Baseball Passings 2017

[Frayed Knot]

Tigers owner Mike Ilitch - 87

Detroit native, owner of 'Little Caesar's Pizza', also owner of the NHL Red Wings, has owned the Tigers since 1992

Edited February 10, 2017 by Guest

[Guest 41Forever]

Seemed like a good man. Certainly spent on the team.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Dead Dead.

Too soon?

[G-Fafif]

Word filtering out that Ned Garver, one of the great St. Louis Browns, has passed at 91. Won 20 games for a 102-loss team in 1951.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I've been scouring the internet for this picture of Ned Garver with both his hands outstretched holding many many baseballs --- without any luck.

[Frayed Knot]

Closest I could find.

[fimg=400:7wl5c7hc]http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/snl/images/1/1e/Fred_Garvin.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111027155028[/fimg:7wl5c7hc]

[Edgy MD]

Good for him winning 20 for a terrible team while bearing the mantle of the name Ned. You don't get a lot of heroic Neds in fiction. It's almost always used for guys who just don't get it.

• Ned Flanders, the squeaky, serial God-bothering neighbor in The Simpsons.
  
• Ned Ryerson, the overbearing insurance salesman in Groundhog Day.
  
• Ned Nederlander, the petite, underemployed swashbuckler in The Three Amigos.
  
• Ned Schneebly, the girlfriend-whipped substitute teacher/failed musician in School of Rock.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: Closest I could find. [fimg=400]http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/snl/images/1/1e/Fred_Garvin.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111027155028[/fimg]

I don't think your link works.

[MFS62]

G-Fafif wrote: Word filtering out that Ned Garver, one of the great St. Louis Browns, has passed at 91. Won 20 games for a 102-loss team in 1951.

I remember watching Ned Garver pitch in the 50's. He was what you thought of when you thought of a good, steady, major league pitcher.
RIP

Later

[G-Fafif]

Dave Rosenfield, 87, longtime GM of the Tidewater/Norfolk Tides and thus a stealth figure in Mets history. Ate raw hamburger meat on a cracker, dated Fred Merkle's daughter, claimed to have invented Turn Back the Clock Day and, on some level, had a hand in the development of Triple-A Mets ranging from Matlack to Milledge.

[G-Fafif]

Rosenfield on the Mets-Tides split, from 2009 when the Bisons came rumbling in.

A walk down the narrow hallway that bisects the offices at Harbor Park offers evidence that the Norfolk Tides still have fond memories of their former parent club, the New York Mets. But as Tides general manager Dave Rosenfield explains, all of those mementos also serve as reminders of a long marriage that ended in a bitter divorce. "We were taken for granted," Rosenfield said. "We had been a good member of the family for all those years. When you feel that the people above you don't appreciate you and what you do and how hard you work it's tough to feel sympathy." It has been almost three years since Norfolk and New York severed ties, and in many ways, both parties have moved on. The Tides are the top affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, a team building a viable farm system. The Mets just opened a new ballpark, Citi Field, fit with all of the trimmings. But the feelings stemming from the breakup remain raw for Rosenfield, who will see something he has never seen before this week: a Mets Triple-A team - the Buffalo Bisons - occupying the visitors' clubhouse at Harbor Park. After spending two years in the Pacific Coast League with New Orleans, the Mets are affiliated with their third club in four years.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I guess we now have some insight into how to impress Fred Merkle's daughter.

[dinosaur jesus]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I guess we now have some insight into how to impress Fred Merkle's daughter.

"Hey, Merkle. Want to see my boner?"

[MFS62]

dinosaur jesus wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I guess we now have some insight into how to impress Fred Merkle's daughter. "Hey, Merkle. Want to see my boner?"

I may have been on a third grade playground the first time I heard a version of that line. (boner was a "naughty" word back then)
But it still makes me laugh.

Later

[G-Fafif]

Bill Hands, 20-game winner for the 1969 Cubs who gained infamy for throwing at Tommie Agee, 76.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-bill-hands-cubs-obit-spt-0310-20170309-story.html

Hands settled out east in Orient after a last attempt to pitch in the majors 41 years ago with his old archrivals the Mets.

[G-Fafif]

No one hated the Mets more than Billy Hands.

http://suffolktimes.timesreview.com/2017/03/73892/orient-resident-mlb-20-game-winner-bill-hands-dies-76/

At least he had 1,969 good reasons.

[Edgy MD]

Billy Hands would make a good mob nickname.

[Frayed Knot]

Although Bill Hands and Barry Foote were both Cubs for part of their careers, I long thought it was too bad that they were never teammates.
Foote also ever hit against Hands; he was 1 for 3 career against Rollie Fingers but now I'm afraid my little joke here is getting out of ... well, you get the idea.

[batmagadanleadoff]

http://www.masnsports.com/nationals-buzz/2017/02/a-baseball-tradition-falls-victim-to-spate-of-online-information.html

excerpt:

Last spring, New York-based Harris Publications, the latest in a line of “Who’s Who” publishers, closed its doors shortly after the 2016 edition - with Nationals slugger and reigning National League MVP Bryce Harper on the cover - hit the stands. A year after marking its 100th anniversary, “Who’s Who” went the way of scheduled doubleheaders, woolen uniforms and sliding into second base with sharpened spikes raised toward the fielder on the bag. In short, in an era where thorough sites like Baseball-Reference.com provided the same (and more detailed) information, “Who’s Who” became an anachronism.

[fimg=444]http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Bb0AAOSwX~dWpwPg/s-l300.jpg[/fimg]

[Lefty Specialist]

I bought Who's Who a few times. And I have multiple editions of The Baseball Encyclopedia, an awesomely fat book with everything in it. It used to come out every few years, but they haven't published it since 1996.

[dinosaur jesus]

Frayed Knot wrote: Although Bill Hands and Barry Foote were both Cubs for part of their careers, I long thought it was too bad that they were never teammates. Foote also ever hit against Hands; he was 1 for 3 career against Rollie Fingers but now I'm afraid my little joke here is getting out of ... well, you get the idea.

Bill Hands was teammates with Pete LaCock, though. And he hit against Roy Face one time. He struck out.

[Edgy MD]

Ed Head was probably very proud of his Face that day.

[Guest themetfairy]

RIP Dallas Green

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Todd Frohwirth, a submariner for the 90s Orioles and Phillies, of stomach cancer at 54. I definitely saw him in relief a few times.

[Frayed Knot]

Ruben Amaro Sr., 81

Playing career from 1958 - 1969, for the Phils mostly although came up with Cards and finished with Yanx and Angels
Typical glove-first, low-power SS of his era [.234/.309/292 for his career], won a Gold Glove and found some back of the pack MVP votes in the ill-fated 1964 Philly season.
Coached and scouted after that.

Born in Mexico (I would have guessed one of the islands) his MLB career blazed a trail for his Pennsylvania-born namesake son to go to Stanford and then a ML career of his own followed by
a stint as an exec for the Phils.

[G-Fafif]

Frayed Knot wrote: Ruben Amaro Sr., 81 Playing career from 1958 - 1969, for the Phils mostly although came up with Cards and finished with Yanx and Angels Typical glove-first, low-power SS of his era [.234/.309/292 for his career], won a Gold Glove and found some back of the pack MVP votes in the ill-fated 1964 Philly season. Coached and scouted after that. Born in Mexico (I would have guessed one of the islands) his MLB career blazed a trail for his Pennsylvania-born namesake son to go to Stanford and then a ML career of his own followed by a stint as an exec for the Phils.

My first MFY card was Ruben Amaro 1967. Yet I went with the Mets.

[MFS62]

Roy Sievers - 90
https://gma.yahoo.com/roy-sievers-mlbs-first-al-rookie-of-the-year-award-winner-dead-at-90-214432369.html

The first AL Rookie of the Year.
Later

[Chad ochoseis]

This could go either here or in political - Jim Bunning, 85

[G-Fafif]

Was talking with a friend recently about Bunning's perfect game, recalling what a regular reference point it was for Bob, Ralph and Lindsey. It was always discussed warmly if not reverentially. I nominated it for least unliked (you might not want to attach the word "best") loss in Shea Stadium history. When you watch the clips, you hear only cheering as Bunning makes it 27 in a row. There was no emotional let alone tangibledownside to a tenth-place club finding a novel way to lose. And it was an achievement that hadn't been seen in the National League since 1880.

Bunning's probably not in the HOF without it and, who knows, maybe he never goes to Congress. Certainly it gave our announcers a nice story to tell regularly over the years.

[Edgy MD]

I think Catfish Hunter opened the door for Jim Bunning. The case for Catfish was 224 wins and a Cy Young Award. And that's not that much, but it's Catfish.

And then somebody says, well, hey, Bunning won exactly the same amount of games, and had a perfect game, cool nickname or not. Hunter went in in 1987, but Bunning had to wait until 1996.