At the end of each year, many magazines, newspapers, and TV shows devote some space/time to celebrities who passed away during the previous 12 months.
Sad to say, I’m at the age where the incidence of those baseball figures I recall from my youth are heading for that great dugout in the sky.
Among those who died in 2007 whose baseball cards I still possess are (although not necessarily the ones depicted below):
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Closer to home were two interviews I did for my newspaper with Lou Limmer and Mickey Rutner.
I had visited Mr. Limmer at his New Jersey home in 2006 and he was kind enough to sign a copy of his card, which he “shared” with Mr. Rutner as the two oldest Jewish ex-major leaguers in the Jewish Major leaguers set. This past September, I had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Rutner. Shortly after the piece, I mailed him the card, asking for his autograph as well. A few weeks later, it was returned to me, unsigned, with a note from his wife saying he had passed away shortly before my letter arrived. Timing is everything.
And, of course, as pertains to this particular blog, baseball lost some of its best writers in 2007, including David Halberstam, Jack Lang, Mark Harris, and Charles Einstein.
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A fine reference for brief ballplayer obituaries can be found in The Baseball Necrology, by Bill Lee (no, not that Bill Lee.)
is available on Amazon.com,
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