Baseball Passings 2011

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

[smg58]

That's sad. I also remember the Forsch brothers from collecting cards when I was little, and remember thinking it was a big deal when both brothers pitched no-hitters. He looks so young in that card, and certainly didn't look last week like somebody who had a few days left.

[Frayed Knot]

I certainly wouldn't have guessed #3 winningest Cardinal ever (163 of his 168 ML wins for StL)
I assume Gibson is #1 - although even he is well short of 300 (251) and I would have been totally flummoxed for answers after that.
I'd make #2 a quiz except I still don't know the answer.

[Edgy MD]

I know Dizzy Dean had 150, because I always thought it was cool that Dizz had 150 and Daff had 50. I don't think Carlton lasted long enough with them. Tudor neither.

[Benjamin Grimm]

The answer is in the article I pasted above: Jesse "Pop" Haines (210)

[Edgy MD]

A guy won 210 games in the National League and I've never ever heard of him.

Ever.

[stevejrogers]

Edgy DC wrote: A guy won 210 games in the National League and I've never ever heard of him. Ever.

A Hall of Famer at that! To be fair, he was on the 1920s Cardinal teams, and got in the Hall thanks to the Frankie Frisch Veterans Committee.

In other words, he ranks among the leading contenders among the "why is THIS GUY in the Hall" Hall of Famers.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: NYM Carlton Willey makes history (sort of) in the top of the 8th of this game It was youngest brother Jesus's ML debut and since the Mets were (quite naturally in 1963) kicking ass (OK, it was 3-0 at the time) the Giant's mgr decided to go to some PHers and make the Alous the first trio of brothers to bat in the same half-inning. Willey retired them all.

I was at the game, sitting down the right field line in the Polo Grounds upper deck.
The fans kept yelling "Hey, Alou! Which Alou are YOU?"

Later

[G-Fafif]

Charlie Lea, Expo, 54.

[Edgy MD]

Sheesh. Too young.

I remember the day he got called up, because the Expos disabled Bill LEE and added Charlie LEA.

[metirish]

Saw this on the news the other night, interesting guy.

Irving Franklin, co-inventor of baseball batting glove, dies at 93

By MICHAEL LAFORGIA Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Posted: 5:53 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011 Irving H. Franklin, an innovator in the sporting goods industry who teamed with Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt to invent the baseball batting glove, died in his sleep Thursday in Falmouth, Mass. He was 93. Mr. Franklin, co-founder of Franklin Sports, passed his twilight years in suburban Palm Beach Gardens, in a modest house that represented his sense of humility, said his son, Larry Franklin. "He grew up in Brockton with very meager means, and he never really forgot his roots," said Larry Franklin, president of the international sporting good company. "He remained humble, and in some ways I think he sort of felt a little uncomfortable with the rewards of success." After working at a shoe factory and in the scrap leather business, Mr. Franklin and his brother, Sydney, launched their sporting goods company in 1946. Soon after, Mr. Franklin travelled to Ponce, Puerto Rico, where he would set up a factory to manufacture baseball gloves. "That really was something that was a huge entrepreneurial adventure," Larry Franklin said. Next, Mr. Franklin travelled to Asia, and soon he was importing sporting goods from Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia and China. Ever the innovator, Mr. Franklin in the late 1960s became the first sporting goods manufacturer to build a product line around an athlete, tapping New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath for the job. But it was as the inventor, with Schmidt, of the baseball batting glove in the 1980s that Mr. Franklin really made his mark on professional sports, and propelled his company to new prominence. "The batting glove is still our flagship product," said Larry Franklin, who added that Schmidt called him Friday with his condolences. Mr. Franklin first started vacationing in Florida for about 30 years. After turning over the helm of the company to his son, Mr. Franklin bought a house in suburban Palm Beach Gardens in 1990, in a neighborhood he shared with his friends. "I think he enjoyed living down there," Larry Franklin said. "He played some cards. Tried to play a little golf, which he wasn't good at." Mr. Franklin is survived by his wife, Barbara, and sister Sylvia Aven; his children, Larry Franklin and Arlene Franklin; stepchildren, Lynne Brayman Buchong, Kenneth L. Braymand and Jules Brayman; and grandchildren Adam Franklin and Jared Franklin. Services will be held today at Temple Beth Emunah at 479 Torrey St. in Brockton, Mass., at noon. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Franklin Fellow Rabbinical School Scholarship Fund, Jewish Theological Seminary, 3080 Broadway, New York, 10027-4649.

[Frayed Knot]

The first guy I remember with batting gloves was Rusty - but since this was prior to Franklin's invention they were essentially golf gloves which weren't really tough enough for the job so a pair never lasted very long.
But ol' Rusty had a whole collection of them which he'd mix and match according to uniform, weather, mood, and, perhaps most consistently, hitting streaks (or the lack thereof). He would deny sticking with a particular pair if he was hot but athletes are almost as famous for denying being superstitious as they are for being so in the first place so it always seemed like he did

[seawolf17]

I remember getting my first batting glove. I was sure it would turn me into a big-time hitter. (It did not.)

[metirish]

Tragic

Seattle Mariners Outfielder Greg Halman Slain

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) �Dutch police say Seattle Mariners outfielder Greg Halman has been stabbed to death and his brother has been arrested as a suspect.

Rotterdam Police spokeswoman Patricia Wessels says police were called to a home in the Dutch port city early Monday morning and found Halman bleeding from a stab wound.

The officers attempted unsuccessfully to resuscitate the 24-year-old.

Wessels says the officers arrested Halman's 22-year-old brother. She declined to give his name, in line with

[Edgy MD]

Sheesh, how many 22-year-old brothers could he have.

I don't know that I had ever heard of him. Athletic-looking dude.

[metirish]

I wondered the same thing and am sure I never heard of him, not surprising though with where he played and league.

Bio

September 23, 2010 for the Seattle Mariners

[G-Fafif]

Giants outfielder Don Mueller, 84, a.k.a Mandrake the Magician.

The Giants had come from far back to tie the Dodgers for first place in the National League. But in the finale of a three-game playoff, they were losing, 4-1, at the Polo Grounds going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Alvin Dark led off by singling against Don Newcombe. When the left-handed-batting Mueller came to the plate, Gil Hodges, the Dodgers� first baseman, stood close to the bag. Mueller took notice. �I saw that hole sittin� there like a deer in huntin� season,� he was quoted by Thomas Kiernan in the book �Miracle at Coogan�s Bluff.� �And I went for it. I was a hole hitter, always tried to hit the ball where the biggest hole was. If Hodges was playin� off the bag, instead of tight behind Dark, I would�ve tried to go up the middle with the ball.� Mueller drove a fastball to Hodges�s right, just beyond his reach. In keeping with his nickname, taken from the comic-strip magician created by Lee Falk in the 1930s, his single into the hole sent Dark to third base. After Monte Irvin fouled out and Whitey Lockman doubled to left, Mueller made an awkward slide into third base, injuring ligaments and tendons in his left ankle. He was carried off on a stretcher. Clint Hartung, a reserve outfielder, ran for him. Ralph Branca replaced Newcombe, and moments later Thomson connected on a three-run homer into the lower left-field stands, giving the Giants a 5-4 victory and the National League pennant. It came to be known as the �shot heard round the world.� Mueller was lying on a clubhouse table when he heard the crowd erupt. �I couldn�t be certain that it wasn�t something good for the Dodgers because there were plenty of Brooklyn fans in that park,� he told Ray Robinson in �The Home Run Heard �Round the World.� �There was no radio in the clubhouse. But I knew pretty quickly what had happened once the players got back to the clubhouse and started to pour Champagne over my injured ankle.�

Mueller was out for the World Series, compelling Leo Durocher to replace him in right with Hank Thompson, meaning the starting outfield for Game One at MFYS I -- which also included Monte Irvin in left and Willie Mays in center -- was all African-American...a Fall Classic first.

[Edgy MD]

With four and a half hours to go, the Metlies who passed in 2011:

Joe Frazier, manager: February 15, 2011 in Broken Arrow, OK
Greg Goossen, catcher, February 26, 2011, in Sherman Oaks, CA
Duke Snider, outfielder, February 27, 2011, Escondido, CA
Lou Gorman, executive, April 1, 2011, in Boston, MA
Billy Baldwin, outfielder, June 29, 2011, in Hudson, OH