Bender and Fender: Both Dead Ender

One Choke Over the Line
Johnny Callison, a strong-armed outfielder with a sweet swing who nearly took the Phillies to the World Series, has died at the age of 67. The 1964 season would combine Callison’s greatest triumphs and disappointments. He won the All-Star Game with a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 9th, earning MVP honors, and finished the season with 31 HRs and 104 RBI, which likely would have been MVP caliber numbers, but with a 6 1/2-game lead and 12 to play, the Phils lost 10 straight and finished 1 game behind St. Louis in the greatest collapse in major league history, as I’m reminded every September when a division leading team loses 2 in a row. In that stretch, Callison was so stricken by the flu before 1 game that teammates had to button his jacket for him as he shivered on the bench. Callison played anyway, hitting three homers in Milwaukee in a 14-8 loss that knocked the Phils out of first for good. Callison was a fan of the night life, and after one more All-Star season in 1965, the flashes of brilliance were more fleeting over the last 7 years of his career.

Freddy Got Fingered (by the Grim Reaper)

Or
After the Last Teardrop Falls

Or
Ex-TexMex
(Props to Monty)
Freddy Fender has had his work visa revoked, succumbing to cancer, diabetes and kidney problems, at the age of 69. Fender was a hit-maker on the pop, country and Latin charts, with such hits as 1975’s “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” and “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” both of which rose to No. 1 on the country chart and the Top 10 on the pop chart. He won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album in 2002 for “La Musica de Baldemar Huerta,” and shared two best Mexican-American Grammys: with the Texas Tornados, in 1990 and with Los Super Seven in 1998. In 1999, Gov. Dubya helped him earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.