.

A coach with the Giants and Cubs, Lockman worked in the Cubs' front office until 1972, when he became the team's manager.

He replaced Leo Durocher, who had been his manager with the Giants in 1951. Lockman lasted until the middle of the '74 season before returning to the front office with a 157-162 record.

In 2001, after the Wall Street Journal reported that some members of the 1951 Giants had engaged in an elaborate sign-stealing scheme against the Dodgers, Lockman denied being involved.

Lockman served in the Army during World War II.

He was married for 50 years to the former Shirley Conner, who died in 2001.

In addition to McCorkle, he is survived by daughters Cheryl Lockman, Kay Neal and Nancy Lockman and son Robert. Another son, David, died in 2004. Lockman is also survived by his second wife, Linda Lockman; a stepdaughter; three grandchildren; a brother; and a sister.

Services will be private. His family suggests donations to the American Lung Assn.

claire.noland@latimes.com

[MFS62]

Hall of Famer George Kell:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090325/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bba_obit_kell_12

This news stoped me in my tracks. The first "grown up" baseball glove I ever had was a George Kell model Rawlings (PM-5 I think). He was an all-star third baseman and in the year I first attended a major league game (1949), he beat out Ted Williams for the batting title. I'll miss him.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Johnny Blanchard, too.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_11992522

[Theoldmole]

Ralph just saying he got a panicked call from his son yesterday. He'd heard on the radio that a Hall of Famer died, wanted to make sure it wasn't Ralph.

[MFS62]

Watching ESPN and they said that Arthur Richman has died.
Can't find a link yet.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Bam: http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/baseball/blog/2009/03/rest_in_peace_arthur_richman.html

Teufel's bail bondsman.

[MFS62]

Thank you.
Later

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Johnny Blanchard, MFY catcher (for the Mantle-Maris-Berra squads), 76.

http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSTRE52O7D920090325


[NOTE: Whoops. Please to delete?]

Edited March 26, 2009 by Guest

[MFS62]

Johnny Blanchard, MFY catcher (for the Mantle-Maris-Berra squads), 76.

http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSTRE52O7D920090325[/quote:3dh94z05]

Oh My Goodness!
Johnny died twice!

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Herman Franks, managed some excellent Giant teams back when they were an outfielder factory.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Dusty Rhodes, also a Giant outfielder who couldn't crack the starting lineup, but was Leo Durocher's secret weapon anyway, passes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_Rhodes_(baseball)

Googlin' and wikipedia readin' will force you to wade through a ton of horrid pictures of a fat blonde wrestler who grappled under the same name, so add "baseball" to your searches.

He coached the University of North Florida Ospreys right up through 2008, but they had the worst insignia ever.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I love the back of that card, with the multiple colors.

I recall the every year the card backs were pretty much monochrome. Sometimes green, sometimes pink, sometimes orange.

[MFS62]

I hears about Dusty's passing, but when I went to find a link, I couldn't.
Thanks,
Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

I love the back of that card, with the multiple colors.

I recall the every year the card backs were pretty much monochrome. Sometimes green, sometimes pink, sometimes orange.[/quote:2k5wcfp3]

I know, right. That's actually two seperate images there, and I was only looking for his face, but once I saw the sherberty goodness of the back, I had to post both sides.

But in the nineties, when the backs started getting the glossy color treatment, it was too much of a good thing. Way too much.

The back should be saying, "You've had your fun on the front; time to study now."

The card says he was from Deatsville, AL, but the online sources I found had him from Matthews, AL --- a locality between Montgomery and Tuskeegee that I was able to find absolutely nothing about. They sure used to breed outfielders in Alabama, though --- black and white.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Tommy Henrich, a DiMaggio-era Yankee and five-time All-Star, passes away. His nickname was "Old Reliable," a nomiker which became more literally true as time passed, and he became the oldest living Yankee.

He retired too early for the beautiful 1952 Bowmans, but here he is at the end of his career on a 1951:



In addition to being the oldest living Yankee, Henrich was

• Lou Gehrig's last surviving teammate.
  
• The fifth-oldest MLB veteran.
  
• The holder, I think, of the oldest championship ring (1937).

I don't quite get what was up between him and Joe McCarthy. He didn't appear in the 1937 or 1939 World Series, but batted third in the 1938 Series. I guess that can happen when your team is loaded.

[MFS62]

Since my first trip to (the first and only real) Yankee Stadium was in 1949, I probably saw him play.
And I remember fans and announcers calling him "Old Reliable".

RIP.

Later

[HahnSolo]

Was he at the plate for the Mickey Cochrane dropped third strike?

[MFS62]

Was he at the plate for the Mickey Cochrane dropped third strike?[/quote:ex8l6m18]

Don't know.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yes, and you mean Mickey Owen, not Mickey Cochrane.

[MFS62]

That 1941 series in remembered for two plays, the Owen passed ball (dropped third strike) and Al Gionfrido's catch of Joe DiMaggio's long fly ball in deep left center field in Yankee Staduim. An interesting sidelight is that is was the last year in the majors for all three players.

Later

[HahnSolo]

Yes, and you mean Mickey Owen, not Mickey Cochrane.[/quote:gt9hrgpl]

Ooops.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I just read the obituary in the Daily News, and it mentioned that he was baseball's first free agent.

According to the story, Henrich, well, I'll just quote Bill Madden:

But it was the process that brought him to the Yankees in 1937 that perhaps earned Henrich his greatest measure of fame as he dared to challenge the system to win his free agency, nearly four decades before Marvin Miller and the Players Association successfully won that right for all major leaguers. A product of Massillon, Ohio, Henrich signed with his hometown Cleveland Indians in 1935. But a year later, after hitting .335 for Double-A New Orleans of the Southern Association, Henrich was upset when, instead of being promoted to the big leagues, the Indians sold his contract to Milwaukee of the American Association, purportedly because they regarded another outfielder, Jeff Heath, a better prospect.

Rather than accepting his assignment to Milwaukee, Henrich and his father wrote a letter to Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, alleging that the Indians were denying him the opportunity to play in the majors. After conducting a hearing with Henrich and Indians' chief scout Cy Slapnicka, Landis ruled in Henrich's favor and declared him a free agent. The Yankees then out-bid seven other clubs to sign him for a reported bonus of $25,000.

"I never thought I had a chance," Henrich said. "The old Judge was leaning over backwards to be impartial and he never gave me a word of encouragement or any hint that I had a good case. Facts, facts, facts, is what he wanted. Then, an hour later, he called me with his decision and that was the greatest thrill of my life to that point. I think part of it was that the Judge didn't like Slapnicka and he got a kick out of me writing to him and standing up for my rights."

[Guest Edgy DC]

And yet, it's reported as his "greatest measure of fame."

[Benjamin Grimm]

Here's what Wikipedia (I know, I know...) says:

He was signed by the Cleveland Indians in 1934, but was ruled a free agent in April 1937 after he and his father wrote to Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who decided that the Indians had illegally concealed him in their farm system.

No source was given. The "illegal" part suggests that something differentiated Henrich's situation from that of other players who were stuck in the minor leagues, but it's still a mystery what it rule the Indians might have broken.