text:
Paul DeMaestri Sr.
1928 - 2016
Published in Marin Independent Journal from Aug. 31 to Sept. 25, 2016
Joseph Paul DeMaestri
Sr. Born December 9, 1928, passed away peacefully from natural causes on August
26, 2016 in San Rafael. Born in San Francisco, Joe's parents moved to Marin
County where Joe attended and graduated from Tamalpais High School.Joe was a
standout baseball player at Tam and went on to play shortstop in the major leagues
for the Chicago White Sox (1951), St. Louis Browns (1952), Philadelphia and
Kansas City Athletics (1953-1959) and New York Yankees (1960-1961). He had a
front row seat to watch Maris and Mantle chase Babe Ruth's home run record in
1961. In an 11-season career,
Joe was a .236 hitter with 49 home runs and 281 RBI in 1,121 games played. He was a member of the American League All-Star team in 1957 and was a member of the World Champion New York Yankees in 1961.
Joe retired from baseball after the '61 season and began working at DeMaestri Distributing Company with his father, Silvio DeMaestri, in 1962. Joe sold the business in 1991. Joe was an avid golfer and member of the Marin Country Club in Novato where the family lived since 1960.
Joe was respected by all and held in the highest esteem by those who worked with him or enjoyed his company socially. Joe was happily married to Margot (nee Jehly) for 56 years until her death in 2007 and preceeded in death by his parents, Silvio and Lillian DeMaestri.
Joe is survived by his devoted children, Christine Lea (Preston), Joe DeMaestri Jr (Julie), and Donna Peltz (Matthew). Joe was adored by his grandchildren Cassandra Dyke, Mandy Selwyn, Margot Lea, Joelle Lea, Lindsey Patrick, Carl Patrick, Jay DeMaestri (Joseph Paul III) and Russell DeMaestri. Joe also leaves six great grandchildren and cousin, Eddie DeMaestri of Fairfax, CA.
Friends are invited to a Memorial Service on Wednesday, September 28 at 11:00am at Keaton's Mortuary, 1022 E St., San Rafael with a celebration of life immediately following at San Rafael Joe's, 931 Fourth St., San Rafael.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Marin Humane Society, 171 Bel Marin Keys Blvd, Novato, CA 94949.
John Berry
Published in Kalamazoo Gazette on August 28, 2016
Neil John Berry
passed away peacefully on Wednesday evening, August 24, 2016 at Bronson Hospital.
He was born on January 11, 1922 in Kalamazoo, Michigan and remained a lifelong
resident of Kalamazoo until his passing.
Neil met his wife of 67 years, Gloria Lorentzen, in Kindergarten. In 1944, they were married in Midland Texas, where Neil was stationed, eventually to return to Kalamazoo where they raised their family.
Neil was an outstanding athlete and was the top prep athlete in Kalamazoo in the late 30's. He played 3 years of varsity football at Kalamazoo Central leading his team to an undefeated season and the State High School Football championship in 1938. That same year, he was selected as the state's best player and captain of the all-state team.
Neil also played on Kalamazoo Central's state championship basketball team in 1937. He played American Legion baseball and was managed in 1936 and 37 by Doctor Homer Stryker. In 1939, Neil was the recipient of the Ki Ki Cuyler award for the most valuable player in the Michigan American Legion State Tournament.
Neil played in many local leagues but American Legion is where he caught the eye of Detroit Tiger scout, Wish Egan, who would eventually sign him after Neil attended Western State Teacher's College (today WMU) in 1941. Neil also started on the freshmen football and baseball teams at Western. He turned down a bonus offer by the St. Louis Cardinals to sign with the Detroit Tigers in 1942 as an amateur free agent. He spent the 1942 season with the Winston-Salem Twins of the Piedmont League.
Neil spent the next three years, 1943-45, in the United States Army Air Forces serving during WW II. Sargent Berry received an Honorable Discharge in 1946. He spent 1946-47 with the Buffalo Bisons of the International Baseball League. Neil spent the next 5 years with the Detroit Tigers, where he played second base, shortstop, and third base. He finished his major league career with the White Sox and St. Louis Browns in 1953 and the Baltimore Orioles in 1954. Later in 1958, Neil managed the Montgomery Rebels of the Alabama/Florida League for the Detroit organization.
He later retired from baseball, returning to Kalamazoo. Since then, he has been in the sporting goods business, then working installing gymnasium floors in high schools and colleges. Before his retirement from the carpenter's union, he worked in a government job for Kalamazoo County.
After baseball Neil became an avid golfer, joining his wife and friends visiting many courses throughout the area.
Neil is survived by his two children: Neil "Skip" Berry and Linda Spann of Kalamazoo; 2 grandchildren: Sarah (Ryan) Milley of Kalamazoo, and Elizabeth (David) Stoltz of Pittsburgh, PA; and 7 nieces and nephews.
Preceding him in death were his wife of 67 years: Gloria Berry; brother: Gordon Berry; sister: Marilyn Brown; brother-in law: Don Brown; sister: Joyce Dombos; and brother-in-law: Dick Dombos.
Visitation will be from 6-8 PM on Monday, Aug. 29, at Langeland Family Funeral Homes, Westside Chapel, 3926 S. 9th Street.
A service to celebrate Neil's life will be held at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, Aug. 30, at the funeral home.
Rev. Caroline K. Meyers will officiate. Interment will follow in Mt. Ever-Rest Memorial Park.
Stephen J. Korcheck, former MCC president and baseball player, dies
Dr. Stephen J.
Korcheck was president at Manatee Community College — now the State College
of Florida — from 1980 to 1997 and played professional baseball with the
Washington Senators.
By Amaris Castillo
August 28, 2016 7:47 PM
Dr. Stephen J. Korcheck, former president of the then-called Manatee Community College, died Friday. He was 84.
Born Aug. 11, 1932, Korcheck was a professional baseball player with the Washington Senators and also became the third president of MCC, which is now the State College of Florida. According to the SCF website, Korcheck came to MCC as a part-time instructor of health and physical education. He served as chair of that department and went on to hold positions as dean of instruction and dean of academic affairs prior to becoming president.
According to Korcheck's daughter, Stephanie Korcheck, the former athlete died of heart failure. Korcheck had a myriad of health issues that kept him away from his Bradenton home over the last year, she said.
"But he was determined to come back and his incredible strength and determination won over and he literally, physically walked through the door," she said of her father's return to his house.
Stephanie said her family held a belated birthday celebration for her father, complete with some of his favorite foods: barbecue ribs, corn on the cob, potato casserole, and some wine. The gathering, she said, was perfect.
"He was the president of the community college for 17 years. He was a professional athlete, a baseball coach, he worked at the college in different roles," Stephanie said. "I always knew that he had a tremendous impact, of course, on the community.
"I'm just more and more hearing stories from people who literally had their lives changed because of him and almost always it starts with 'I went to see your dad and he made a phone call.' What the phone call was was different for each person. They all say 'that phone call put my life on a completely different path.' That's the power of his life and he did that for the guys that he coached, he did that for students, he did that for the faculty and staff at the college. He knew every single employees' name at that college."
It's who he was as a man, she said.
Korcheck earned bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he also served as head baseball coach for three years, according to a gallery of past MCC presidents. In 1975, he was elected into the university's Letterman Hall of Fame and received a Distinguished Alumni Award nearly two decades later in 1993.
As a student at Cumberland Township High School in Carmichaels, Penn., Korcheck was an award-winning athlete and, in college, was named in the 1954 edition of Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities.
In addition to being
a past president of Manatee Community College, Korcheck was also a past president
of the Florida Community Colleges Activities Association and past chairman of
the Presidents' Council, according to SCF. A committed public servant,
he is a past chairman of the United Way of Manatee County; past capital campaign
general chair of the Easter Seal Society of Southwest Florida; and served as
a member of the Workforce Development Planning Board.
Bryan Richard Clutterbuck
Published in the Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News and other local publications on Sept. 1, 2016
Bryan Richard Clutterbuck,
a resident of Highland Township, died on August 23, 2016 at the age of 56 after
being diagnosed with colon cancer in April.
Bryan was a graduate of Milford High School and attended Eastern Michigan University where he starred on the baseball teams. In 1981 he was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with whom he pitched for many years in the minor leagues and reached the Majors in 1986.
One of Bryan's passions in life was fishing and opportunities to spend time in northern Michigan.
He is survived by his son, Michael Clutterbuck and his mother, Debra Avery; his sister, Jennifer Clutterbuck; his girlfriend, Cindi Sans, and many extended family members and dear friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, Richard and Madeline Clutterbuck, and a sister, Patrice Ann Clutterbuck.
A Memorial Service will be held at Lynch & Sons Funeral Home, 404 E. Liberty St., Milford, on Saturday, September 3, at 1 p.m.. Friends may gather from 12 Noon until the time of service.
Memorials may be made in his name to the Huron Valley Youth Baseball & Softball League, PO Box 67, Highland, MI 48357.
For further information please phone 248-684-6645.
Dominican baseball player Juan Bell dies at age 48
Enrique Rojas
ESPN Deportes
Aug 24, 2016
Former Dominican
baseball player Juan "Tito" Bell, who played for seven years with
five different teams in the majors, died Wednesday morning, according to informed
their families and the Dominican Federation of Professional Baseball Players.
He was 48 years old.
Bell was signed by the Dodgers in 1984, but reached the majors with the Orioles in 1989.
The former slugger and MVP of the American League, George Bell, said his brother died of kidney complications at a hospital in Santo Domingo, capital of Dominican Republic. He will be buried Thursday in his native San Pedro de Macoris, east of Santo Domingo.
"Tito" Bell was signed by the Dodgers in 1984, but reached the major leagues with the Baltimore Orioles in 1989. He also played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, Montreal Expos and Boston Red Sox. He batted .212 in 836 innings and only twice exceeded 100 games in a season.
In the Dominican winter league he played with Toros del Este, Tigres del Licey, Estrellas Orientales and Gigantes del Cibao.
"That he rest
in peace my'roomie' Tito Bell. My condolences to family and friends because
friends all like you were few. Rests" he wrote in his Twitter account former
pitcher Pedro Martinez, who was a teammate of Bell since were two rookies looking
for the dream of reaching the majors with the Dodger.
State baseball | Pitching great Steve Arlin dies at 70
By Todd Jones
The Columbus Dispatch
Friday August 19, 2016 11:31 PM
Fifty years after Ohio State won its only national championship in baseball, that legendary team has lost its most notable player.
Steve Arlin, long considered OSU's greatest pitcher and a native of Lima, died of undisclosed causes on Wednesday at age 70, the university announced Friday.
Arlin, who lived in San Diego, led the Buckeyes to their lone national title in 1966 — the last won by a Big Ten baseball team. An illness reportedly kept him from attending a reunion of that championship team in June at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
"It's obviously sad that we lose a guy of Steve's stature and what he meant to our program," current Ohio State coach Greg Beals said. "It's also critical to celebrate his life and his successes and what he meant to our program as well."
Arlin meant everything to the 1966 national champions, as well as the '65 team that finished national runner-up. He went 24-3 — for a .889 winning percentage that is still a school record — those two seasons to become the Buckeyes' first two-time All-American.
"He was something else," Curt Heinfeld, a pitcher on the '66 OSU team, told the Associated Press in June. "We didn't even have radar guns back then, so no one knew how hard anyone threw. We're guessing he was somewhere around the 100-mph mark. His fastball even moved all over."
Arlin, a 6-foot-3 right-hander, was at his best in the College World Series, where he was twice named to the all-tournament team, with totaling 57 strikeouts and a 0.96 ERA in 47 innings.
"The numbers that he put up are like video game numbers," Beals said.
The Philadelphia Phillies selected Arlin 13th overall in the 1966 major league draft. He pitched six seasons in the majors, nearly all for the San Diego Padres, before his career ended in 1974 after a brief stint with the Cleveland Indians.
Ohio State retired
Arlin's No. 22 jersey in 2004, and four years later he was elected into
the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
Choo Choo Coleman, member of original Mets, dies at 80
The Associated
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Clarence "Choo-Choo" Coleman, a catcher on the expansion 1962 Mets who spent four seasons in the major leagues with New York and the Philadelphia Phillies, died Monday at age 80.
Coleman, who had been suffering from cancer, died at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina, according to a niece, Linda Hibbler. Coleman had lived for more than two decades in nearby Bamberg.
Hibbler said he was born on Aug. 18, 1935. Baseballreference.com listed his date of birth as Aug 25, 1937.
Coleman said he was given his nickname was when he was young.
"When I was 8 or 9, I ran around a lot," he told The New York Times in 2012. "My friends called me Choo-Choo because I was fast."
Coleman played with the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro American League and signed with the original Washington Senators. He was released and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was selected by Philadelphia at the 1960 winter meetings draft and hit .128 in 47 at-bats over 34 games with the Phillies.The Mets took him in that expansion draft.
He batted .250 with six homers and 17 RBIs in 55 games for the '62 Mets, who went 40-120, the second-most losses in major league history behind only the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (20-134). Coleman also played for the Mets in 1963 and 1966, finishing with a .197 career average, nine homers and 30 RBIs in 462 at-bats over 201 games.
After his baseball career, he owned and operated a restaurant in Newport News, Virginia, before retiring to Bamberg.
He is survived by
his third wife, Lucille; a son, Clarence Coleman Jr.; and a daughter, Elnora
Vanessa Swint, according to Hibbler. A funeral is scheduled for Saturday at
Greater Sidney Park Baptist Church in Bamberg.
H. Brice
Oct. 1, 1937 - Jul. 30, 2016
Published in Herald Tribune on August 5, 2016
Alan H. Brice, 78 of Bradenton, Florida, peacefully passed away on July 30, 2016. He was born in New York City, New York on October 1, 1937 to Elizabeth and Alexander Brice. He moved to Tampa, FL at the age of 9.
He graduated from Hillsborough High School in 1953 and was signed on as a Major League pitcher for the Cardinals then Chicago White Sox. Alan was a member in good standing of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association. Alan was employed with the Public Defenders' Office as the Chief Investigator for the 12th Judicial Circuit which includes Manatee, Sarasota, and Desoto Counties.
In 2003, he retired after 38 years. He was the owner of Brice Detective Agency for over 30 years. He was a devout Christian and attended Harvest United Methodist Church.
Alan is survived by his devoted wife of 35 years, Kathy Brice. Alan is also survived by his brother, Tom Brice (Julie), and sister Betty Newman, nephews Tommy Brice II., and Brice Newman, niece Callie Erikson (Stuart). He is also survived by his children: Teresa L. Brice, Joseph A. Brice (Martha), Kenneth K. Brice (KeKe) and stepson Gregory S. Hatcher. Grandchildren: Clark A. Brice, Spencer A. Brice, Sasha N. Brice. Also his great nieces and nephews, Ella Erikson, Brooke Erikson, Audrey Brice, Kate Brice, Tommy Brice III., Graham Erikson, and his beloved Pom Zeus.
Alan will always be remembered for his larger-than-life personality, his caring ways, and his dedicated work ethic. He will be in our hearts forever and will never be forgotten.
Toale Brothers Funeral Home are handling the arrangements. The Celebration of Life service will take place at Harvest United Methodist Church on Saturday, August 6, 2016 at 3:00 PM. Located at 14305 Covenant Way, Lakewood Ranch FL 34202.
Sox pitcher key to '59 pennant dies as modestly as he lived
By Kerry Lester
The Chicago Daily Herald
July 29, 2016 5:03 AM
Decades before Chris Sale was suspended for cutting up throwback jerseys before a scheduled start, the White Sox had another standout pitcher, who led the American League in saves and games finished to help the team clinch the 1959 pennant.
But Omar "Turk" Lown -- who received his nickname as a kid for his love of turkey -- is remembered for his modesty and pragmatism, in both the way he lived and the way he died.
When I called Lown's Pueblo, Colorado, home to ask his perspective on the Sale incident, I found I was weeks too late.
Son Terry told me his dad died July 8 of leukemia, with only a quiet funeral attended by a handful of friends.
Online baseball databases tracking the oldest players have yet to catch on that Lown died. And letters from autograph seekers still arrive at the family home, his children say.
"He didn't want anything but a Mass," Terry Lown said.
Turk Lown, a record-breaking
White Sox pitcher key to the team's 1959 pennant, died earlier this month at
age 92.
Turk Lown, a record-breaking White Sox pitcher key to the team's 1959 pennant, died earlier this month at age 92. - courtesy of Lown Family
'For the love of it'
Terry Lown was just a small boy when his dad played for the White Sox from 1958 to 1962, capping off his 11 total seasons in the major leagues. Before the Sox, Turk played for the Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds. Terry remembers the little things about that time -- staying at Chicago's old Piccadilly Hotel, racing to the newsstands with a dime each morning to see the latest write-ups and occasionally getting to play on the field in "father-son" games. When Turk Lown retired from professional baseball, he became a letter carrier for the next 23 years. "He never really bragged about baseball," Terry Lown said. "A lot of people have said, 'I didn't know your dad played that long.' They didn't know he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and received the Purple Heart, either."
As to what his dad
would have thought of Sale, Terry Lown noted, "back in his day, they played
for the love of it, not for the money."
Former Sox infielder Doug Griffin dead at 69
By Peter Abraham
The Boston Globe
July 28, 2016
Anaheim, Calif. — Former Red Sox second baseman Doug Griffin, a Gold Glove winner whose career was cut short after being hit in the head by a pitch from Nolan Ryan, died on Wednesday. He was 69.
Griffin, the team said, died after a long illness in Clovis, Calif.
Known as "Dude," Griffin was drafted by the California Angels in 1965 and made his major league debut in 1970. He was traded to the Red Sox a few weeks after that season, part of a deal that included the Angels receiving Tony Conigliaro.
Griffin was the Red Sox' primary second baseman from 1971-73. His defensive prowess was such that Griffin was fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1971 and won a Gold Glove in 1972.
Griffin was an excellent bunter and played second base fearlessly, hanging in for double plays during an era when runners were permitted to bowl over infielders.
Griffin was knocked unconscious on April 30, 1974, when he was hit by a pitch from Ryan during a game at Fenway Park. He was on the disabled list until June 1 with a concussion and hearing loss.
A career .245 hitter, Griffin hit .229 after the beaning with one home run in 660 at-bats.
Griffin was displaced at second base by Denny Doyle in 1975 and became a platoon player. He did not play in the American League Championship Series and pinch hit once in the World Series that year.
Griffin appeared in only 49 games in 1976 and was released in 1977 after playing five games. In all, Griffin played in 614 games for the Sox. In team history, only Bobby Doerr, Dustin Pedroia, Hobe Ferris, Marty Barrett, and Jerry Remy have played more games at second base.
Griffin had a close relationship with Carl Yastrzemski, the two often going fishing during his time with the Red Sox.
Griffin is survived
by his wife, Lorraine Bernard; his children, Chad and Natalie; six granddaughters;
his 92-year-old mother, Lillian Griffin; and three sisters.
Michael Wayne Strahler
1947 - 2016
Published in Alamogordo Daily News from July 20 to Aug. 19, 2016
Michael Wayne Strahler passed away peacefully on July 14, 2016 at his home in Alamogordo. Michael was born on March 14, 1947, to Richard G. and Mary J. Strahler in Chicago, Ill.
He graduated from McClatchy High School in Sacramento, Calif., after which he served in the Army for a short time before receiving a medical discharge. Mike was always interested in baseball and started a career pitching for the Albuquerque Dukes. In 1966–1967 he pitched for Spartanburg, 1967 Eugene, 1968-1970 Spokane, 1970 Dodgers, 1971 Spokane. Mike showed steady improvement in his minor league career and 1971 made the Dodgers' roster. He was one of 6 Dodgers named to PCL All-Star Team in 1970 and won Topps award as one of two top hurlers in circuit. He first signed with the Phillies. He played Triple A for the Los Angeles, Angels for a few years. He loved baseball.
After his baseball
career he was a mechanical engineer for Proctor and Gamble for 35 years. He
retired and moved to Alamogordo in 2004.
Mike met and married his wife, Dana in Alamogordo in 2010. He was a very generous person and would do anything for anyone and loved people. His family was his whole life and he will be sorely missed by his family, friends and neighbors and most especially by his Great Dane, Nina, who was his constant companion. Mike's generosity was greater than the whole world.
Mike is preceded in death by his mother.
Mike is survived by his wife Dana of the family home, his father, Richard G. Strahler, Sacramento, Calif.; daughters Shivon (Michael) Benoit, Sacramento, Calif.; Shila (Danny) Guyette, Oxnard, Calif.; Shana (Weston) Gutierrez, Oxnard, Calif. Grandchildren; Elijah Benoit, Andrew, Jessie, Suni, Naya, Dasia Guyette, Izaac and Xavier Gutierrez.
Memorial services will be held at Hamilton Odell Chapel, Friday, July 29, 2016, at 10:00 a.m., with Rev Dustin Wilhite officiating.
"Death is but
the anesthesia God gives as he takes from this world to His."
Gordon R. Massa
September 2, 1935 - July 16, 2016
The Hay Funeral
July 16, 2016
Gordon R. Massa 80, passed away at his home July 16, 2016. Beloved husband of the late Clare (nee Mehring). Youngest son of the late Arthur and Marie Massa. Loving father of Steve (Melissa), Jeannie, Jodi (Alan), Gordy (Lianne), Elaine (Mike) and Andrew (Rachel). Proud grandfather of Taylor, Tony, Maggie, Ryan, Nick, Jordan, Trevor, Payton, Carson, Maria and Morgan. Dear brother of Rita, Patty, Roger and the late Don, Bob, Art, Jerry and Jim.
Alumnus of Elder High School and Holy Cross College. After graduating, briefly played for the Chicago Cubs and moved on to a successful sales career with Ashland Chemical. Helped initiate the athletic program at Immaculate Heart of Mary and enjoyed coaching. Member of: Price Hill Baseball Old Timers Hall of Fame, Buddy Larosa's Hall of Fame and Holy Cross Athletic Hall of Fame.
Devout Catholic who lived his life according to his faith. Blessed by many friends and family, who meant so much to him.
Visitation 5-8pm,
Wednesday, July 20th at Hay Funeral Home, 7312 Beechmont 45230. Mass of Christian
Burial 10:30 am, Thursday, July 21st at IHM, 7820 Beechmont 45255.
Former Orioles
Play-By-Play Man Tom Marr Dies At 73
By: Stan Charles
July 7, 2016
Tom Marr -- who died July 7, reportedly of a stroke following back surgery, at the age of 73 -- was part of the Orioles' radio coverage that forever changed the way baseball was broadcasted in Baltimore.
The 1979 season
saw the Orioles advance to the World Series, eventually losing in seven games
to the Pirates. Also important to the history of baseball in Baltimore was the
coverage the 1979 team received from a small 5,000-watt radio station, then-WFBR,
1300. The coverage took one game-winning home run by Doug Decinces and ushered
in a catchphrase "Orioles Magic," which still sticks today.
Prior to 1979, Orioles attendance was always an iffy proposition. Despite having one of the best teams in baseball from the first World Championship in 1966 through 1978, the Orioles struggled to attract more than a million fans a year at Memorial Stadium. That all began to change in 1979, when WFBR, a smaller-signaled radio station, took over the team rights.
A longtime news veteran at WFBR, Marr always remembered the years the station had the Orioles' broadcast rights, 1979-1986, fondly. His involvement during those baseball seasons with the Orioles were some of the happiest years of his professional life. His friendship with legendary manager Earl Weaver was well known throughout the game.
Prior to Marr's work as a play-by-play man for the Orioles, the voice of the Orioles had always belonged to the great Chuck Thompson, along with several others like Herb Carneal, Frank Messer and Bill O'Donnell. Of course, Jon Miller took over for Thompson as lead play-by-play man in 1983. Marr sat by Miller's side from 1983-86.
After the Orioles changed radio stations in 1987, Marr remained at WFBR to be a part of their new all-talk format.
The new format was unsuccessful, and the station was sold in 1988. That year, Marr went to work for WCBM. He was a reporter, a political commentator and a talk show host. His views were generally considered to be on the conservative side.
On a personal level,
I started my broadcast career in 1981 at WFBR, and Marr was a friend and a great
mentor. While our politics never meshed, I shared laughs with Marr in moments
that will never be celebrated in quite the same way. Marr is survived by his
wife of 53 years, Sharon, five kids and 10 grandchildren.
In 1983, I began to put together highlights from Orioles games and mixed them with songs. I would listen to great call after call of Miller and Marr. They remain some of my fondest memories. I can still hear them today.
In no way am I comparing Marr to the incomparable Miller for pure play-by-play ability. However, there was something so genuine about Marr's enthusiasm for the hometown team of which he was a fan through and through.
One particular call
I'll never forget centered around a popular rock song that came out in 1982,
Eddie Grant's "Electric Avenue." After a heroic late-inning home run
by a Lenn Sakata or a Benny Ayala, the WFBR crowd microphones would let the
listeners at home or in the car know the noise was deafening throughout Memorial
Stadium, and Marr could be heard saying "33rd Street is Electric Avenue."
Hickman, Slugger for Expansion Mets and All-Star with Cubs, Dies at 79
By Richard Goldstein
The New York Times
June 26, 2016
Jim Hickman, who supplied batting punch for the Mets during their futile early years and then became an All-Star for the Chicago Cubs, died on Saturday in Jackson, Tenn. He was 79.
His death was confirmed by his son Mike, who did not specify the cause.
Hickman, a lanky right-handed batter, played in the outfield and at first and third base in a 13-year major league career. In his years with the Mets, from 1962 to 1966, first at the Polo Grounds and then at Shea Stadium, he set several team milestones.
He was the first Met to hit three home runs in a single game and the first to hit for the cycle — a single, double, triple and homer in one game. (He did it in that order.) He was also the last Met to hit a home run at the Polo Grounds, connecting off the Philadelphia Phillies' Chris Short on Sept. 18, 1963.
Taking advantage of the Polo Grounds' short left-field line, Hickman hit 30 home runs for Casey Stengel's Mets in their first two seasons, when they lost a total of 231 games. His most memorable one came on Aug. 9, 1963, two days after he hit for the cycle against the St. Louis Cardinals, when his grand slam in the ninth inning off the Cubs' Lindy McDaniel gave the Mets a 7-3 victory that ended pitcher Roger Craig's stretch of 18 consecutive losses.
Hickman was traded to the Dodgers in November 1966. He was the last Met remaining from the expansion draft that stocked the team's inaugural roster.
Dealt to the Cubs after one year in Los Angeles, Hickman was platooned for a while, then flourished at the plate after the Cubs' manager, Leo Durocher, made him a regular late in the 1969 season.
He hit 21 homers for the 1969 Cubs, who were overtaken by the long-downtrodden Mets in their startling run to a World Series championship. The next year he hit 32 home runs, drove in 115 runs, batted .315 and was No. 8 in the balloting for the National League's most valuable player. He was also an All-Star that year for the only time in his career.
Hickman became a footnote to a notorious moment in All-Star Game history when he delivered a 12th-inning single at the 1970 game in Cincinnati, driving in Pete Rose with the winning run. Rose scored when he barreled into the American League catcher, Ray Fosse, instead of sliding, and severely injured Fosse's shoulder.
Drawing a stark contrast between Hickman and many of his teammates after he drove in the winning run in a victory over the Dodgers in June 1970, Durocher remarked, "He gives you not 100 but 150 percent on the field, and some of those guys should be kissing his feet."
Hickman in turn praised Durocher. "Leo saved me," he told chicagobaseballmuseum.org in a 2014 interview. "I was just a part-time player. He gave me a real good chance to play. After I had a little success, I felt he had a little confidence in me, and that helped me."
James Lucius Hickman was born in Henning, Tenn., on May 10, 1937. He signed with the Cardinals' organization in 1956 and played in their minor league system until he joined the Mets.
Having missed three months of the 1966 season with a wrist injury, Hickman was traded to the Dodgers along with Ron Hunt, the Mets' star second baseman, for Tommy Davis, a two-time N.L. batting champion.
Hickman played five seasons with the Mets, one with the Dodgers, six with the Cubs and a final year with the Cardinals. He retired after the 1974 season with a .252 career batting average and 159 home runs.
In addition to his son Mike, he is survived by three other sons, Jim Jr., Bill and Joey, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His wife, Juanita, died in 2012.
Hickman, who lived in Henning, ran a farm after his retirement from baseball and then became a batting instructor for the Cincinnati Reds' minor league system.
"I tell them
I was 32 before I learned to hit," he was quoted by George Castle in the
2005 book "Where Have All Our Cubs Gone?" "When a kid's
struggling, I'll use that example."
Joseph A. Schaffernoth
Paul Ippolito Berkeley Memorial Home, June 20, 2016
Joseph A. Schaffernoth of Berkeley Heights, N.J. passed away peacefully after a hard fought battle with cancer, surrounded by his family on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at the age of 78.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Memorial Mass on Friday, June 24th at 10:45 AM at St. Teresa of Avila Church, Morris Ave, Summit. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Paul Ippolito Berkeley Memorial.
Joseph was born in Trenton, N.J. to Charles and Anna Schaffernoth and was a longtime resident of Berkeley Heights, N.J. After high school Joseph was drafted to play Major League Baseball where he played for the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians as a Pitcher for several years until suffering a shoulder injury. After his professional baseball career Joseph worked as a manager for the Palnut division of TRW until his retirement. Joseph's greatest joy was spending time with his family and attending all his grandchildren's activities. He also enjoyed golfing with his buddies.
Joseph is survived by his beloved wife of 58 years Patricia Schaffernoth (nee Mazzucco), his loving children: LuAnn Lyons and her husband Paul and Lauren DeFuria and her husband Brian, brothers: Charles and Dale Schaffernoth and cherished grandchildren: Bradford, Zachary, Derek, Gavin, Curtis, Morgan and Justin.
In lieu of flowers
kindly consider a donation to the Berkeley Heights Vol. Rescue Squad in Joseph's
major-leaguer Chico Fernandez dies at 84
Max Bultman
The Sun Sentinel
June 13, 2016 6:24 PM EDT
Humberto "Chico" Fernandez, a former major league shortstop who was inducted into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, died Saturday in Sunrise after complications from a past stroke. He was 84.
Fernandez, who lived in Florida since 1998 and at his current home in Sunrise since 1999, was inducted in 1997.
In his eight seasons in the major leagues (1956-63), Fernandez played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets. He was a career .240 hitter with 40 home runs, but he had a 20-homer season with Detroit in 1962. The Detroit Free Press called him the first regular starting Latino player for the Tigers.
Perhaps his most famous major league moment came in 1961, when he stole home in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium.
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Fernandez and his wife, Lynne, moved to Florida to be near his baseball friends, and he attended old-timers baseball events in retirement. One summer — Lynne could not recall which — he coached an underprivileged baseball team in Miami.
"He loved Florida," Lynne said on the phone Monday. "The weather — it's like Cuba. It's the closest he could get to Cuba."
Fernandez grew up in a poor family in Havana before defecting to the United States in 1961.
In Lou Hernandez's 2003 book "Memories of Winter Ball," Fernandez recalled playing in Cuba during the revolution, including flyovers during games while the military jets conducted exercises. He said in the book that he left after the 1961 winter season, planning to return, until his parents told him not to come back.
"He always said he left without saying goodbye," Lynne said. Before he passed, they had talked about going to Havana one more time.
Fernandez picked up the nickname Chico in his playing days, and it stuck. He introduced himself as Chico, and when he and Lynne first met, in Detroit, she thought it was his real name. And even in his old age, he was never shy about reliving his playing days.
"He talked about baseball to anybody that called, anyone that visited. We've got scrapbooks of each different team," Lynne said.
According to the Free Press, Hernandez was survived by his wife, Lynne, two daughters, two step-daughters, three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements
are incomplete.
Pfund, longtime coach at Wheaton College, dies at 96
Bob Goldsborough
The Chicago Tribune
June 2, 2016 2:38 PM EDT
Lee Pfund pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers for one season during World War II before going on to coach baseball and basketball for decades at Wheaton College.
The west suburban native led Wheaton's men's basketball program to 362 victories, five conference championships, four straight seasons without a league loss and one national title. And during his time as Wheaton's head baseball coach, he rallied the team to win 249 games and its only conference title.
"Lee attracted good players that played well together with an up-tempo style," said former Wheaton College head men's basketball coach Dick Helm, who also played for Pfund as a student at Wheaton. "I think that made him effective."
Pfund, 96, died of congestive heart failure June 2 in an assisted living unit at the Windsor Park Manor retirement community in Carol Stream, said his son, Kerry.
Born in Oak Park, Pfund grew up in Elmhurst and graduated in 1937 from York High School, where he played football and basketball and ran track. Pfund attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he played baseball.
The St. Louis Cardinals signed Pfund out of college, and he began an eight-year professional baseball career. After four years in the minor leagues, the Brooklyn Dodgers drafted him in late 1944 and promoted him to the major leagues in 1945.
Pfund pitched in 15 games for the Dodgers, notching three victories against two losses. A knee injury during a game in July 1945 sidelined Pfund for the rest of the season.
Pfund returned to the minors in 1946, and after battling knee and shoulder injuries, quit playing in 1950. In 1949, he took a job coaching baseball and teaching physical education at Wheaton College.
"That was the outcome of my professional baseball career — that the Lord lent me an opportunity which became my adult life work," Pfund told the Tribune in 2010.
Pfund was Wheaton's head baseball coach from 1948 until 1959 and again from 1961 until 1974. His 1951 squad remains the only baseball team to have won a conference championship.
Also in 1951, Pfund began coaching Wheaton's men's basketball team. Pfund's squads won five conference titles and from 1956 until 1959 went four straight seasons without a league loss. Pfund also led the team to a 28-1 record and the NCAA Collegiate Division title in 1957.
"We ran and
pressed a lot and did that pretty much all of my career," Pfund told the
Tribune in 1993. "It made it more fun for the players."
Notable deaths in 2016
After pressure from opponents in the College Conference of Illinois, Wheaton exited in 1959 but rejoined in 1967.
"We had a long string of undefeated conference champions, and the league just wasn't comfortable with that," Pfund told the Tribune in 1993. "They really wanted to see us leave."
Helm, who played basketball for Pfund from 1951 until 1954, recalled how the coach "liked the fast-break style" and "team play." He also tried to minimize stress on players, Helm said.
"He always had an interesting halftime story to tell to keep the players relaxed," he said.
Pfund's three sons — John, Kerry and Randy — all played for him at Wheaton. Randy went on to coach the Los Angeles Lakers and became general manager of the Miami Heat.
"I must have had 25 guys who went on to coach somewhere," Pfund told the Tribune in 1993. "But those were fellows who were inclined to do those things."
Joe Bean, who spent three years as Pfund's assistant for the baseball team, said he "learned more about the game in those three years than all my others."
"What a wonderful example he was to his players, and they all respected and admired him," said Bean, now a retired men's soccer coach at Wheaton.
In 1959, Pfund earned a master's degree in guidance and counseling from Northwestern University. He stepped back from coaching basketball in 1975 and took on a different role as executive director of Wheaton's alumni association. He retired from the college in 1987 as its executive director and vice president of alumni relations.
"Lee Pfund is a revered figure from my childhood," Wheaton College President Philip Ryken said in a statement. "When my father and I ducked into the gymnasium to watch a few minutes of basketball practice, or when I walked over … to watch a baseball game, Coach Pfund was always there: teaching, encouraging, strategizing and occasionally arguing with the umpires and referees. His exceptional spirit of competition and sportsmanship produced generations of Christian leaders. We will miss his presence courtside and on the sidelines immensely."
After retiring, Pfund enjoyed golfing, watching Wheaton College sporting events, following the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bulls, involving himself in his church and serving as president of Glen Ellyn's Rotary Club. He also served on the board of Wheaton's Center for History.
In 2012, Wheaton College honored Pfund by renaming its baseball stadium the Lee Pfund Stadium at Legion Field.
Pfund's wife of 64 years, Mabel, died in 2006. In addition to his sons, he is survived by two sisters, Ruth Muzzy and Phyllis Hiley.
A visitation will
take place from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St.
in Wheaton. A memorial service will take place at 11 a.m. July 9 at College
Church, 332 E. Seminary Ave., Wheaton.
Henry, swingin' Denver singer, dies at 79
Henry was best known for singing and acting in Denver but had a long baseball career
By Claire Cleveland
The Denver Post
June 2, 2016
For the past 35 years, Ron Henry was a fixture at Denver bars and clubs where he was a well-known singer and actor, but what his fans may not know is that he also played major-league baseball.
To his five children, his siblings and his many grandchildren, Henry was fun-loving and a joy to be around.
"He loved his friends, he loved his life, he loved all the people he encountered, all the people he interacted with especially with the music," said Rebecca Mobley, one of Henry's daughters.
Ronald Baxter Henry died on May 14 at his home in Denver from cardiovascular disease and end stage renal disease. He was 79.
Mobley said if she had to pick one word to describe him, it would be "charismatic."
"He was a fun-loving guy. He liked to laugh a lot. He was kind of a jokester," she said. "He loved us a lot. He tried to give us a lot of good advice. … He really adored his grandkids."
Henry, one of five children, was born on Aug. 7, 1936, to James Henry Sr. and Essie Lee Ragin Henry in Chester, Pa. He was a strong athlete throughout his childhood and started his baseball career at just 17 when he played in an American Legion all-star game. He hit a home run into the left-center-field stands at Connie Mack Stadium, former home of the Philadelphia Phillies, which earned him the MVP title for the game, said his younger sister, Valaida Henry.
The night before the big game, Henry was hanging out with his younger cousins when "he looked in the mirror at them and pretended he was swinging a baseball bat. He said he was gonna hit it out of the stadium, and then he did that," Valaida Henry said.
A catcher, he signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954. With his first signing bonus, he bought his parents and siblings a home, which his sister Valaida still lives in today.
"He came one time with cash, and like you see on TV, people with money throwing it up on the bed. I remember doing that," she said.
Henry played in the minor leagues for 15 seasons (1954-68), and he spent 20 games of the 1961 season and 22 more major-league games in 1964 as a member of the Minnesota Twins. He hit two home runs in the 1964 season.
After his baseball career ended and then a brief time in the Army, he settled in Denver, where he spent 35 years as a singer and actor, becoming an integral member of the music scene.
Henry played shows at the Manhattan Grill, the 9th Hole, which is now Roo Bar, and, most famously, The Bay Wolf in the early 1980s. He acted at various venues, including Armando's Ristorante and Rodney's. He also had a role in the Country Dinner Playhouse's "Damn Yankees."
"It was wonderful seeing your brother up on stage and seeing people loving him so," Valaida said.
In recent years, Henry lived with and was cared for by his sister Gale Boulware and her children, Mark Boulware, Desiree Burgos and Mikel Boulware.
Henry is survived by children Rebecca Mobley, Jason Henry, Donna Moore, Sheryl Johnson and Rodney Shelton; sisters Valaida Henry and Gale Boulware; his many grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
A memorial service
will be held Friday at the Valley View Church of God, 4390 S. Lowell Blvd.,
in Englewood. A celebration of life will be Saturday at Herb's, 2057 Larimer
St., in Denver.
Former pitcher Ruben Quevedo dies at 37
By Adam McCalvy
June 8th, 2016
MILWAUKEE -- Former Brewers pitcher Ruben Quevedo has passed away at 37 of an apparent heart attack, according to multiple news reports in Venezuela.
Quevedo pitched parts of four seasons in the Major Leagues for the Cubs and Brewers from 2000-03, going 14-30 with a 6.15 ERA in 66 games (58 starts). He made 45 of those appearances after a deal from Chicago to Milwaukee at the '01 Trade Deadline.
According to Baseball-Reference.com, Quevedo last pitched professionally in 2008 for the Tigres de Aragua in the Venezuelan Winter League. That club Tweeted about Quevedo's passing on Wednesday, saying it joined in the mourning of his death.
"Peace to his soul," the team's message said in Spanish.
Longtime Brewers bullpen catcher Marcus Hanel remembered Quevedo as a fun-loving individual, despite regular teasing from teammates about his weight and fitness.
"Everyone made light of his health and weight and stuff like that, but he was a good dude," Hanel said. "He took a lot of hits for that stuff, but he took it pretty well."
The worst of it was in 2002 Spring Training, when then-pitching coach Dave Stewart instituted a daily mile run for the pitchers. On the first day, Quevedo was unable to complete it.
it doesn't surprise me that it was a heart attack, considering the things that
he battled," Hanel said. "It's a shame. He was one of those likeable
co. exec, philanthropist Lou Grasmick dies
WMAR ABC2 News
May 27, 2016 6:07 PM
BALTIMORE - Well-known Baltimore lumber company executive and philanthropist Lou Grasmick died at Johns Hopkins Hospital Thursday night.
He was 91.
The former Major League Baseball player quit in 1948 because the sport, at the time, didn't pay enough. He came back to his hometown of Baltimore and started a lumber company where he built the Ocean City Boardwalk, the National Aquarium and Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
He was known for giving time and money to every cause.
Grasmick was married
to former superintendent of Maryland schools Dr. Nancy Grasmick.
M. Theobald
July 28, 1943 ~ April 15, 2016
Published in East Bay Times on May 21, 2016
Resident of Walnut Creek, Ron was a talented baseball player, playing on a Berkeley Babe Ruth baseball team and an Oakland Connie Mack baseball team each going to the National Championships.
He attended Berkeley High School and in 1959 lead the league in hitting and was named all A.C.A.L. The next year his family moved to Richmond, CA where he attended Harry Ells High School in 1960 and 1961, played baseball and was named All-League both years. He attended Contra Costa Junior College in 1962 and played baseball.
In 1963 he attended the University of Arizona, played 2nd base where he earned All-American honors. The Wildcats went to the College World Series where he earned All-College World Series honors as 2nd baseman. After the College World Series he signed with the Chicago Cubs, played in the minor league system until 1971 when he played 2nd base for the Milwaukee Brewers for two seasons.
In 1973 he was sent to the Islanders baseball team in Hawaii where he played one season. During the 17 years in Hawaii, he umpired baseball games and worked for UPS. In 1990 he moved to Fullerton, CA where he umpired baseball games and during the next 19 years drove a bus for Brea School District, transporting handicap children. The children and their parents loved Ron. His kindness & patience was appreciated. He took great pride in their care & safety. He moved to Walnut Creek in 2009.
Ron is predeceased by his father Merle; mother, Lila and step father Joe Lovisone. He is survived by daughter, Laura; significant other of 26 years, Shirley Finch of Fullerton, CA; former spouse, Linda Evitt of North Carolina and half brother, Donald Lovisone of Walnut Creek.
Private memorial services to follow.
Former Giants third baseman Jim Ray Hart dies
The San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, May 20, 2016 11:27 pm
Former Giants third baseman Jim Ray Hart, a staple of San Francisco's infield in the 1960s and early 70s, died Thursday in Acampo (San Joaquin County). He was 74.
Mr. Hart played for the Giants from 1963-73, finishing second in Rookie of the Year balloting in 1964. He was an All-Star in 1966 and finished his Giants career with a .282 batting average, 526 RBIs and 157 home runs in 1,001 games.
"Everyone in the Giants organization is deeply saddened by the news of Jim's passing," team President Larry Baer said in a statement. "Our condolences go out to the Hart family for their tremendous loss and we extend our thoughts to Jim's teammates, his friends, and to all those touched by his passing."
Mr. Hart is survived by his former wife, Janet Hart-Ayala; four children, Justin, Ryan, Schineese and Heather; 12 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Police confirm former MLB player shot wife, then self
By Sarah Grasmick
The Pueblo Chieftain
May 19, 2016 07:32PM
New details emerged Thursday about Sunday's murder-suicide of a former Major League Baseball player and his wife.
Kenneth Ramos, 48, shot Lisa Ramos, 47, twice and himself once in their basement, according to autopsies.
The firearm discovered near the couple was purchased about a month prior to the incident, according to a press release from the Pueblo Police Department.
"Through investigation, detectives learned that Mr. and Mrs. Ramos had been having marital problems, some of which were witnessed by neighbors," the press release indicated.
At 3:30 p.m. Sunday, police responded to 9 Ironbridge Lane on a report of a shooting. The couple was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ramos was well-known in the Pueblo community as a baseball player and coach.
A standout at East High School, he played for Otero Junior College and the University of Nebraska. He was drafted in 1988 by the Chicago Cubs, but did not sign. He did sign with the Cleveland Indians as a free agent, and ended up with the Houston Astros, playing in that organization's minor league system.
He did reach the major leagues in 1997.
He retired in 1999 at the age of 30.
He returned to Pueblo and coached the Central High School baseball team from 2000-03.
He was inducted into the Greater Pueblo Sports Association Hall of Fame in 2008.
His wife, Lisa Lynn LeBlanc, graduated from Canon City High School and magna cum laude from the University of Colorado.
She had been employed
by the state of Colorado as an accountant for the past 20 years.
McAuliffe, from 1968 champion Detroit Tigers, dies at 76
George Sipple
The Detroit Free Press
May 16, 2016 8:27 p.m. EDT
Dick McAuliffe, an infielder for the 1968 World Series champion Detroit Tigers, died on Friday. He was 76.
The Tigers confirmed McAuliffe's passing and held a moment of silence before Monday's game for him and former first-round pick John Young.
A three-time All-Star, McAuliffe was known for his unique batting stance and 1968 fight with Tommy John.
Jim Price, a '68 teammate and analyst for Tigers radio, remembered McAuliffe for his toughness. McAuliffe was involved in a brawl with Chicago White Sox pitcher Tommy John in August, 1968. Price said John "threw it right at his head and Dick charged the mound."
McAuliffe was suspended five days and fined $250. During the fight, John sustained torn ligaments in his left shoulder and missed the rest of the season.
Price recalled another fight McAuliffe was involved with against the Kansas City Athletics.
"I remember a time where a pitcher drilled him," Price said. "Next time we played them, he led off with a drag bunt. Pitcher came over to field it. (McAuliffe) knocked the pitcher over. Darndest fight you've seen. That's what (McAuliffe) was like.
"We had a lot of fights in those days. They weren't hugging and kissing. It was actual fights and Mad Dog was right there."
Price said McAuliffe wasn't mean though.
"Just tough," Price said. "Not mean at all. But you do him wrong from another team, they had to pay the price."
Price said he knew McAuliffe had been in declining health for some time.
"We saw him three or four years ago in Boston and I could see the beginnings of some problems and when you hear the reality it really sets you back," Price said, adding there aren't a lot of players left from the 1968 team picture.
Tigers television analyst Kirk Gibson, who grew up in Waterford, remembered watching McAuliffe as a youngster: "He had a unique stance, I'm sure a stance I tried to emulate in the backyard."
Price said McAuliffe was Ian Kinsler for the Tigers in 1968, referring to the team's current second baseman, who is known for his consistent play.
McAuliffe led the league with a single-season career-high 95 runs scored in 1968. McAuliffe also set single-season career highs with 24 doubles and 10 triples that season, to go along with 16 home runs. He finished seventh in the AL MVP voting that season (Tigers pitcher Denny McLain won MVP, Tigers catcher Bill Freehan was second and Tigers outfielder Willie Horton was fourth).
In an era where middle infielders didn't have a lot of power, McAuliffe hit 24 home runs in 1964, 23 in 1966 and 22 in 1967.
McAuliffe ended his career with the Boston Red Sox. The Tigers traded him for Ben Oglivie in October 1973.
McAuliffe signed as an amateur free agent in 1957 with the Tigers and made his debut Sept. 17, 1960. He hit 192 of his 197 career home runs with the Tigers from 1960 to 1973. McAuliffe went on to play in 107 games with the Red Sox.
"Leadoff hitter,
had that unorthodox stance," Price said. "The best guy. The best
teammate. Played hard every day. We were a crazy team that won in '68.
We were loose. Part of my job was to keep him loose."
Ellis, All-Star Starter Who Later Made Dave Righetti a Reliever, Dies at 75
By Richard Goldstein
The New York Times
May 16, 2016
Sammy Ellis, an All-Star pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds who forged a second career as a pitching coach and was instrumental in converting the Yankees' young left-handed starter Dave Righetti into a reliever, a role he fulfilled brilliantly, died on Friday in Temple Terrace, Fla. He was 75.
Ellis's wife, Lynn, said the cause was cancer.
In 1965, his third major league season, Ellis had a 22-10 record with 15 complete games for the fourth-place Reds and was named to the National League All-Star team. He joined Jim Maloney, who went 20-9 that season, as the last Reds right-handers to win at least 20 games in a season until Johnny Cueto went 20-9 in 2014.
Ellis developed a sore arm in 1966 and never had another winning season.
Decades later, he became a pitching coach for five major league teams, starting with several stints with the Yankees between 1982 and 1986, when managers and coaches were spinning in and out of the principal owner George M. Steinbrenner's revolving door.
Righetti had pitched a no-hitter on July 4, 1983, and showed great promise as a starter. But at spring training in 1984, seeing a brighter future for him as a reliever — and lacking a relief ace with the departure of Goose Gossage to the San Diego Padres as a free agent — Ellis, the coach Jeff Torborg and Yankees Manager Yogi Berra asked Righetti to switch to the bullpen.
"He was my first choice from Day 1," Ellis said at the time. "I'm concerned for his longevity as a starter because of the trouble he's had with his shoulder. Relieving is easier on the shoulder than starting if you're not abused, and Yogi won't abuse him."
But with the Yankees floundering in June 1984, Righetti was deprived of Ellis's guidance, at least for a time, when Ellis was replaced by Mark Connor, then a pitching coach in the Yankees' minor league system.
"I hope they don't think it's their fault," Ellis said of his pitching staff. "They're not the main reason we're 19 games out."
As was customary with Steinbrenner's Yankees back then, Ellis returned later, was deposed again, then reappeared in pinstripes. After his Yankee years, he was a pitching coach for the Chicago White Sox, the Seattle Mariners, the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles, as well as a roving pitching instructor for the Reds.
Samuel Joseph Ellis was born on Feb. 11, 1941, in Youngstown, Ohio. After pitching for Mississippi State University, he made his major league debut with Cincinnati in 1962. He pitched for five seasons for the Reds, then concluded his career with the California Angels and the White Sox, posting a record of 63-58 over seven seasons.
In addition to his wife, Ellis, who lived in Dade City, Fla., and died at a hospice, is survived by a daughter, Tammy Parker; a son, Boe; his sisters, Joyce Williams and Genevieve Harris; 10 grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
The Yankees did not forget Ellis. Before their game with the White Sox on Sunday at Yankee Stadium, they posted his image on their video board and asked the fans for a moment of silence.
Righetti, who saved
252 games, most of them as a Yankee, is now in his 17th season as the San Francisco
Giants' pitching coach, following the second-career path of his prime
Young, founder of MLB program Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, has died
Eric Sondheimer
The Los Angeles Times
May 9, 2016 2:00 PM
John Young, who grew up in Los Angeles, played on a national championship baseball team at Chapman University and was the founder of Major League Baseball's Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities program, has died, the commissioner's office announced on Monday. He was 67.
Bob Zamora, the coach at Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley who was a high school and college teammate of Young at Mt. Carmel in Los Angeles and Chapman, said Young had diabetes and had been hospitalized in Orange County before passing away on Sunday.
"He was a great man," Zamora said.
Baseball Commissioner
Robert D. Manfred Jr. said in a statement: "All of us at Major League
Baseball are saddened by the loss of John Young, a trailblazer and champion
of both professional and youth baseball. Following a championship collegiate
baseball career and a Minor and Major League playing career that spanned from
1969 through 1978, John became the first African-American director of scouting
when he was hired by the Detroit Tigers in 1981.
See the most-read stories in Sports this hour >>
"He went on to scout for several clubs, including the Marlins, Rangers, Padres and Cubs, signing 21 future Major Leaguers to their first professional contracts. It was in this capacity that he would achieve his most enduring accomplishment — the founding of the RBI program.
"John personally started RBI in 1989 in his home city of Los Angeles with less than 200 young men. With John's guidance, MLB assumed the operations of the program in 1991, and it has since grown to serve 230,000 young men and women in 200 cities across the United States, Canada, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
"The legacy John has left with the RBI program is evident in the impact it has had on young people who have grown to be important contributors to our society as teachers, police officers, doctors, youth coaches and as professional baseball players."
Young was a member of Chapman's 1968 national championship team.
Young is survived
by his wife, Sheryl, and children Dorian, Jon and Tori.
Walter Perkowski
Sep 6, 1922 - Apr 20, 2016
Joe Durham, first African-American player to homer for Orioles, dies at 84
By Mike Klingaman
The Baltimore Sun
Friday, April 29, 20
It was an everyday clout, as home runs go — a solo shot to left field in a meaningless late-season game between two teams tied for last place in the American League. Except that the man who hit it, Joe Durham, was African-American and the first of his race to homer for the Orioles in 1954.
Joseph Vann Durham died Thursday of natural causes at Northwest Hospital Hospice Center. A Randallstown resident, Durham was 84. The Orioles paid tribute to the former outfielder Thursday night with a moment of silence prior to their game against the Chicago White Sox at Camden Yards.
The second African-American player to suit up for the modern-day Orioles — pitcher Jehosie Heard was the first — Durham joined the team on Sept. 7, 1954, having been called up from the minors. Five days later, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics, he made history. Leading off the sixth inning, Durham hit an Al Sima pitch into the left-field seats before an announced 12,981 at Memorial Stadium.
Durham also singled in a run, but the Orioles lost, 5-4 and fell to 48-96 on the season.
He batted .225 down the stretch, then entered the military for a two-year Army hitch. On his return in 1957, he started the season with Double-A San Antonio and was hitting .397 when recalled on June 11. That night, he started in center field for an injured Tito Francona and made two spectacular catches in Detroit to help pitcher Connie Johnson, also African-American, beat the Tigers, 4-1.
His play drew raves from manager Paul Richards.
"I knew [Durham] could go get 'em," the Orioles skipper told reporters. "He really showed them some foot out there, didn't he?"
In truth, he and Richards didn't get along, Durham said years later.
"He thought Richards should have called him up before the middle of June," said Bob Luke, who interviewed Durham in 2012 for his book, "Integrating The Orioles: Baseball and Race in Baltimore." "He thought Paul was a racist and said that even when they sat side by side in the dugout, if Richards had something to say to Joe, he would pass the word to one of the coaches and have him tell him."
Durham played in 77 games in 1957, batting .185. He played in the minors in 1958 and, briefly, with the St. Louis Cardinals the following year before returning to the minors and retiring in 1964.
A native of Newport News, Va., he settled in Baltimore where he officiated high school baseball and basketball games, and for years threw batting practice for the Orioles. In 1987, the club named Durham its community coordinator for baseball operations, a job for which he seemed well-suited.
"I want to be a guy that a player anywhere in the organization can come to if he can't go to his manager," Durham said. "I've been through all this before in baseball; I think I can help."
Durham is survived by his wife of 58 years, Sallie Durham, three children and four grandchildren. Services are incomplete.
"Joe lived,
ate and dreamed baseball," Sallie Durham said. "When we left the hospice
center Wednesday night, my daughter put the Orioles game on TV for him. Joe
couldn't open his eyes, but the nurses said he could still hear."
Published in The Register Herald
April 23, 2016
On Wednesday, April
20th, 2016, Harry Perkowski passed on to his eternal home. He was in his 93rd
Harry was born on September 6th, 1922, in Dante, Virginia, to Polish immigrants, Ben and Feliska Perkowski. Although born in Virginia, his father - a miner - moved the family to Eccles, West Virginia, early in Harry's childhood so that is where he considered home.
Harry had a long and storied life. He was a 1942 graduate of Trap Hill High School, World War II Navy Veteran - serving in both the European and Pacific Theaters, and professional baseball player for the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs (1947 - 1955).
In 1948, he married his love, Kathryn Lucille Bell, and made their home in Beckley.
Though best known as a baseball pitcher, he also served as an ambulance driver, constable, Mabscott Chief of Police, Raleigh County Sheriff's Deputy, Raleigh County school bus driver, and finally retired from the WV Department of Highways.
He enjoyed bowling, dancing, reminiscing with friends, and playing cards. He also enjoyed and cherished spending time in the company and friendship of his dear companion Nevada Angle and her entire family.
A longtime parishioner of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Beckley, Harry was a lifetime Member (50 yr.) of the Loyal Order of the Moose, Beckley Lodge.
Harry is survived by son, Harry Jr. (Alyce) of Beckley, and daughter, Jane Kalbach (Ed) of Shickshinny, PA.; five grandchildren Leah Perkowski-Sisk (Jon), Katy Perkowski (Sam), Adam Pell, Alex Pell and Kathryn Kalbach; great-granddaughter, Scarlett Phillips.
He was preceded in death by his loving wife, Kathryn Perkowski; brothers John, Joe, Charlie, and Alex.
The family wishes to express their gratitude to: Harry's devoted friend, Norman Davis, the marvelous staff and friends of his Greystone family and his Moose Club buddies.
The Funeral Liturgy will be celebrated on Monday, April 25th, at 11:00 am at St. Francis de Sales Church. The Very Rev. Fr. Paul Wharton will be the celebrant. The Rite of Committal will follow in The Garden of the Crucifix at the Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens in Prosperity. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8:00 pm on Sunday evening at the Melton Mortuary. A Scriptural Prayer Service will be led by Rev. Mr. William Donald Wise at 7:30 pm.
Cub Milt Pappas dies at age 76
By Chicago Tribune Staff
April 19, 2016, 8:47 PM
Milt Pappas, the former Cubs pitcher who famously came one pitch from a perfect game, died Tuesday, Beecher police have confirmed.
Pappas was 76.
Pitching for the Cubs on Sept. 2, 1972, Pappas, then 33, had a perfect game against the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field. With two outs in the ninth, pinch-hitter Larry Stahl worked the count to 3-2 before plate umpire Bruce Froemming called a close pitch a ball.
Pappas then began yelling obscenities from the mound, half of them in Greek.
Pappas got the next batter out, securing a no-hitter.
"To this day, I just don't understand it," Pappas said in 2009.
Pappas, who was born in Detroit in 1939, pitched in the majors from 1957 to 1973, the last four years for the Cubs.
Cubs executive chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement Tuesday the organization was sad to learn of Pappas' death and that "we will always consider him part of the Chicago Cubs family."
Pappas was seen often at Wrigley Field and stayed connected to the franchise at the Cubs Convention and other events.
"Milt will forever be remembered for one of the most dramatic pitching performances in team history as he delivered a no-hitter that neared perfection in 1972," Ricketts said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his friends, relatives and fans as we mourn this loss."
Pappas was preceded in death by his wife, Carole, whose body was found inside her car in a Wheaton pond in 1987, after she had been missing for five years.
Her death was ruled accidental and an autopsy confirmed she had drowned after driving her car into the water. She had gone missing in September 1982 after she left the family's home to do some shopping.
Milt Pappas said he had no idea why his wife ended up in the body of water less than a mile from the family's home in Wheaton.
"That's a question that may never be answered," Milt Pappas told the Tribune in 1987. "Why she went that way; why nobody saw a car fly through the air into the pond."
Pappas pitched in 520 games with the Orioles, Reds, Braves and Cubs during his career, including 465 starts. He was 209-164 and struck out 1,728 and had a 3.40 ERA in 3,186 innings. Pappas also delivered 43 shutouts during his career.
The starting pitcher for the American League in the 1965 All-Star game, Pappas gave up first-inning home runs to Willie Mays and Joe Torre. After that season, Pappas was one of three players the Orioles traded for Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, who won the MVP and Triple Crown and led Baltimore to the World Series title in 1966.
Aside from being known for his near-perfect game with the Cubs, Pappas was remembered for one of the 298 home runs he allowed -- Roger Maris' 59th in 1961, when Maris surpassed Babe Ruth's then-record 60 home runs by one.
Pappas said in 1998 that he told Commissioner Ford Frick he threw nothing but fastballs to Maris because he was upset that baseball was going to put an asterisk next to Maris' record if he didn't break Ruth's record in 154 games.
Pappas also hit some during his career, 20 to be exact, including four in 1962 while with the Orioles. He also drove in 67 runs in 17 seasons.
In 1971 while with the Cubs, Pappas turned in the 10th National League perfect inning by striking out three Phillies on nine pitches in the fourth inning of a 6-1 loss on Sept. 24.
Pappas was the first 200-game winner to never win 20 games in a season. Pappas' no-hitter in 1972 was the only one the Cubs were involved with – for or against – until Carlos Zambrano threw one for them in September 2008.
Pappas, a three-time All-Star, moved to Beecher in 1990 and married his second wife, Judi Bloome. In 2013, he was seriously injured in a one-car crash in Kankakee County after he hit a utility pole.
He is survived by his wife, Judi, and children Steve from his first marriage and Alexandria from his second marriage. A daughter, Michelle, from his first marriage, died last year.
Longtime Detroit
Tigers broadcaster, Ernie Harwell's radio partner Paul Carey dies at 88
WXYZ.com, April 12, 2016 9:18 PM
(WXYZ) - Longtime Detroit Tigers broadcaster Paul Carey has died at the age of 88.
Carey has been in failing health in recent years. He was a native of Mt. Pleasant and attended both Central Michigan University and Michigan State University.
Carey spent 19 years broadcasting Tigers games with Ernie Harwell, joining him in the booth in 1973. He retired in 1991.
In addition to his time with the Tigers, Carey also worked at WJR from 1956 until 1992 and served as a play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Pistons.
Prior to his radio career, Carey served in the Army during the Korean War.
Carey was a member of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Nancy, and his nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements
are still being determined.
Former major league GM H.B. 'Spec' Richardson dies
Columbus native was an executive with the Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants
When he was in San Francisco, he appeared in one of the first Miller Lite beer commercials
Richardson, 93,
retired to Columbus about 25 years ago
By Chuck Williams
The Ledger-Enquirer
April 12, 2016 11:01 AM
H.B. "Spec" Richardson spent a lifetime in professional baseball, starting his career selling hot dogs and sodas for a minor league team in his hometown and climbing the ladder to become Major League Baseball's executive of the year.
Richardson, 93, died Tuesday morning at his home in north Columbus. He had been in failing health in recent years and died of natural causes.
When he and his wife, Tommye, returned home more than 25 years ago to retire, Richardson had completed a long and colorful front-office career.
It started in 1946 as the concession manager with the Columbus, Cardinals and he rose through the ranks to general manager of the Houston Astros and San Francisco Giants.
When John Dittrich landed in Columbus as general manager of the RedStixx, he met Richardson, who he knew by reputation.
"He's one of baseball's good, ol' boys," Dittrich said. "He is the front office part of the Golden Era of the game. You had people like (Roberto) Clemente and (Hank) Aaron on the field and folks like Spec in the front office."
Dayton Preston, who was a longtime friend and once was part of an ownership group for the minor-league Columbus Astros, said it is hard to describe Richardson's career.
"It is almost impossible to do what he did," Preston said. "But he did it and he was good at it. Baseball was all he knew."
Richardson was general manager of the Astros from 1967-75.
In his role with Houston, he was was directly responsible for the construction of the Astrodome, the Astros home stadium that was dubbed the eighth wonder of the world. Richardson worked directly for Judge Roy Hofheinz, who owned the Astros, formerly the Colt 45s.
"He was Judge Hofheinz's boy," Dittrich said. "Spec was the one who oversaw the construction of the Astrodome."
It started out as the Harris County Domed Stadium when it opened in 1965.
"Everything that Judge Hofheinz wanted he got and Spec saw to it," Dittrich said. "They had suites before anyone else did. They had the exploding scoreboard long before anyone else in baseball had it. You didn't have all the HD stuff, so they did it with neon."
He is remembered for several major trades. In 1971 he traded Joe Morgan, Denis Menke, Jack Billingham and Cesar Geronimo to Cincinnati in exchange for a package of players that included first baseman Lee May. Morgan, Billingham and Geronimo became key players on the Reds' championship teams.
"Sure he made some bad trades," Dittrich said. "But every general manager in Major League Baseball who did it as long as Spec did, made some bad trades. But don't forget, he was also baseball's executive of the year."
There was one trade in particular that Preston liked to rib Richardson about. In 1967, Richardson traded future Hall of Fame slugger Eddie Mathews to Detroit for pitcher Fred Gladding.
"He got a one-eyed, right-handed relief pitcher from Detroit for one of the greats of the game," Preston said. "I always told Spec that was the dumbest trade he ever made. And Fred was one of my best friends."
Richardson left Houston and became general manager of the San Francisco Giants, where he was named Major League "Executive of the Year" in 1978.
He is perhaps best known for a controversial 1978 trade with the Oakland Athletics in which he acquired pitcher Vida Blue for the Giants. The trade was made after Commissioner Bowie Kuhn vetoed an attempt by A's owner Charlie Finley to sell Blue to the Yankees.
Richardson kept the hotel bar napkin on which he recorded the specifics of that trade.
It was while he was with the Giants that Richardson did one of the very first Miller Lite beer commercials. He and fellow general manager Al Rosen were seen sharing a beer and trading baseball cards.
The stint with the Giants didn't last and he was fired in 1980.
Richardson, like many ballplayers, worked his way through the minor leagues to the big leagues. After leaving Columbus, he was business manager for the Jacksonville Tars from 1949-52. He was promoted to general manager of the club that became the Jacksonville Braves and held that job until 1958.
He was the Jacksonville general manager when the team, along with Savannah, broke the color line in the South Atlantic League. That Jacksonville team included Hank Aaron, a newly signed kid from Mobile, Ala. Felix Mantilla joined Aaron on that team.
Richardson returned to Columbus with his wife, Tommye, around 1989 and they became fixtures at local minor league baseball and hockey games.
When Chicago businessman Charlie Morrow purchased the Columbus minor league franchise and moved his family here in 1994, Richardson became one of his friends and mentors, said Morrow's widow, Martha Paull.
"He has such a love of baseball and such a love of Columbus and he wanted so badly for baseball to survive and thrive in Columbus," Paull said. "… He did help guide Charlie in his first foray into baseball. He took his advice seriously and was a good source of information."
Columbus Cottonmouths coach and general manager Jerome Bechard might have been a hockey guy and Richardson was a baseball man, but they built a mutual bond and respect. After he retired from baseball, Richardson volunteered in the Cottonmouths front office.
"He was old-school, business-like and sharp as a tack," Bechard said Tuesday. "He was an open book and full of unbelievable knowledge."
When Bechard moved off the ice and into the front office and coaching jobs, he said Richardson was always willing to help.
"I could show him anything," Bechard said. "We would go over budgets, settlements and talk about how they did things on the major-league level and he would help me adapt."
There also was a powerful love story in Richardson's life. He met his wife, Tommye, a native of Fort Mitchell, Ala., when he was working with the Columbus Cardinals. She worked at the Western Union office in downtown Columbus, and he would go there every night to send dispatches back to St. Louis, the parent club.
They were married for 60 years when she died in the fall of 2009.
"They were a great team," Preston said. " Tommye and baseball were his life. And, as you know, baseball people who worked in management at that time had a pretty tough life — a lot of strange hours and a lot of travel. But at the end of the day, she was always the one who was in control. Spec just didn't know it."
Jan Hyatt lived next door to the Richardsons for the last 27 years, and they became a part of her family.
"I can still see her saying, 'Now, Spec,' correcting him and reeling him in," Hyatt said. "When he wouldn't listen to anyone else, he would listen to her."
Paull described the relationship this way: "She was the softness to his grumpy side."
They often attended hockey games and sat in the same seats, Bechard said.
"They were so loving and I know when Miss Tommye passed, he was like 'I need to go, too,' " Bechard said. "I know he probably prayed every day to go join her."
Richardson was recognized for his work and made it into a number of sports Hall of Fames. He's in the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame, the Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame and the Jordan High School Hall of Fame. He was a manager on the 1943 Jordan basketball team that won a state title.
Preston said that Richardson may have been the most significant sports figure to come out of Columbus behind only Baseball Hall of Fame member Frank Thomas.
Richardson is survived
by his daughter, Cindy Venturelli, and four grandchildren, who all live in the
Oakland, Calif., area. Visitation will be Friday from 5-8 p.m. at Striffler-Hamby
Mortuary on Macon Road. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, also at Striffler-Hamby.
Mike Sandlock Dies at 100; Was Oldest Living Big Leaguer
By Bruce Weber
The New York Times
April 5, 2016
Mike Sandlock, a catcher and infielder for three National League teams who achieved his foremost baseball distinction decades after his playing days were over when he became the oldest living former big league ballplayer, died at his home in Cos Cob, Conn., on Monday, the day after opening day. He was 100.
His death was confirmed by his daughter-in-law Alexandria Sandlock.
Sandlock played 16 seasons of professional baseball, most of it in the minor leagues. Though he had batted over .300 in a handful of seasons in the minors, Sandlock, a switch-hitter, did not exactly scare big league pitchers from either side of the plate.
He played parts of two seasons with the Boston Braves in 1942 and 1944 — he spent 1943 working in a munitions factory — and had his best year in 1945 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, batting .282 in 80 games and swatting the only two home runs of his career. Both, oddly enough, came off pitcher Harry Feldman of the Giants.
By 1947, with many major league players having returned to baseball after serving in World War II, Sandlock was back in the minor leagues with Montreal, the Brooklyn farm team from which Jackie Robinson made his history-making leap to the major leagues.
Robinson was gone from Montreal by then, but one of Sandlock's teammates was a young catcher he took under his wing: Roy Campanella, who would go on, as a Dodger, to win three Most Valuable Player Awards and enter the Hall of Fame. Campanella gave Sandlock credit for curing him of a tic in his throwing motion that slowed his release on stolen-base attempts.
From 1949 to 1952, Sandlock was the regular catcher for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League, where one of his battery mates was Johnny Lindell, a former outfielder for the Yankees who was trying to rejuvenate his career as a knuckleball pitcher.
When the Pittsburgh Pirates called up Lindell, they promoted Sandlock as well, ostensibly because he had the skill and experience to catch the knuckler, a bedeviling pitch for catchers at any level to handle. The strategy was not very successful: Lindell led the major leagues in wild pitches with 11, and Sandlock led in passed balls with 15, par for the course for a team that won only 50 games that season, the fewest in either league.
Michael Joseph Sandlock was born on Oct. 17, 1915, in what is now Old Greenwich, Conn. He worked as an electrician during the Depression, a job, he told The New York Times in a 2013 interview, that paid him $200 a month and that he quit in 1938 to play ball for less than half that. His parents, he said, thought he was nuts.
Before making it to the majors, he played for teams in Huntington, W.Va.; Bradford, Pa.; Hartford; and Evansville, Ind. He finished his playing days in the Philadelphia Phillies' minor league system. For his major league career, he batted .240 in 195 games with 31 runs batted in.
Sandlock married Victoria Suchocki in 1940. She died in 1982. He is survived by two sons, Michael and Damon; six grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren.
After his playing
career ended, Sandlock worked as a plumber, electrician and handyman. He became
the oldest living former major leaguer with the death at 102 of Connie Marrero,
a former pitcher for the Washington Senators, on April 23, 2014. The title now
passes to the 99-year-old Eddie Carnett, who played for three teams during World
War II, mostly in the outfield.
Duke's Tom Butters dies at age 77
The News-Observer
April 1, 2016 10:16 AM
Durham: Former Duke University Vice President and Director of Athletics Tom Butters passed away on Thursday night at the age of 77, according to university officials.
Perhaps best known as the man who hired basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, Butters served 30 years as an administrator at Duke and was the university's athletic director 1977-1997.
Butters, a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan and a former major league pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, arrived at Duke in 1967 as director of special events. He coached the Blue Devil baseball team, 1968-70, and founded the Iron Dukes fund-raising organization prior to replacing Carl James as director of athletics in 1977.
In 1997, Butters suffered a heart attack on a golf course outside Baltimore and, following quadruple bypass surgery, announced his intention to retire as A.D. at Duke.
The cause of death Thursday was not announced.
"Tom Butters was an icon in college athletics administration. ... Two decades since his retirement, Tom continued to be a giant in college athletics," said Kevin White, Duke University's present Director of Athletics. "Simply put, no one served Duke University or the entire profession better than Tom."
As Duke's director of athletics, Butters raised millions of dollars, improved facilities and insisted on excellence with integrity in his programs. He was widely recognized as a superb fund raiser, a no-nonsense administrator, savvy negotiator and excellent judge of young talent, Duke officials said in a prepared statement .
In 1980, Mike Krzyzewski was a young, relatively unknown basketball coach from Army when Butters hired him to lead Dukle's program. After Duke and Krzyzewski endured 17-loss seasons in his second and third years, Butters gave his coach a vote of confidence with a contract extension in the middle of the 1984 season. That decision to stay the course proved to be one of Butters' best; Krzyzewski established Duke as one of the premier programs in the country.
During Butters' tenure, he also hired coaching standouts Jamie Ashworth (women's tennis), Dan Brooks (women's golf), Gail Goestenkors (women's basketball), Kerstin Kimel (women's lacrosse), Mike Pressler (men's lacrosse), John Rennie (men's soccer) and Steve Spurrier (football). He also oversaw the addition of the women's soccer, women's track & field and women's lacrosse programs as well as the creation of the Duke Athletics Hall of the Fame.
As a member of the NCAA Basketball Committee from 1989-94, Butters was instrumental in the $1 billion deal struck with CBS Sports for the broadcast rights to March Madness. Closer to home, he raised millions of dollars to update facilities and initiated a scholarship endowment program that helped Duke focus its resources in sports that could be competitive for championships.
Butters, an avid golfer, also spearheaded the fund raising efforts for the redesign of the Duke University Golf Club in 1994 that helped bring the 2001 NCAA Men's Golf Championship to Durham.
Duke Athletics rose to new heights under Butters with the school's first NCAA team championship (men's soccer; 1986), landmark back-to-back national titles in men's basketball (1991-92), the Blue Devils' first ACC football championship and bowl bid (1989) since the 1960s, and the emergence of one of the top women's athletics programs in the country. Duke won 40 ACC team titles during Butters' term as AD, almost twice as many as had been accomplished during its previous 24 years of conference membership.
Duke annually graduated over 95 percent of its student athletes during Butters' regime, highlighted by nine Academic Achievement Awards for leading the nation in football graduation rate between 1981 and 1997. Butters' efforts to promote athletic success as well as academic excellence was reward in 1996, when he received a lifetime achievement honor from the All-American Football Foundation, the Gen. Robert R. Neyland Award for Athletic Directors.
Butters also served as chairman of the College Football Association's football championship study committee and was ranked as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful People in Sports during the mid-1990s. In 1999, Butters was inducted into the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame, which is located in a building named in his honor, the Schwartz-Butters Center adjacent to Cameron Indoor Stadium. He was also inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
"His legacy stands as one of the greatest in this industry, for his track record of hiring outstanding coaches, innovating fundraising models, and, most importantly, creating a culture of unparalleled integrity at Duke that still stands as a model for all intercollegiate athletics," White said.
"To be sure, Tom will be sorely missed, especially at Duke, where his impact is still felt daily nearly 20 years beyond his tenure. We offer our deepest sympathy to his wife beloved Lynn and to Tom's amazing family."
Butters is survived
by his wife Lynn, daughter Jill Steidle and son-in-law Ward Steidle of Malvern,
Pa., son Bret and daughter-in-law Nancy of Durham, and six grandchildren.
Puerto Rican Baseball
The former outfielder Orlando Alvarez died yesterday of complications with diabetes
By Ruben A. Rodriguez
Thursday March 31, 2016 - 7:44 PM
Orlando Alvarez a former gardener who saw his career cut short in its principles by a pitch on his face, died today, Thursday, at 64.
Alvarez, who in the seventies was considered one of the main Puerto Rican prospects in baseball, was suffering in recent years from diabetes.
He born in Canovanas. Alvarez was signed by the organization of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1970 when he was 18. He played in the outfield.
In 1973 he made his debut in the majors participating in four challenges. He was a skilled defensive player with a good arm. It was an average hitter with speed on the bases.
"I had many tools. Was good fielding and batting although it was not long footage, "said Carlos Pieve, a former general manager in winter ball.
"It hurt his death a lot. He was a good friend. "
Alvarez had an upward trend in organized baseball until early in his career was hit in the face by a pitch while playing winter ball with the San Juan Senators.
"That bolazo him out of the race. It could have been better player, but that shot him cowering. It was not the same player since, "said Pieve.
Alvarez kept playing after the accident. It was even part of the campeoniles editions of the Bayamon Vaqueros formerly senators in the campaigns of 1974-75 and 1975-76.
In the United States, he was traded to the California Angels and played there until 1976. Later it was part of the franchise of St. Louis, Cincinnati and Philadelphia, where he was active until 1978.
"I pulled him out of retirement. One day I found in Canovanas and saw him physically well. I was the general manager of Arecibo and I took him there, "he said recalling Pieve season 1982-83.
Alvarez was an essential part of that season for the Wolves won their first national championship. Also won the Caribbean Series.
"From my point of view I did you a big favor. Perhaps he had not given that enjoyment in the final part of his career. When I picked I was out of baseball. It was a very serious and responsible person, "Pieve said.
Alvarez also worked as an evaluator of talent in the organization of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Joe Garagiola, a Catcher Who Called a Better Game on TV, Is Dead at 90
By Richard Goldstein
The New York Times
March 23, 2016
Joe Garagiola, who spent nine forgettable seasons in the major leagues as a weak-hitting catcher and then parlayed his witty tales of life as a baseball underachiever into a far more notable career as a folksy broadcaster and television personality, died on Wednesday in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 90.
Major League Baseball announced his death.
Garagiola was propelled from the catcher's box into the broadcast booth largely by his crowd-pleasing appearance before a United States Senate subcommittee on monopoly practices in April 1954. At the time, he was playing for the Chicago Cubs.
The committee chairman, Senator Edwin Johnson of Colorado, had sponsored a bill to make corporate ownership of baseball teams illegal and was targeting one of Garagiola's former teams, the St. Louis Cardinals, who were owned by the Anheuser-Busch brewery.
Garagiola, who was near the end of his playing career, had been looking for a radio job in St. Louis. Because the advertising agency working on his behalf also represented the brewery, Johnson suggested that the Cardinals were guilty of "tampering" by improperly trying to lure him from the Cubs.
"Senator, how can you tamper with a .250 hitter?" Garagiola said.
His testimony, laced with the self-deprecation and irreverence that would become his trademarks, attracted enthusiastic press coverage and earned him a broadcasting job with the Cardinals.
He went on to be a colorful broadcaster for NBC, which also made him a host of the "Today" show and a game-show personality, always recognizable by his bald head and broad smile.
"The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola," an NBC pregame show, won a Peabody Award in 1973. Garagiola was cited for a segment titled "The Hill," in which "he returned to his old neighborhood in St. Louis for a warm portrait capturing with great fidelity a sense of time and place."
He was later a broadcaster for the Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Garagiola was inducted into the broadcasters' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 as a recipient of the annual Ford C. Frick Award.
The longtime sportscaster Bob Wolff, who teamed with Garagiola on NBC, admired his style.
"He was a very erudite fellow," Curt Smith quoted Wolff as saying in "Voices of the Game" (1987), a history of baseball broadcasting. "He'd bring new words to the booth. Instead of saying, 'A runner almost slid into the shortstop,' Joe'd say, 'He almost stapled him to the bag.' "
During his playing days, Garagiola spoke at banquets and found he could make people laugh.
"I made a real effort to become a talk-for-pay guy," he recalled in "Baseball Is a Funny Game," his collection of anecdotes written in 1960 with Martin Quigley. "Every day I agitated Harry Caray, the St. Louis Cardinal broadcaster, about what a soft job he had. His answer was that if I could hit like I could talk, I wouldn't have any worries."
As he had done in his congressional testimony years before, he continued to find humor in his own foibles.
"Each year I don't play, I get better," he once observed. "The first year on the banquet trail, I was a former ballplayer, the second year I was great, the third year one of baseball's stars, and just last year I was introduced as one of baseball's immortals. The older I get, the more I realize that the worst break I had was playing."
Joseph Henry Garagiola was born in St. Louis on Feb. 12, 1926, and was raised on the Hill, an Italian working-class neighborhood, where his father, Giovanni, was an immigrant laborer. His best friend and teammate on the makeshift ball fields was a boy who lived across the street, Yogi Berra.
Garagiola joined the Cardinals' minor league system at 16 while Berra was starting out in the Yankees' organization. Garagiola made his major league debut with the Cardinals in 1946 and batted .316 in their seven-game World Series victory over the Boston Red Sox that year, getting four hits in Game 4.
That proved the high point of Garagiola's on-field career. He was traded to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1951 season and, after a stint with the Cubs and a few games with the New York Giants, retired after the 1954 season, having played in only 676 games, with a career batting average of .257.
Garagiola had no experience in on-air work, but he felt that all those games when he was not in the lineup had prepared him well. As he told Curt Smith, "I used to sit in the bullpen and say, 'Why the hell doesn't he throw the curveball?' Well, all I had to do to become an announcer was take out the 'hell.' "
Garagiola was hired by the Cardinals' flagship radio station, KMOX, when his playing days ended and teamed with Caray and Jack Buck. Garagiola was hired by NBC-TV in 1961 for its "Game of the Week," joining Lindsey Nelson for one season and then working with Wolff. He later teamed with the former Yankee Tony Kubek and then Vin Scully, broadcasting regular-season games along with the playoffs and the World Series.
Garagiola replaced Mel Allen with the Yankees and was a member of their broadcast team from 1965 to 1967, along with Red Barber, Phil Rizzuto and Jerry Coleman. With Berra's career as a Yankees catcher propelling him toward the Hall of Fame, Garagiola embellished his boyhood friend's image with his tales of Yogi the Everyman philosopher.
Berra, who died in September, said that he came up with one of his better-known pronouncements, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it," while giving Garagiola directions to his home in Montclair, N.J. There really was a fork near his house, and the roadways it split into both wound up at the Berra home.
Garagiola was a broadcast commentator for the Diamondbacks in his later years and retired from broadcasting in February 2013. His son Joe Garagiola Jr. was the general manager of the Diamondbacks and is now Major League Baseball's senior vice president for standards and on-field operations.
Besides his son, the elder Garagiola is survived by his wife, Audrie; a daughter, Gina; another son, Steve; and eight grandchildren, according to Major League Baseball.
Garagiola had two stints as a host of NBC-TV's "Today." In the late 1960s and early '70s, he worked with Barbara Walters, Hugh Downs and Frank McGee, and in the early 1990s he appeared with Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel. Garagiola was also a host of TV game shows, including "To Tell the Truth" and "He Said, She Said."
His commentary on the USA Network for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden made him the inspiration for the character Buck Laughlin, played by Fred Willard, in "Best in Show," Christopher Guest's 2000 documentary spoof. Garagiola was not amused.
"I think the satire went way over the top," he told The New York Times.
Garagiola was a longtime president of the Baseball Assistance Team, which provides confidential financial assistance to needy former baseball figures. Warning of the risk of cancer, he campaigned vigorously against the use of chewing tobacco.
In 2013, the Baseball Hall of Fame gave Garagiola the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the game.
Garagiola was serious
enough about his TV and radio career, but his on-air persona was anything but.
He defined his approach in his 1980 book, "It's Anybody's
Ballgame," writing: "I want the broadcast to sound like two guys
sitting at the ballpark, talking about the game, with the viewer eavesdropping.
It's not High Mass, and it's not a seminar — it's a
C. (Fuzz) Richards
November 3, 1927 - March 18, 2016
Carl W. Hall Funeral
March 20, 2016
Frederick was born on November 3, 1927 and passed away on Friday, March 18, 2016.
Frederick was a resident of Warren, Ohio at the time of his passing. He graduated from Leavittsburg High School in 1945. He was married to Isabelle.
Services will take place on Wednesday March 23 2016 at 11:00 am at Grace United Methodist Church in Warren OH. Family and friends may gather on Tuesday March 22 from 5 to 7 pm at Carl W. Hall Funeral Home and one hour prior to the service at the church.
Entombment will take place at Crown Hill Burial Park Vienna OH.
In lieu of flowers please make any memorial contributions to Alzheimer's Association 70 West Streetsboro Street Suite 201 Hudson OH 44236.
Richard Urlage
1933 - 2016
Published in the Kentucky Enquirer on Mar. 13, 2016
Richard (Dick) Urlage,
82, born September 6, 1933 in Covington, KY, son of Charles Urlage and Della
(Brewer) Urlage passed from this life on February 14, 2016.
Dick is survived by his wife of 63 years Margie (nee Schroder) Urlage; daughter Connie (Cindy LaBauve) Duncan, son Mick (Judy) Urlage, son Jim (Jane) Urlage, daughter Julie (Brian) Ficker, daughter-in-law Penny Krebs; 9 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.
Preceded in death by his son Bill Urlage. Also survived by his sister Betty Ann (Jack) Steiber and his brother Jerry (Barbara) Urlage; as well as many nieces and nephews.
Dick was a proud graduate of Newport Catholic High School where he lettered all 4 years in all 3 sports. He played professional baseball for the New York Giants from 1951-1955 and then played Semi-Pro Baseball in the Buckeye League from 1956-1971.
Dick began his officiating career in 1954 which continued thru 1996 (42 yrs). In the early years he officiated all 3 sports for various Northern Kentucky teams.
Dick went on to umpire Big Ten, SEC, Mid-America, OVC, Southern Conference and Great Lakes Valley Conference. He also had the honor of umpiring 2 NCAA Division II World Series. Included in his many wonderful accomplishments throughout his officiating career was the opportunity to umpire at both Crosley Field and Riverfront Stadium.
Dick was a member of the Newport Catholic Sports Hall of Fame, the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, and is acknowledged in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
Dick will be greatly missed by his family and many friends. Memorial Mass to be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on March 19, 2016 at St. Therese Church in Southgate, KY.
Memorial contributions may be made in Dick's name to the Newport Central Catholic Athletic Fund.
The James Funeral Home
March 12, 2016
William Edward Whitby, 72, of Huntersville went to be with his Lord on March 12, 2016. He was born on July 29, 1943 in WhitbyNottoway County, VA to the late William and Edna Whitby. Bill signed with the Minnesota Twins in June 1961 as a pitcher. He pitched 1963-65 with the Old Charlotte "Hornets". He married "Miss Hornet" of 1964 in 1965 and she was his faithful wife of 50 years.
Survivors include his wife Donelle Ranson Whitby; sons, William Brian Whitby (Kim) of Huntersville and Kevin Hunter Whitby (Laura) of Charlotte; grandchildren, Delaney, Blakely and Davis; siblings, Ann Golden, Nancy Kerns and Elsie Shelton. He is preceded in death by his brother Eddie Whitby.
Memorials may be made to Huntersville A.R.P. Church, PO BOX 316, Huntersville, NC 28070 or Hospice of Charlotte, 1420 E 7th St. Charlotte, NC 28204.
A memorials service will be held at 2 PM Saturday, March 19 at Huntersville A.R.P. Church with visitation to follow in the family life center.
James Funeral Home
of Huntersville is serving the family.
'Mr. Baseball' Steve Kraly leaves mark in Tier
Lynn Worthy, lworthy@
8:58 p.m. EST March 7, 2016
Steve Kraly, local baseball legend, former New York Yankees pitcher and longtime official scorer at Binghamton Mets games, died at 7:25 a.m. Monday following a long battle with cancer. The Johnson City resident was 86.
Kraly was diagnosed with cancer in February 2015.
"He kept saying he was going to beat it even at the age of 86," his son Steve said. "He's my idol."
Steve said his father had been cared for by many family members, including several from out of state, in recent weeks while staying with his daughter Kathy Palmer in Johnson City. Kathy and Steve's wife, Lori, led what Steve described as a true "family effort."
He was predeceased by his wife of 49 years, Irene, who died in 2006. Kraly is survived by four children, Steve a resident of Apalachin, Tom a resident of Whitney Point, Kathy Palmer a Johnson City resident, Bob a resident of Virginia Beach, Va., and six grandchildren.
Calling hours will be held Thursday from 3:30-7:30 p.m. at St. James Roman Catholic Church on Main Street in Johnson City. The funeral service will take place on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. at St. James Roman Catholic Church.
Kraly, a native of Whiting, Indiana, had been a fixture in the press box at B-Mets games since the franchise's inaugural season in 1992 until last season when his illness prevented him from scoring games on a regular basis.
"Our community just lost one of its icons," former B-Mets President and co-owner Mike Urda said. "Aside from being a great ambassador for baseball, Steve was one of the finest, most likable human beings I ever met. He had a big heart and he lit up a room when he walked into it. A very classy man who loved his wife, he'll now be with her probably dancing in heaven. God bless him and his wife. It's a sad day for this community."
Kraly, a 5-foot-10, 155-pound left-hander, signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1949. His stops in the minor leagues included a season in Independence, Kansas, in 1949 and Joplin, Missouri, in 1950 before a two-year interruption by his service in the Army.
In 1953, he posted an outstanding 19-2 record and pitched 19 complete games for a Binghamton Triplets team that went on to win the Eastern League championship. He made his major league debut on Aug. 9, and appeared in five games, including three starts.
He went 0-2 with a 3.24 ERA and recorded one save with the Yankees in 1953. In his final start of that season, he allowed one run in eight innings and took the loss as the Yankees fell 1-0 to Cleveland and future Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Lemon. Kraly received a World Series ring as part of the Yankees 1953 championship team.
Kraly went into the Binghamton Baseball Shrine in 1997, and will be inducted into the Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame next month.
Former Press & Sun-Bulletin sports editor and columnist John W. Fox covered the Triplets during Kraly's historic season.
"He was really highly regarded when he came here," Fox said. "He just had a tremendous year. He was gone from here on July 31 so his 19-2 was all in, I don't know how many games they had by then."
Fox called that year's Triplets staff "probably as good a pitching staff as Binghamton ever saw."
After retiring from professional baseball – his last season in the minors was 1960 – Kraly worked for IBM in Owego. He served as official scorer for B-Mets home games from 1992 through the 2014 season. When he spoke about baseball, he had a tendency to draw a captive audience.
"You know what it was, he told great stories about not only his playing days but even his experiences working up in the press box since the B-Mets came to town in the early 90s," B-Mets general manager Jim Weed said. "He obviously had some great stories of when he played, and those were always fascinating.
"The funny thing is you would think that when you're with him enough you'd hear some of those stories over and over. You never did. You never heard the same story."
Kraly remained entrenched as the team's official scorer for more than 20 years, though he had "retired" on more than one occasion only to return without missing a season.
The B-Mets never actively looked for a replacement because when spring rolled around, Kraly found his way back into the scorer's seat in the press box.
Scotty Brown, who was the B-Mets general manager from 2005 to 2009, currently works as the general manager of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights of the International League.
like Mr. Baseball in Binghamton," Brown said. "He had done it all,
seen it all, been through it all and enjoyed it all. He loved the game."
Brown hasn't worked in Binghamton in seven years, but still has a signed picture of Kraly framed in his office at the ballpark in Charlotte, N.C. Brown said he'll remember Kraly most for his love of the game and his feistiness when it came to his rulings as scorer. He'd bark right back at any manager who questioned his call, but all would be forgotten the next day.
Lou Ferraro, a longtime B-Mets employee and a former local baseball coach and umpire, got to know Kraly when Ferraro was part of the Endicott Umpires Association in the 1980s and Kraly served as director of recreation at IBM. Ferraro later had Kraly as a guest speaker when he operated the Triple Cities Baseball Clinic along with longtime Union-Endicott coaches Ed Folli and Pete Sylvester. Kraly once signed and personalized 120 autographed pictures for a group of youth and high school coaches, Ferraro said.
The two later worked together in the press box at B-Mets games. Ferraro recalled one instance in 1997 when the B-Mets hosted a Hall of Fame pitcher who refused to sign autographs or even a ball for a fundraiser for a sick child, and Kraly let loose a tirade before signing the ball himself.
"Steve made him feel about two feet tall," Ferraro said. "That's how Steve was. He wasn't afraid to say what he felt or how it was. That's what made him the tremendous gentleman he always was."
Ferraro and current Binghamton High School varsity baseball coach Dave Buchak both described Kraly as opinionated and at times brutally honest, but also kind enough to give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.
Buchak remembers Kraly taking time out to talk with some of his players when he was the varsity baseball coach at Johnson City High School. Buchak considered Kraly's old-school approach to baseball something he was lucky to have had as a resource in his own coaching career.
"Right in
your own home town you had the ability to talk to a guy who played on the same
field with some of the best baseball players on the face of the Earth in the
history of the game," Buchak said of his last memory of Kraly. "Just
the wealth of knowledge of some of the things he has experienced, the things
he has seen, the players he has worked with, that's my biggest lasting
Oberton Spicer, Sr.
April 11, 1925 ~ February 27, 2016 (age 90)
The Rogers & Breece Funeral Home
February 29, 2016
Mr. Robert Oberton Spicer, Sr., 90, of Fayetteville died peacefully on Sat. Feb. 27, 2016.
Bob played professional baseball for 15 years and worked at Ed Fleishman & Bros. and also, Devine's Sporting Goods until he retired.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Jesse and Lottie Spicer, his brother, Jesse Spicer, Jr. and sister, Phyllis McArthur.
He is survived by his beloved wife of 69 years, Evelyn Fay Spicer of the home; daughter, Rhonda Carper, and husband, Charlie of Port Orange, Fla.; son, Robert "Bobby" Spicer, Jr. and wife, Rory of Fayetteville; and three grandchildren, Caroline Spicer of Fayetteville, Emily Spicer of Wilmington, and Cooper Wurst of Cullowee; and many other relatives in Cali., Ark., and Va.
A celebration of Bob's life will be held at 11 am Thurs. March 3, 2016 in Snyder Memorial Baptist Church where Bob was a member since 1953. The family will receive friends from 6-8 pm Wed. March 2, 2016 at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers,
memorial donations may be made in memory of Bob Spicer to HealthKeeperz Hospice
or Alzheimer's Society.
Michael Collins
August 4, 1946 - February 20, 2016
The Fuller Funeral Home
February 24, 2016
Kevin Michael Collins, age 69, passed away suddenly at his winter home in Naples, Florida on February 20, 2016, surrounded by loved ones. Kevin was born on August 4, 1946 in Springfield, Massachusetts to Michael and Virginia (Munyan) Collins. After a stellar schoolboy athletic career at Springfield Technical High School in Massachusetts, Kevin accepted an offer from the New York Mets and for the better part of the next ten years, played professional baseball. He was a hard-nosed, steady utility player for a number of teams including the Detroit Tigers and the Montreal Expos.
While with Montreal, he hit the first ever pinch-hit home run for that organization. Kevin played baseball at a time when a player's salary was about the same as a teacher or police officer; a time, as he used to say, when baseball was simply "about a ball, a bat and a glove".
When he finally hung up his cleats, he had no complaints, and no regrets. "I was a guy who played the game the right way," he said in an interview once, "Nobody ever had to tell me how to compete. I… gave you all I had, whether or not that was enough".
In his youth, he benefited from his local Boys and Girls Club and later went on to devote much of his time and abilities to that organization. In 1974, he left baseball to settle with his young family in the metro Detroit area and took a job with Summa-Harrison Metal Products and then later with Mexican Industries, an auto parts supplier in southwest Detroit.
Kevin continued to share his love of the game with talented young ball players. As the Head Coach and Player Manager, Kevin competed in the Detroit Federal League as well as the Pontiac Men's Class A League gaining local, regional and national attention year after year at the AABC Stan Musial World Series.
Kevin had a passion not only for sports, but also politics and current events and was always up for a lively discussion. His smile and engaging nature always made you feel like you were a lifelong friend. He was always ready, too, to tell a good story or share advice if asked, and you could always count on his use of "colorful" language. Kevin never met a dog he didn't like and was always at the ready to lavish them with love and treats. He cherished his family and friends and there was no one he loved more than his three devoted grandchildren. If you were lucky enough to rub shoulders with Kevin Collins, there's no doubt that you were better for it.
He was preceded in death by his parents, and his in-laws, Armand and Eileen (Webb) Laflamme.
He is survived by his loving wife, Linda Marie (Laflamme) Collins, who he met at age 17 on the day he signed his first major league baseball contract and with whom he recently celebrated his 48th wedding anniversary. He is cherished and survived by his two children, Michael (Kirsten) Collins and Kelly (Keith) Binkowski, both of Michigan, and leaves behind his three biggest fans, grandchildren Joseph Binkowski, Katherine Binkowski and Lucas Collins. He also leaves behind his two sisters, Nancy (John) Pollard and Kathleen (Ralph) Disa, and sister-in-law Ann (John) Komer, of Massachusetts. He will be celebrated and remembered by all who knew him, including his nieces, nephews, godchildren and countless friends and extended family.
A Celebration of
His Life will take place at a later date in both Michigan and his home state
of Massachusetts. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to
the Naples Humane Society.
Broadcasting legend, White Sox exec Einhorn, 80, mourned
By Scott Merkin
February 25th, 2016
Glendale, Ariz. -- Eddie Einhorn, a White Sox executive for 35 seasons who spent six decades in the sports and broadcasting industries, died late Tuesday night in New Jersey from complications following a stroke. He was 80.
"Eddie was a creative whirlwind whose ideas -- many of them far ahead of their time -- changed the landscape of sports, and sports on television, forever," White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said. "He was a man of many interests, projects, ideas and opinions, and we all will miss him dearly.
"It is exceedingly rare in this day and age to have enjoyed a friendship and a working partnership that lasted our lifetimes. We celebrated many great moments together."
Einhorn concluded his 25th season as vice chairman of the Chicago White Sox in 2015. He was the team's president and chief operating officer from 1981-90, and he was a member of the Chicago Bulls' board of directors as he continued his long-standing involvement with Reinsdorf that dated to law school at Northwestern. The two headed a limited partnership that purchased the White Sox in 1981.
"All of us at Major League Baseball are deeply saddened by the loss of White Sox vice chairman Eddie Einhorn, a leader in the world of sports and broadcasting," Commissioner Rob Manfred said. "He was a sports television pioneer and a huge champion of youth baseball. In recent years, he bridged those twin passions through the National Youth Baseball Championships, which appeared on MLB Network and MLB.com.
"A proud and loyal leader of the White Sox, owned by his longtime friend Jerry Reinsdorf, Eddie took delight in the franchise's momentous 2005 world championship. Most of all, for decades Eddie was a friend to seemingly all in the baseball and the broader sports communities. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Eddie's wife Ann, their daughter -- and our former colleague -- Jenny, their son Jeff, and their entire family, as well as his countless friends throughout the White Sox organization and our game as a whole."
Einhorn was the founder and chairman of TVS Television Network, a leader in sports programming in the 1970s. The TVS telecast of college basketball's "Game of the Century" between the Houston Cougars and the UCLA Bruins at the Astrodome in 1968 is credited for the growth in popularity of college basketball on television.
The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City inducted Einhorn as a contributor in 2011 for his vision in founding TVS in 1965 and for his role in catapulting college basketball into national prominence. Presented by Dick Enberg, Einhorn was joined in the class by players James Worthy, Ralph Sampson, Cazzie Russell and Chris Mullin; coaches Bob Knight and Eddie Sutton; and fellow contributor Joe Vancisin.
"He was an interesting man and a great man," White Sox head athletic trainer Herm Schneider said of Einhorn. "I've known him probably since day one, since Jerry and Eddie took over. He was an incredibly brilliant guy.
"A lot of people didn't know how brilliant he was. He did a lot with [pro] wrestling. He did a lot with the NCAA Tournament, which is basically his brainchild. He and I had a very special relationship with his family and my family and everything else. It really is a very sad day about that happening."
Einhorn authored a book entitled "How March Became Madness." It traced his days of televising college basketball in the 1960s to the present through interviews with more than 50 people responsible for the game's growth, including John Wooden, Elvin Hayes, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Digger Phelps and Enberg.
In an extensive interview with MLB.com 10 years ago, not long after Chicago's World Series victory, Einhorn also touched on his outlook for the future. He was in very good health at the time after undergoing a kidney transplant in October 2004.
"You just stay healthy and whatever you pick off from now on is gravy," Einhorn said. "I remember the words of a fellow named Joe E. Lewis, who was an old comedian. At the end of his act, he would say, 'You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough.'
"That's how I live my life. I still plan to do some more things. I came from a kidney transplant a couple of years ago to an incredible year here. If I can keep on a streak like this, it would be pretty nice."
During his 30-plus years in baseball, Einhorn was a member of MLB's Schedule Format Committee, the Professional Baseball Association Committee and Player Development Committee, and was a member of the Television Committee from 1992-95. He was a key architect of The Baseball Network, MLB's joint broadcasting venture. Also recognized as the architect of baseball's first billion-dollar television contract, Einhorn was instrumental in negotiating MLB's 1990 deal with CBS and ESPN.
In 1989, Einhorn was appointed television consultant to the United States Olympic Committee and was responsible for a 200-hour Olympic television package that debuted in 1990. He was a television consultant for the U.S. Figure Skating Association for many years. Prior to joining Reinsdorf with the White Sox in 1981, Einhorn was the executive producer of "CBS Sports Spectacular." At CBS, he was responsible for more than 100 hours of programming per year and won an Emmy Award for "The Gossamer Albatross, Flight of Imagination," in 1980.
Of the many awards Einhorn received during his career, he most notably was honored by his hometown of Paterson, N.J., with the Mayor's Award for civic contribution. Einhorn founded Cooperstown Baseball World, a sports camp complex for kids in Oneonta, N.Y. As a longtime advocate of youth baseball, Einhorn was responsible for developing the National Youth Baseball Championship (NYBC), a tournament that crowns 10U through 14U national champions from the major youth travel baseball organizations.
Services will be held Sunday at noon ET at Louis Suburban Chapel in Fair Lawn, N.J. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Einhorn's name to the Professional Scouts Foundation.
The White Sox will honor Einhorn, who worked as a vendor at Comiskey Park from 1959-60, by wearing a sleeve patch during the regular season.
Einhorn stayed in the background during the World Series championship in 2005, but much like everyone else in the organization, he relished the amazing title run.
"It's like we were geniuses," Einhorn said in '06. "We've had plans for 25 years and thought we were pretty cool, but we never did it. This time the magic took."
White Sox executive vice president Ken Williams called Einhorn "one of the 10 greatest characters" that he's ever met in his life, and encouraged people to learn what Einhorn did in the landscape of sports television. Einhorn also was one of Williams' staunchest supporters in the early part of the decade and years before the franchise's 2005 World Series title, even when Williams was going for it and occasionally swinging and missing.
"I was taking some heat in the media and from some of our fans, and he was one of the guys that would make sure he would stop in and give a little bit of encouragement to continue on," Williams said. "I can hear him saying now, 'Keep swinging away because we are starving for a championship here. I'm loving what you are doing. Don't pay attention to anyone. Just keep swinging away for the fences.'
"Just little things like that, little bits of encouragement like that. They go a long way."
Manager Robin Ventura described Einhorn as "a great, great man," who was always fun to be around.
"I loved talking
TV and college basketball, and not only what he meant to that sport, but sports
in general," Ventura said. "A special man, and [he] was around here
for a long time. A lot of people on staff knew him really well. It's sad."
Pemberton, 62
The Daily Ardmoreite
Feb. 21, 2016 at 8:00 AM
Brock Pemberton, 62, passed away Wednesday, February 17, 2016.
Brock was born in Tulsa, Okla., in 1953 to Carol and Cliff Pemberton.
His family moved to southern California in 1968 where it was the wildest of times and the best of times (with burning leaves). Brock graduated from Marine High School in 1972. At that time he earned co-player of the year in California for baseball and was drafted with the New York Mets in the 6th round. He played in the minor leagues from 1972-1974 during his Triple AAA season he won the Golden Glove award.
He played one year in the Majors and then became player/coach for the Macon Georgia Peaches Triple AAA Club.
Brock found his passion in New Mexico working as a Professional Landscaping and Commercial Irrigation Supervisor at State Parks, State and Federal Indian Reservations and Colleges.
Brock was a free spirit. He loved the outdoors, fishing, hunting and gardening. He was also a fabulous baker and cook.
He was married for 22 years and moved to Ardmore, Okla., in June of 2011.
Brock is preceded in death by his parents, Cliff and Carol Pemberton.
Brock is survived by one brother, 2 sisters, brothers and sisters-in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins.
No services are scheduled at this time.
Arrangements are
under the direction of Harvey-Douglas Funeral Home.
Original SF Giant Jim Davenport dies
By Henry Schulman
The San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, February 19, 2016 10:11 am PST
Jim Davenport, an original San Franciso Giant who went on to a long career with the organization after his playing days as a third baseman, has died, the Giants announced Friday morning. He was 82.
The team said he died Thursday night in Redwood City of heart failure. He had been in ill health.
Davenport came up with the Giants in 1958, their first year in San Francisco, and spent his entire 12-year playing career in the orange and black. He was a career .258 hitter.
Davenport also served as a coach and briefly as manager. He was hired for the start of the 1985 season and was replaced after 56-88 start when owner Bob Lurie changed the management team and hired Al Rosen as general manager, and Rosen installed Roger Craig as manager.
Davenport, known as "Davvy," continued to work for the Giants as a coach, scout and instructor.
The Giants issued a statement by president Larry Baer that read, "The passing of Jim Davenport brings great sadness to our organization. "Jim had a wonderful spirit and was a great Giant. We will always remember Davvy. We express our deepest condolences to his family and will have them in our thoughts and prayers."
Felipe Alou, who followed Davenport to the majors in 1958, called the Alabama native "a big, big player. There were some big players in that team, Hall of Fame type of guys, and I'm telling you that Davenport was a big player and a big part of the team."
Alou said considered Davenport a great teammate.
"He, to me, was the best teammate that I had outside of the Latinos," he said. 'The guy being from the South, Alabama, he always cared for us. Incredible individual. We felt, the Latinos, like he was one of us."
Giants executive
vice president Brian Sabean said Davenport's death is "tough on
all of us," personally and professtionally. Sabean counted Davenport,
along with Joe Amalfitano and Jack Hiatt, as a a trio of great instructors who
had a big impact on Giants prospects.
Former A's player Tony Phillips dies
By John Hickey
The Mercury News
February 19, 2016 10:28:14 AM PST
OAKLAND -- Tony Phillips, who started out playing for the A's under Billy Martin and went on to an 18-year career as one of baseball's most versatile players, has died, the A's announced Friday.
The cause of his death, which occurred on Wednesday, was an apparent heart attack.
The highlight of Phillips' career was fielding the ground ball hit by the Giants' Brett Butler and flipping it to closer Dennis Eckersley at first base for the final out of the 1989 World Series, a 4-0 sweep by the A's.
"We already knew that was gonna happen," Phillips said of the sweep during an interview last summer before playing a few games with the independent Pittsburg Diamonds. "I think we had beat 'em like 16 straight in spring training."
Phillips is the third player from the A's championship teams from 1988-90 to have died in less than two years. Pitcher Bob Welch passed in June of 2014 and outfielder Dave Henderson died in December. The A's won three straight American League pennants and the '89 World Series from 1988-90.
Phillips, a switch-hitter, parlayed his 1989 World Series ring into a multiple-year contract with the Detroit Tigers, becoming one of the game's best on-base and run-producing players. He led the American League in walks with 132 in 1993, a year after he had 114 runs and 114 walks for the Tigers, the best in the league.
In 1993 he became the only player in big league history to ever have 100 hits, walks, runs and strikeouts while hitting fewer than 10 homers.
Phillips hit seven homers that year, but had 19 in 1994, his last year with the Tigers. He had a career-best 27 in 1995, his first year with the Angels. He finished his career in Oakland under Art Howe, hitting .244 with 15 homers in 106 games while playing six positions in addition to serving as a designated hitter.
Phillips, who lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, continued to play baseball because he liked the game, playing for the Yuma Scorpions in the independent North American League before the team folded in 2012.
Last summer he played a few games for the independent Pittsburg Diamonds, but he struggled and the team dropped him after a few games.
Jester made it from North to big leagues
By Irv Moss
The Denver Post
February 16, 2016 08:08:22 PM MST
The Virgil Jester chapter in Denver's baseball history has closed.
Randy Jester, Virgil's son, announced Tuesday that his dad died of pneumonia early Monday morning in a care center. Virgil Jester, 88, came out of Denver North High School and became a fixture in Denver baseball. Randy Jester said there will be no services.
During his career, Virgil Jester played three seasons with the Denver Bears and played in the major leagues with the Braves, first in Boston and then Milwaukee. He started as an infielder but was quickly moved to the pitching mound because his fastball reached speeds into the 90 mph range.
Jester signed a contract with the Boston Braves in 1947 for $2,500. As he looked back on his career a few years ago, he said he was born 55 years too soon, missing the big salaries that came to major-league baseball.
Jester pitched in the old Denver Post tournament at Merchants Park on South Broadway. He once pitched against Hall of Famer Satchel Paige.
Jester compiled a major-league record of 3-5 in 21 games with a 3.84 ERA.
Jester retired from baseball after the 1959 season. He was back with the Bears for his final year.
"That was the
end of it," Jester said of his baseball career. "I got tired of it.
I enjoyed baseball for a while, but it was time to get out of it and go on with
my life."