Baseball Passings 2015

[G-Fafif]

Two losses to report: Hank Peters, the Oriole GM who picked up where Frank Cashen left off; and Stu Miller the slight of frame All-Star reliever whom a gust of wind famously whooshed off the mound at Candlestick.

[MFS62]

Stu Miller was the opposite of what we imagine a reliever to be. He wasn't a big guy throwing hard stuff. His best pitch was a slow curve. A VERRRRRRYYYY slow curve. And he threw it most of the time.
And guys got themselves out by getting anxious and trying too hard to crush it.

RIP

Later

[G-Fafif]

Dave Bergman, 61. HoJo's benchmate on the 1984 Tigers. Was MFY leadoff hitter in their final regularly scheduled home game at Shea Stadium.

[Edgy MD]

Bergman was also AKA the Master of the Hidden Ball Trick:

Alan Wiggins:
[youtube:i2b27bt9]V8sJ8AAKag4[/youtube:i2b27bt9]

Ozzie Guillen:
[youtube:i2b27bt9]vLVH3sxZt0s[/youtube:i2b27bt9]

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Those are great.

[Edgy MD]

To get a 17-year career out of being a first baseman without power, you'd better bring something else to the table. Ron Hunt-like.

[Edgy MD]

Speaking of bringing something else to the table, folks said goodbye recently to Rocky Bridges, an infielder of indifferent production who squeezed out an eleven-year career by always being the goofiest guy in the locker room.



Rocky's final season was 1961, which means he retired with the sad final realization that he wasn't good enough for the 1962 Mets.

[G-Fafif]

The South Side of Chicago and baseball fans everywhere mourn the passing of White Sox great Minnie Minoso, reported as either 89 or 90.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/405104/white-sox-great-minnie-minoso-passes-away

[G-Fafif]

Last published interview with Minoso, just yesterday, on ESPN Chicago.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/blackhistoryMLBminoso/white-sox-great-minnie-minoso-integration-fan-appreciation-cuba-hof-slight

And Minnie from December regarding the thaw in relations between his native land and his adopted home.

http://time.com/3643881/cuba-baseball-minnie-minoso/

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

That's sad. I've had the pleasure of meeting Minnie a number of times, and he was always so nice. An ambassador for his team and the sport.

[Edgy MD]

Last suited up for big league action in 1980, when he went 0-2 with the White Sox at age 54.

Walked in his only plate appearance for the St. Paul Saints at age 77 in 2003.

[Edgy MD]

Monoso never got much HoF support, but with a 130 OPS+ and 50.1 WAR over 17 seasons, he remains a highly viable Veterans Committee candidate, as well as a candidate for the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Had about a million Minnie Minoso Comeback Special cards that one year. (/googles...)

This one:

[G-Fafif]

Comes in threes, as they say: Alex Johnson, 1970 A.L. batting champ, has passed away.

[Frayed Knot]

Al Rosen, 1953 MVP for the seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" - 91

[G-Fafif]

Greeting former teammate Ralph Kiner this afternoon, one hopes.

And speaking of the Tribe, learning a ballplayer named Rosen once won the MVP meant a great deal to me when I was 12.

[MFS62]

G-Fafif wrote: Greeting former teammate Ralph Kiner this afternoon, one hopes. And speaking of the Tribe, learning a ballplayer named Rosen once won the MVP meant a great deal to me when I was 12.

Me, too.
Olevai Shalom, Al.

Later

[Edgy MD]

Jose Cappellan, who enjoyed a five-year career during the GW Bush era, is dead at thirty-freakin'-four from an apparent heart attack.



It's interesting to see that Warren Spahn patch on his shoulder. We ask a team to wear mourning bands for a player who played generations before, who none of them have any but the faintest personal connection to, but not for one who played five or so years before, was finished before 30, and some of the guys on the field might have played with and been friends with, it's generally briefly noted but not officially commemorated.

[stevejrogers]

To be fair, Spahn has a distinction within the Brave franchise as a member of their HOF, and #21 is retired (to say nothing of his standing as the greatest Brave pitcher ever, or at least second if you want to debate him vs. Maddux).

I'd imagine you aren't suggesting a different black band (or ANYTHING) for every passing of a member of a franchise, no matter how "insignificant" their role was during a year (and there are often ones for trainers, clubhouse personnel, announcers, etc)? Other wise a team would be wearing quite a few by the time the season wrapped up.

[Edgy MD]

I'm not suggesting anything. I'm noting something as interesting.

[Guest themetfairy]

Holy Crap!

RIP Darryl Hamilton

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

Joaquín Andújar, 62.

[Edgy MD]

Ouch. That's the best of mid-eighties baseball embodied in one figure. One tough Dominican.

He was such an ardent and shameless self-promoter, he campaigned for himself for the Cy Young Award. In the National League. In 1985. You had to tip your hat.

[Frayed Knot]

He and Keith were buds from their StL days. Should be a good story or two from him on the topic.

[Edgy MD]

"You can't worry if it's cold; you can't worry if it's hot; you only worry if you get sick. Because then if you don't get well, you die."

PnTduQvK2-Q

[G-Fafif]

First game I ever saw Seaver start in person, the opponent was Andujar. Seaver was brilliant: 8 IP, 11 K, 0 BB, 3 H. All he gave up was a barely fence-clearing line drive homer to Cesar Cedeno in the first. But that was all he had to give up. Andujar threw a complete game shutout and won, 1-0.

Couldn't stand the guy in the heat of 1985, of course, but you're not supposed to cotton to the toughest of competitors on your archrivals.

[dinosaur jesus]

I just thought Andujar was a dick back then. And that meltdown in the 1985 Series was pretty hard to excuse. It was a big part of what turned me against the Cards for good--which is funny, because it's what also turned the Cards against him; they shipped him the hell out of St. Louis after that. But I guess you can call him colorful or something now. And he was good. Not so much in his 20 win seasons--those were a little flukey--but he was huge in 1982. No way they would have won the pennant without him. (And I still don't know how they did win it.)

[seawolf17]

dinosaur jesus wrote: (And I still don't know how they did win it.)

[Edgy MD]

dinosaur jesus wrote: I just thought Andujar was a dick back then. And that meltdown in the 1985 Series was pretty hard to excuse. It was a big part of what turned me against the Cards for good--which is funny, because it's what also turned the Cards against him; they shipped him the hell out of St. Louis after that. But I guess you can call him colorful or something now. And he was good. Not so much in his 20 win seasons--those were a little flukey--but he was huge in 1982. No way they would have won the pennant without him. (And I still don't know how they did win it.)

Whitey, for his part, never stopped being a fan of the guy. After going to work in his later years for California — Gene Autry always dug Whitey, soliciting advice on the side for years while Whitey was employed by other teams — Whitey called up Andujar and added him to this scouting and development team. I don't know if he had any training or experience, but Whitey just believed in his instincts.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

A colorful, fiery guy. RIP Walking Underwear.