Super Mario Smothers

Mario Cuomo, who hit .244 for the 1952 Brunswick Pirates of the Class D Georgia-Florida League, has died of heart failure at the age of 82. He also governed a little. The three-term New York governor was a liberal icon and his passionate keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention attacking the policies of President Reagan rallied the party to avoid a complete shutout as Walter Mondale carried Minnesota. It being his home state also may have helped. Widely viewed as the front-runner for the nomination in 1988 and 1992, Cuomo was twice scared off by the personality juggernaut of George Herbert Walker Bush. Defeated by George Pataki in 1994, he retired from public life, telling Bill Clinton he wasn’t interested in being nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999 moments before he was tapped.