What team did he play for, you might ask. But Melendez was the genius behind the Peanuts cartoons. He passed away Sept. 2 at the age of 91.
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From the category archives:
Lest We Forget
Don Gutteridge, the prototypical baseball lifer, died on Sunday at the age of 96. He had been the last surviving member of the St. Louis Cardinals’ “Gas House Gang” of the 1930s. Gutteridge was the manager of the White Sox on one of my earliest baseball cards. Typical skipper-like pose: Standing with one foot on […]
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I was stunned when I read the news that the comedian/actor — he was the star of Mr. 3000 — had died at the age of 50. At the risk of sounding maudlin, the older I get, the more aware I am of those dying around me, especially when they’re younger than I. There are […]
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The son of the legendary Harry Caray died at the age of 68. How sad it must be to go through life know as an extension of someone else, “the wife of,” “the partner of.” Skip was the long-time voice of the Atlanta Braves. The Amazon Report on Skip Caray: Roomies: Tales from the Worlds […]
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From The Canadian Press USA Today MLB.com Chicago Tribune
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Jerome Holtzman, “the dean” of baseball writers, died on July 19 at the age of 82. Holtzman, who wrote for the Chicago-Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune, created the save, which has gone through several incarnations over the years and came under attack as being a “meaningless statistic.” He was a recipient of the 1989 […]
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Sherman “Jocko” Maxwell, a pioneering African-American broadcaster died recently at the age of 100. Maxwell, who was believed to have been the first black sportscaster, contributed to magazines such as Baseball Digest, for which he wrote about Jackie Robinson and the integration of baseball. He also wrote Thrills and Spills in Sports, a 1940 book […]
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from the Cleveland Plain Dealer on July 20: Dell Bethel… taught actors Robert DeNiro and Michael Moriarty how to play baseball like Major Leaguers for the movie Bang the Drum Slowly. Bethel, who died June 26 at age 78, also landed a credited role as a third-base coach for the 1973 film while he coached […]
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His name might not be as familiar as David Halberstam or Maury Allen or other prolific baseball authors, but Jules Tygiel was a master of the social importance of the game. He wrote several volumes about Jackie Robinson, but managed to keep his material fresh and pertinent. Tygiel passed away yesterday at the age of […]
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The one-armed outfielder for the St. Louis Browns, the poster boy for baseball during World War II, passed away in 2002. Although said to be something of a curmudgeon, he was turned lovable in A Winner Never Quits, a pretty poor made-for-TV movie featuring Keith Carradine as the ballplayer, Mare Winningham as the obligatory love […]
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The Dodger Hall of Famer died this date in 1993. His autobiography was also turned into a made-for TV movie, starring Paul Warfield as the catcher and Louis Gossett Jr. as his physical therapist. The Amazon Report on Roy Campanella: It’s Good to Be Alive
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George Carlin, 1937-2008 “Safe at Home”
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One of those heart-warming stories following World War II, Shepard was a flier who was shot down and captured in Germany. His injuries required the amputation of his right leg below the knee. Upon his return to the States, Shepard was signed by the Washington Senators and pitched in one game, against the Red Sox […]
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I heard Tony Kornheiser read this obituary from The Washington Post on the podcast of his eponymous radio program. Kornheiser has long been a favorite of mine, from the time he actually wrote for the paper. He had long since ceased writing on a regular basis, but retained a relationship with the Post, as well […]
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Jeffery Lott wrote this appreciation for Swarthmore alumni Asinof for College’s alumni newsletter in March 2001.
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Two pieces by Tim Wiles of the National Baseball Hall of Fame follow. The first, written in 1999, reports on the late writer’s keynote address to the annual Cooperstown Symposium, a gathering of academicians to discuss eclectic topics within the greater baseball universe. The second article considers Asinof’s novel, Man on Spikes. Asinof: a Baseball […]
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Mark Harris, author of Bang the Drum Slowly and other seminal works of adult baseball fiction, passed away a year ago due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 84. His 1956 novel about the relationship between star pitcher Henry “Author” Wiggen (think Tom Seaver combined with Jim Bouton) and his doomed catcher, […]
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The former general manager for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers passed away May 1 at the age of 93. According to Richard Goldstein’s obituary in The New York Times: In his 18 years with the Dodgers, from 1951 to 1968, Bavasi’s clubs won eight National League pennants and four World Series championships, including the […]
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The man who held the NL consecutive hitting streak until Pete Rose broke it in 1978, Holmes struck out 122 times in 4,992 at-bats during his 11-year career, spent mostly with the Boston Braves. Look at that number again. Some players strike out that much in a season. Holmes spent 30 years working in the […]
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is available on Amazon.com,
* Lest we forget: Mickey Mantle
August 13, 2008
“The Mick” died on Aug. 13, 1995. I happened to be home sick that day, and remember the State-like funeral. Thousands of words have been written on how he came to realize the impact he had on America, how he felt he failed to live up to expectations — both his own and those of […]
Tagged as: Mickey Mantle
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