baseball obituaries 2011

Woodie Fryman -- I remember his '72 heroics in Detroit and his elderly days w/ Montreal, like Neyer:

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2011/2/7/1979549/woodie-fryman-passes-away-pitcher-tigers

1937 Brooklyn infielder Tony Malinosky, age 101

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/news/story?id=6105257

Baltimore Elite Giants vet Butch McCord

http://www.baseballhappenings.net/2011/02/butch-mccord-leaves-behind-baseball.html

btw I've met (in Havana) and have the autograph of the new oldest ex-major leaguer, Connie Marrero, who hits 100 in a couple months.

ernie tyler, longtime orioles umpire attendant, who worked 3819 consecutive home games between opening day 1960 and july 27, 2007

former pirate manager chuck tanner

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6113447

I think you mean "Pirates/White Sox"!

I'm guessing Bill James won't be delivering the eulogy (he went on a rant about CT's IQ in an old Annual, re the skipper's contention he was unaware of the Bucs' coke problems).

ol' 7 must have been a good manager -- the pirates traded manny sanguillen for him!

also one of now 108 players to homer in his first big league at bat -- he was the 29th to do so

Ditto what Morbius said: I still remember James's diatribe against Tanner as one of the most vitriolic things he ever wrote. I think he also hung Omar Moreno around Tanner's neck.

I still remember James's diatribe against Tanner as one of the most vitriolic things he ever wrote.

Yes, I remember that too -- amazing. Tanner was either complicit or criminally negligent, according to James, and it was hard to disagree.

1976-77 Mets mgr Joe Frazier

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/sports/baseball/18frazier.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries

Gino Cimoli, first batter in the first major league game on the West Coast:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/giants/detail?entry_id=82994

So long Duke Snyder, apparently.

so weird. for some reason just yesterday i was thinking about him, and looked up his page on baseball-reference. when i was a kid i somehow received his read autobiography, The Duke of Flatbush, as a gift, and i ended up reading it probably about a dozen times.

Before we got the Jays in Toronto, I used to watch Snider do Expos broadcasts with Jim Fanning. He was very soft-spoken and, from what I remember, easy on the ears. Playing in the shadow of Mays and Mantle was probably a mixed blessing. His Wikipedia entry begins with "This article is about the baseball player. If you are looking for the criminal Duke Snider, please refer to Operation Snow White"--yikes.

Oops--I mean to say Dave Van Horne, not Jim Fanning. Getting my Expos trivia all garbled.

His biography had a bunch of stuff about all of the morphine shots he would get for his knee injuries...kinda odd.

Brooklyn should be in mourning....

I was at the Mets' Oldtimers Day in July '77 when these guys walked in from CF:

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2008/03/19/wmlDVJF2.jpg

I know I ought to know this, but who's the fourth guy after Willie, Mickey, and Duke?

RIP Duke. Great player, probably underrated because his name never seems to get mentioned anymore.

clemenza: DiMaggio

Hey, now I remember: the Yankees had another guy in there before Mantle took over...

Wally Yonamine, Japanese-American pioneer

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2011/3/2/2024564/wally-yonamine-pioneer-in-two-sports-who-died-at-age-85

Greg "Has a Chance to be 30" Goossen, who became Gene Hackman's stand-in:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/sports/baseball/04goossen.html

The Stengel quote's on the short-list of greatest ever.

'tis awesome. although i don't quite get it.

well, Greg took as a knock that that's all he'd be 10 years on

Cardinal All-Star SS Marty Marion:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/sports/baseball/17marion.html

Lou Gorman, '86 Bosox GM:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/sports/baseball/02gorman.html

Eddie Joost, 94, All-Star shortstop and last manager of the Philadelphia A's:

http://articles.philly.com/2011-04-14/news/29417745_1_eddie-joost-pete-suder-new-manager

Doc Glenn, Philadelphia Stars catcher

http://www.baseballhappenings.net/2011/04/stanley-glenn-84-negro-league-catcher.html

Not yet RIP but it's grim -- Harmon Killebrew has stopped his cancer treatment:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6540158

Former Blue Jays pitching coach Mel Queen:

http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/bluejays/article/991058--mel-queen-longtime-jays-coach-and-adviser-dead-at-69?bn=1

More on Mel Queen:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/-8216-The-man-who-made-Roy-Halladay-8217-Mel?urn=mlb-wp6280

The story of how Roy Halladay had to rebuild his career from scratch in A-ball is fairly well known, but Queen was the coach who remade him while he was there. I'd forgotten that he was instrumental in getting rid of Tim Johnson in 1999 -- the guy deserved some kind of award just for that.

RIP Killer

you look at his stats and that dude really was a proto-mcgwire. 145 bb one season!

Killebrew was my favorite old player as a kid. I'm sure it was tied into seeing him on Home Run Derby when ESPN used to show that in the afternoon.

Had a bat signed by him at a baseball card show in the early-mid '90s, but I haven't seen it in years.

Just found out about Killebrew. When I bought my first Zander-Hollander guide in 1970, his numbers seemed awe-inspiring.

those are some amazing power numbers for a deadball decade.

Even allowing for the hue of nostalgia, it's moving to see all these testimonials from fans as to what a genuinely good person Killebrew was. I was hoping to find some game footage on YouTube to show to my class tomorrow, but no luck--I'm sure there's some embedded in some of the news stories that have already been posted, though.

rip randy macho man savage, who played in the minors for four years

Paul Splittorff, Royals ace of the '70s

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/5/25/2189328/kansas-city-royals-paul-splittorff-dies-at-64

My doppelganger: growing up, watching the Royals in all those playoff series during the '70s, my parents would always comment on how much I looked like Splittorff.

Jose Pagan, Giants/Pirates vet

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110608&content_id=20204764&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

and now Jim Northrup of the '68 Tigers; bad week for Series heroes.

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/6/9/2215154/tigers-1968-world-series-hero-jim-northrup-dies-at-71

Dick Williams. cmon, must I do these on vacation?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6746798&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines

I posted it on the main board--couldn't find this thread (I was using "RIP" as a search term).

Former Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu has reportedly been found dead in his California home, according to several reports out of Japan that credit the Associated Press.

According to this story out of Japan, police are investigating the death as a possible suicide.

Irabu was 42.

geez, that's a horrid end to what was a quirky Steinbrenner-as-asshole episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzeuvZc1KI8&feature=player_detailpage#t=23s

Sad story, he had a chain of noodle shops in the LA area called Super Udon which had recently closed.

He was half-American, something that he tried to keep as a secret in Okinawa/Japan, but he came "out" when he came over.

this was from May of last year

GARDENA -- Former Major League Baseball pitcher Hideki Irabu was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in suburban Los Angeles, police said.

The 41-year-old former Yankees pitcher was stopped around 1:30 a.m. May 17 on Redondo Beach Boulevard, according to authorities.

Officers say Irabu was drifting outside traffic lanes and he nearly collided with a parked car.

Records show the 41-year-old Irabu, who lives in Rancho Palos Verdes, posted $5,000 bail.

also arrested in Japan in 2008 for assaulting a bartender : (

lol

gailgaga69 @Buster_ESPN heard you pumped your fist in glee upon hearing of irabu's passing

Buster_ESPN That comment is the most disgusting since I joined Twitter. Seriously, you should be ashamed of yourself. Grow up.

"At the time of the suspected assault, Irabu had consumed at least 20 glasses of beer."

Braves booth just announced that Ernie Johnson Sr. died today.

Mike Flanagan, 59

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/8/24/2382850/mike-flanagan-dead-orioles-news/in/2146889

wtf

I seem to remember that he was a lot of fun the year he was with the Jays.

just one? thought it was a few.
anyways - rip.

no mention of how it happened?

You're right--three seasons and a bit. Now that I think about it, he started (and pitched brilliantly) that awful game they lost to Detroit to end the '87 season.

Wrong again--game #162 was Key's game. Flanagan pitched the day before: 11 innings, 8 hits, 9 K's, 2 walks, no decision in a 3-2 loss.

Neyer sure is pissed about the MASN broadcast not mentioning it during the game tonight.

Flanagan's passing, that is.

I remember that 11-inning performance in '87 so well. If they'd won that game and won the pennant then it would have been legendary for Jays fans, like our version of Jack Morris' win in the 1991 WS.

Oddly enough, he was matched up against Morris that day.

:o

death ruled a suicide by gunshot

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6895707/ex-baltimore-orioles-pitcher-mike-flanagan-death-ruled-suicide-medical-examiner

ah, jeez. Initial reports were vague in the ways that indicate suicide. RIP

someone was saying that last night on the J's message board - but the place is so troll-heavy that i didn't believe the dude.

That's incredibly sad.

Flanagan in happier times, as told by Tim Kurkjian:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6894031/mlb-cy-young-winner-mike-flanagan-1951-2011

This is a nice tribute to Flanagan and pitchers like him:

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/08/25/crafty-lefty-hall-of-fame/?sct=mlb_bf2_a3

No mention of Jimmy Key--maybe he was a bit too good to qualify under Posnanski's system.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/sports/baseball/hideki-irabu-got-lost-on-the-road-back.html?_r=1&hp

Matty Alou
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/03/SPB91LQAP9.DTL

The Ichiro of his day, I guess, and Harry Walker's favourite project.

Bob Forsch:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/baseball/mlb/11/04/forsch.death.ap/index.html?sct=mlb_t2_a3

He and his older brother Ken could go into that "I Always Get These Two Mixed Up" thread: Bob ('74-'89) was 168-136, 3.76, Ken ('70-'86) was 114-113, 3.37. (Or maybe Ken Forsch and Ken Brett belong there.) Bob was a really good hitter, too: .213/.235/.321, with 12 homers and 84 RBI in just under 900 AB.

I didn't know he was 3rd on the Cards' win list after Gibson and Jesse Haines.

Also, guys I remember as rookies should not be dying.

Charlie Lea, no-hit pitcher for the Expos

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7223090/former-montreal-expos-pitcher-charlie-lea-dies-tennessee-54

Don Mueller, outfielder for the '51 and '54 NY Giants:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/31/sports/baseball/don-mueller-giants-outfielder-is-dead-at-84.html

Gary Carter :(

Damn :(

:C

!

Fucked

RIP

Some good photos here

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/02/16/sports/baseball/GaryCarterObit.html

The Montreal Canadiens had a nice pre-game tribute for Carter:

http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-in-this-emotional-scene-the-montreal-canadiens-paid-tribute-to-gary-carter-2012-2

Heard a guy on either the Fan or CHUM suggest that the Jays wear Expos uniforms on Canada Day this year. Seems a little excessive, and I assume that'd be prohibited by the rules anyway.

Not that different from other retro tributes, cept I assume the Nationals (who do nothing with it) own the Expos' history; I presume they'd refuse for some pointless reason.