Official Baseball In Memoriam Thread

[Don Quixote]

Ralph Kiner age 91, former Hall of Famer player for the Pirates, Cubs, and Indians. And also a long time Mets TV and radio announcer.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/pit/...&vkey=news_pit

As a kid, i enjoyed watching him on the Mets TV broadcasts back in the late 70's and early 80's. RIP Mr Kiner.

Truly one of the kings of rambling dissertations, like Phil Rizzuto for the Yankees, Harry Caray for the Cubs, or Joe Nuxhall for the Reds. You could never be sure where he was going, but the ride was usually worth the price of admission.

RIP Ralph and "Kiner's Korner".

[Grinch]

Grew up listening to him, a wealth of knowlege and history, phenominal storyteller and always good for a 'did he just say that?' moment.

RIP Hall of Famer!

[Sharky]

RIP Ralph Kiner. Few players who accomplished as much as Kiner did as a player would have exhibited his humility as a broadcaster.

[Grinch]

Jim Fregosi, 71.

Was on a MLB Alumni cruise in the Cayman Islands when he had a stroke, was flown to Miami, but passed away this morning.

[Don Quixote]

Jim Fregosi 71.

Was on a MLB Alumni cruise in the Cayman Islands when he had a stroke, was flown to Miami, but passed away this morning.

A very underrated player, even when he was the Angels' regular sole representative in the All-Star Game. An offense-first shortstop in a time with few of those. Unfairly remembered by the MSM as the guy the Mets traded Nolan Ryan to get, a deal that looked good for both sides at the time (Ryan then having little clue where that blazing fastball was going).

[revo]

Dr. Frank Jobe, pioneer of Tommy John surgery, died today at age 88.

[Skrappy1]

Just saw on MLB Network, Don Zimmer died today, at age 83.

[revo]

Former Dodger and 1990 AL Cy Young Award winner Bob Welch died last night at age 57. Damn.

[Don Quixote]

Just saw on MLB Network, Don Zimmer died today, at age 83.

Everyone remember Zimmer as a manager or coach, but in his playing days he sometimes wasn't too bad.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zimmedo01.shtml

That 1958 season isn't too shabby for that decade. Career highs in HR, RBI, SB, full-season BA, and the second-most runs. His fall-off the next year led the Dodgers to promote some guy named Wills to be the starting shortstop. The 1961 season, when he was an All-Star (!) with the Cubs, isn't too bad, either--especially for the Cubs then. And at age 34 with the lowly Senators, he caught 33 games despite having almost zero experience behind the plate--and threw out 50% of the runners who tried to steal on him.

In real trivia, Zimmer is second in all-time major league HR (91) at his high school. Someone named Rose had 160.

[Don Quixote]

Former Dodger and 1990 AL Cy Young Award winner Bob Welch died last night at age 57. Damn.

Scary when a guy younger than me dies. He had many a long conversation with John Barleycorn during the first 35 or so years of his life, which may have played a role in his early demise.

That confrontation with Reggie in the '78 World Series was the stuff of legend. Imagine the stones it took for Tommy Lasorda to call on a rookie to face REGGIE JACKSON in that situation, and just try to imagine any manager trying that today with all the emphasis on THE CLOSER for each team.

[revo]

Bobby Castillo, a reliever on the same 1981 LA Dodger team with Bob Welch, passed away from cancer at age 59.



Former Met and Oriole GM Frank Cashen also passed away today at age 88.

[Kingman]

Tom Veryzer, former shortstop died of a stroke July 8, 2014 at the age of 61.

tom-veryzer.jpg

[revo]

Tom Veryzer, former shortstop died of a stroke July 8, 2014 at the age of 61.

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man, I just saw his name listed on B-R.com's in memoriam section. Never a star, but he had a nice career. He was traded to the Mets in '82 for current pitching guru Ray Searage.

[revo]

Anyone who collected baseball cards in the mid-1980s probably remembers the 1984 US Olympic Team cards Topps included in its 1985 set. RIP John Hoover, who died July 8th at age 51.

[cavebird]

Not a player, but Pete Van Wieren passed today at the age of 69. That really hurts, now 3 out of the 4 people I remember as the voices of baseball growing up are gone. Amazingly, two of the three who have passed were young enough to be the kids of the one who still survives. I have never been a Dodgers' fan, but when there is nothing else I have to watch and it is a Dodgers' home game, there's only one channel I'll be on. He's already immortal (an offseason ago, I went to MLB network and they had a replay of either the shot heard round the world game or Larson's perfecto in the series, I forget which, and it was still him; amazing, and scary), but can we just keep him around forever somehow?