17 – Gertrude Ganote, 86, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player. February 19 – Bill Abernathie, 77, who appeared in a single MLB game, on September 19, 1952, as a relief pitcher and member of the Cleveland Indians. February 20 – Curt Gowdy, 86, broadcaster whose voice was the soundtrack of 13 World Series, 16 All-Star games, the Boston Red Sox from 1951 to 1965, then ten years as lead announcer on NBC Game of the Week; enshrined as a Ford C. Frick Award winner in the Baseball Hall of Fame. February 21 – Mark Freeman, 75, pitcher for the New York Yankees, Kansas City Athletics and Chicago Cubs in 1959 and 1960. February 26 – Ace Adams, 95, All-Star pitcher (1943) who spent six seasons with the New York Giants (1941–1946); led the National League in saves in 1944 and 1945 and in games pitched for three straight years (1942–1944, inclusive). March March 2 – Ernesto Aparicio, 95, Venezuelan professional manager, player and team's owner, who also trained dozens of teenage boys on an individual basis, including his nephew and Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio and player/manager Ozzie Guillén. March 6 – Kirby Puckett, 45, Hall of Fame center fielder for the Twins who batted .318 lifetime and won six Gold Gloves; 1989 batting champion; led AL in hits four times, total bases twice and RBI once; MVP of 1991 ALCS, his 11th-inning walk-off home run won Game 6 of the 1991 World Series. March 12 – William Metzig, 87, second baseman who appeared in five late-season games for the wartime 1944 Chicago White Sox. March 18 – Betty Jane Cornett, 73, infielder/pitcher who played from 1950 through 1952 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. March 28 – Paul "Lefty" Minner, 82, pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1946, 1948, 1949) and Chicago Cubs (1950–1956); won 69 major league games; first player to pitch under artificial light in the World Series (1949) March 29 – Thornton Kipper, 77, a standout pitcher in college and an All-American in 1950, who also pitched for the Phillies from 1953 to 1955. April April 1 – John Bissant, 92, outfielder in Negro league baseball from 1934 to 1947. April 3 – Royce Lint, 85, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1954; won 154 games in 15 seasons in the minor leagues April 9 – Billy Hitchcock, 89, infielder who appeared in 703