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Post by inger on Apr 11, 2024 11:13:11 GMT -5
I suppose this is not a time to use the RIP phrase… This is one time I’ll root for the Christians to be right and hope he gets his “reward.” …
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Post by laurenfrances on Apr 11, 2024 16:10:12 GMT -5
I suppose this is not a time to use the RIP phrase… This is one time I’ll root for the Christians to be right and hope he gets his “reward.” … The people we should recalled today
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Post by inger on Apr 11, 2024 22:03:15 GMT -5
I suppose this is not a time to use the RIP phrase… This is one time I’ll root for the Christians to be right and hope he gets his “reward.” … The people we should recalled today None of these people were angels. It seemed that there was a considerable amount of bed hopping going on, but I don’t believe that should ever be an excuse for murder, so OJ was on a different plane of “bad.” Hard to believe that the guy I watched set the (at the time) single season rushing record and actually rooted for turned into such a disgusting creature…
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Post by desousa on Apr 12, 2024 13:05:40 GMT -5
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Post by inger on Apr 12, 2024 16:20:51 GMT -5
Just the fact that he was 82 amazes me, much less that he passed away…
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 13, 2024 11:57:38 GMT -5
Just the fact that he was 82 amazes me, much less that he passed away… His baseball website was great as well as his baseball books on the Yankees.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 13, 2024 12:13:12 GMT -5
Former Yankees Starter Fritz Peterson (1966-1974) passes away at 82 (1942-2024) April 12, 2024- Former Yankees AL All-Star Pitcher Fritz Peterson (1966-1974) passed away at the age of 82. (1942-2024)
The New York Yankees had signed hurler Fritz Peterson as an MLB Amateur Free Agent in 1963. His best Yankees season was in 1970, when he posted a 20-11 mark with a 2.90 ERA in 39 games and making the AL All Star team. Fritz would post a 109-106 record with 3.10 ERA in 288 games during his MLB pitching career with the 1966-1974 Yankees. After the public disclosure during the Yankees 1973 MLB Spring Training Camp, that Fritz and his Yankees teammate Pitcher Mike Kekich had traded their wives and families; Fritz’s days as a Yankees player were numbered. On April 26,1974, he was traded by the Yankees along with Pitchers Fred Beene, Tom Buskey and Steve Kline to the Indians for 1B Chris Chambliss, Pitchers Richard “Dirt” Tidrow and Cecil Upshaw. Fritz Peterson ended up with the best career ERA of any pitcher that ever pitched in historic Yankee Stadium (1923-2008), finishing with a 2.52 ERA. Whitey Ford came in 2nd with a 2.58 ERA. Peterson also had the lowest WHIP of any Yankee starting pitcher in the post-WWII era, 1.14. Overall, as an MLB Pitcher, Fritz had posted a 133-131 record with a 3.30 ERA in 355 games, starting with the 1966 Yankees, Indians and finishing up with the Rangers in 1976. In July of 2009, Fritz published a book called Mickey Mantle is “Going to Heaven.” He runs an excellent baseball web site and has published more books on the New York Yankees.
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Post by inger on Apr 15, 2024 14:36:03 GMT -5
Report not verified, but word is that former Yankee 19 game winner, 78-year old Ken Holtzman has passed away. If true you heard it here first. If not, good for Ken! …
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 15, 2024 17:16:52 GMT -5
Holtzman, author of 2 no-hitters and a 4-time champ, dies at 783:17 PM EDT Thomas Harrigan/Edited by Clipper Thomas Harrigan @harriganmlb Share 1977 Topps Baseball Card Ken Holtzman, a former left-handed pitcher who threw 2 no-hitters with the Chicago Cubs and won 3 straight World Series championships with the Oakland Athletics from 1972-74, died Sunday at the age of 78. Holtzman was battling heart issues and was hospitalized for 3 weeks before his death, his brother, Bob, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Born in St. Louis on Nov. 3, 1945, Holtzman was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 4th round of the 1st MLB Draft in 1965 out of the University of Illinois. Upon arriving in the Majors, he drew comparisons to Sandy Koufax, another hard-throwing Jewish left-hander. Holtzman is the winningest Jewish pitcher in Major League history with 174 victories. Sandy Koufax had won 165 games in his MLB Pitching career with the Dodgers
Holtzman would spent his 1st 7 seasons with the Chicago Cubs and threw no-hitters in 1969 and 1971. His no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field on Aug. 19, 1969, remains the last no-no to be thrown without a strikeout in the big leagues.
After posting a 3.79 ERA over 220 2/3 innings as a rookie with the Cubs in 1966, Holtzman had enlisted in the National Guard in 1967 and was only available to pitch on weekends that year. He ended up making 12 starts for Chicago and went 9-0 with a 2.53 ERA. Holtzman reached new heights after being traded to theOakland A’s for former No. 1 overall Draft pick Rick Monday in 1971, becoming a key part of Oakland’s rotation during the team’s run of 3 consecutive World Series titles. Holtzman had posted a 1.97 ERA over 59 1/3 innings during the postseason in those 3 years and earned the win in Game 7 of the 1973 Fall Classic against the Mets, holding New York to one run over 5 1/3 innings.The southpaw earned the only 2 All-Star selections of his career in his 1st 2 seasons with the Oakland A’s. Over 4 seasons with the club, he had posted a 2.92 ERA with 530 K’s in 1,084 1/3 innings.
Holtzman’s tenure with Oakland came to an end in April 1976, when the team sent him to the Orioles (along with future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson). He was traded again later that year from the O’s to the Yankees in a 10 player trade. Holtzman won his 4th World Series ring as a member of the Bronx Bombers in 1977, though he didn't appear in that year's postseason. Holtzman was dealt from the Yankees to the Cubs in 1978 for Pitcher Ron Davis, giving him a chance to finish his MLB pitching career where it started. Over 15 MLB seasons for the Cubs, A’s, Orioles and Yankees, Holtzman went 174-150 with a 3.49 ERA and 1,601 strikeouts in 2,867 1/3 innings.
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Post by inger on Apr 16, 2024 11:14:10 GMT -5
92 year old Whitey Herzog has passed away…
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 16, 2024 15:07:33 GMT -5
Carl Erskine Passes Away at 97 years Old By Darragh McDonald | April 16, 2024 at 2:32pm CDT
Former big league right-hander Carl Erskine passed away today after a brief illness, per multiple sources, including Dana Hunsinger Benbow of The Indianapolis Star. He was 97 years old.
Erskine was born in Anderson, Indiana in 1926. As a boy, he was friends with Johnny Wilson (Wikipedia link), who was black and would go on to play baseball in the Negro leagues as well basketball for the Harlem Globetrotters. Erskine would later mention his friendship with Wilson when the issue of race came up as he shared a locker room with Jackie Robinson.
The young Erskine was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and would go on to spend his entire baseball career with that organization, though he played for them in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles. The righty made his MLB debut in 1948, the year after Robinson broke the color barrier. Erskine told Benbow that Robinson once approached him and asked “Hey Erskine, how come you don’t have a problem with this black and white thing?” It was then that Erskine mentioned his friendship with Wilson, telling Robinson: “I didn’t know he was black. He was my buddy. And so I don’t have a problem.”
For his initial season in 1948, Erskine worked a swing role, starting nine of his 17 appearances and tossing 64 innings with a 3.23 ERA. He would gradually increase his workload in the seasons to come, getting to 79 2/3 in 1949 and then 103 the season after that before getting into the 185-265 range for each season from 1951 to 1956.
It was in that latter stretch that Erskine racked up his most notable career highlights. He made the All-Star team in 1954, a year in which he tossed 260 1/3 innings with a 4.15 ERA. He tossed 2 no-hitters, one against the Cubs in 1952 and another against the Giants in 1956.
In 1955, Erskine tossed 194 2/3 innings in the regular season with a 3.79 ERA. The Dodgers had made it to the World Series seven times at that point in history but lost each time, including the ’52 and ’53 teams that Erskine was a part of. Erskine’s best World Series performance was in the ’53 series when he struck out 14 batters in Game 3, though the Dodgers eventually lost the series to the Yankees. The Dodgers faced the Yankees again in ’55 and Erskine only tossed 3 innings in the series but the Dodgers finally emerged victorious to capture the 1st title in franchise history.
When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles for the 1958 season, Erskine went with them, though his career was tailing off by then. He tossed 98 1/3 innings that 1st year in L.A. with a 5.13 ERA, then had a 7.71 ERA in 23 1/3 frames the next year, which was his final major league action. He finished his playing career with an even ERA of 4.00 in 1,718 2/3 innings.
He returned to Indiana after his playing days and worked various jobs. A profile last year from Tyler Kepler of The New York Times says Erskine “sold insurance, worked as a bank president and coached baseball at Anderson College.” Though perhaps the most notable of his post-playing endeavors was his work with people with developmental disabilities.
Erskine’s son Jimmy was born with Down syndrome, with Carl and his wife Betty deciding to raise him at home, an unusual path in a time when most such cases saw the child sent to an institution of some kind. The couple would later form the Carl and Betty Erskine Society to raise money for the Special Olympics. That charity work led to Carl being given the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum last year.
By all accounts, Erskine was beloved by everyone in the Dodgers’ organization, baseball in general and his community in Indiana. MLBTR joins all of them in sending condolences to the Erskine family and everyone else mourning him today.
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Post by pippsheadache on Apr 16, 2024 15:57:10 GMT -5
92 year old Whitey Herzog has passed away… A lot of big baseball names have been cashing out over the past few days. Whitey Herzog won three pennants and one ring; it seemed like he won more than that, maybe because of the three straight Division champions he won with the Royals from 76-78. Each time, of course, beaten by the Yankees in the ALCS. It's often overlooked that he spent his first eight years (1949-56) in the Yankees' minor league system, never making it to the majors with them. He was signed by the Yanks at the same time as they signed Mickey Mantle, who was a couple of weeks older. He got a bigger bonus than Mickey. The Casey Stengel influence was obvious in his love of platooning and using everybody on the bench and a willingness to take chances. Those outstanding Cardinals teams of the 80s that he managed were largely of his own making, since he was the GM who put most of it together. Maybe the key trade he made was trading All Star shortstop Garry Templeton to the Padres for a young Ozzie Smith. He also saw something in Willie McGee that the Yankees did not see. He had his run-ins with Templeton and Keith Hernandez and Ted Simmons and hitting coach Charlie Lau -- anybody who, in his view, saw himself as bigger than the team. It didn't seem to hurt his ability to win games. Roger Maris was one of his best friends. Both decidedly no-nonsense blue-collar Middle West guys with bad haircuts. I remember reading in one of my Maris biographies how Roger helped Whitey put up a new roof on his house, showing up every day with a brown-bag lunch like he was reporting for work on a construction site. They loved that kind of thing. I remember having his baseball card as an OFer for the Washington Senators. My brother and I used to laugh at his name, which for whatever reason struck us as funny. We never would have imagined him going on to such fame many years later. RIP Whitey Herzog.
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Post by pippsheadache on Apr 16, 2024 16:13:36 GMT -5
Carl Erskine Passes Away at 97 years OldBy Darragh McDonald | April 16, 2024 at 2:32pm CDT Former big league right-hander Carl Erskine passed away today after a brief illness, per multiple sources, including Dana Hunsinger Benbow of The Indianapolis Star. He was 97 years old. Erskine was born in Anderson, Indiana in 1926. As a boy, he was friends with Johnny Wilson (Wikipedia link), who was black and would go on to play baseball in the Negro leagues as well basketball for the Harlem Globetrotters. Erskine would later mention his friendship with Wilson when the issue of race came up as he shared a locker room with Jackie Robinson. The young Erskine was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and would go on to spend his entire baseball career with that organization, though he played for them in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles. The righty made his MLB debut in 1948, the year after Robinson broke the color barrier. Erskine told Benbow that Robinson once approached him and asked “Hey Erskine, how come you don’t have a problem with this black and white thing?” It was then that Erskine mentioned his friendship with Wilson, telling Robinson: “I didn’t know he was black. He was my buddy. And so I don’t have a problem.” For his initial season in 1948, Erskine worked a swing role, starting nine of his 17 appearances and tossing 64 innings with a 3.23 ERA. He would gradually increase his workload in the seasons to come, getting to 79 2/3 in 1949 and then 103 the season after that before getting into the 185-265 range for each season from 1951 to 1956. It was in that latter stretch that Erskine racked up his most notable career highlights. He made the All-Star team in 1954, a year in which he tossed 260 1/3 innings with a 4.15 ERA. He tossed 2 no-hitters, one against the Cubs in 1952 and another against the Giants in 1956. In 1955, Erskine tossed 194 2/3 innings in the regular season with a 3.79 ERA. The Dodgers had made it to the World Series seven times at that point in history but lost each time, including the ’52 and ’53 teams that Erskine was a part of. Erskine’s best World Series performance was in the ’53 series when he struck out 14 batters in Game 3, though the Dodgers eventually lost the series to the Yankees. The Dodgers faced the Yankees again in ’55 and Erskine only tossed 3 innings in the series but the Dodgers finally emerged victorious to capture the 1st title in franchise history. When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles for the 1958 season, Erskine went with them, though his career was tailing off by then. He tossed 98 1/3 innings that 1st year in L.A. with a 5.13 ERA, then had a 7.71 ERA in 23 1/3 frames the next year, which was his final major league action. He finished his playing career with an even ERA of 4.00 in 1,718 2/3 innings. He returned to Indiana after his playing days and worked various jobs. A profile last year from Tyler Kepler of The New York Times says Erskine “sold insurance, worked as a bank president and coached baseball at Anderson College.” Though perhaps the most notable of his post-playing endeavors was his work with people with developmental disabilities. Erskine’s son Jimmy was born with Down syndrome, with Carl and his wife Betty deciding to raise him at home, an unusual path in a time when most such cases saw the child sent to an institution of some kind. The couple would later form the Carl and Betty Erskine Society to raise money for the Special Olympics. That charity work led to Carl being given the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum last year. By all accounts, Erskine was beloved by everyone in the Dodgers’ organization, baseball in general and his community in Indiana. MLBTR joins all of them in sending condolences to the Erskine family and everyone else mourning him today. If you look at Carl Erskine's stats, they don't jump out at you -- a career league average ERA+ of 101, only one All Star team. He did have the two no-hitters and held the record for strikeouts in a World Series game with 14 until future teammate Sandy Koufax broke it ten years later against the Yankees in 1963. I only remember him in the last few years of his career, and I just know he wasn't considered just an average pitcher by anybody. He was definitely the beneficiary of playing for great teams, but he clearly had that "pitch to the scoreboard" thing going on. He never had a losing season in his eleven full years and finished with a won-lost percentage of .610. The first time I ever saw the Dodgers play in person was September 5, 1957 against the Phillies. Carl Erskine outdueled Robin Roberts 3-1. Ed Roebuck pitched the ninth inning to get the save for Brooklyn. While I did get to see Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider in that game, unfortunately Roy Campanella was not catching that day (although I did get to see him play in late September). Rube Walker was behind the dish. Don Zimmer played second base for the Dodgers in that game. Sandy Koufax is now the last surviving member of the 1955 champion Dodgers. RIP Carl Erskine.
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Post by inger on Apr 16, 2024 16:25:08 GMT -5
Carl Erskine vacates the lofty ranking of 6th oldest living player…
Noting here as well that the oldest living player, Art Shallock will reach 100 on April 24, so let’s root for him to achieve that lofty number and more!…
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 18, 2024 11:53:15 GMT -5
Carl Erskine vacates the lofty ranking of 6th oldest living player… Noting here as well that the oldest living player, Art Shallock will reach 100 on April 24, so let’s root for him to achieve that lofty number and more!… Bobby Shantz will be 99 in September 2024, The Yankees should have honor him on this Old-Timers Day, he had won the 1st Yankee Golden Glove in 1957, he would continue on to win one thru the 1960 AL season. He had won the 1957 AL ERA Award winner.
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