Wave ‘Em Goodbye

(Accolades for Don)

Or

Kim Bye?
Ya.
My Lord.

Wendell Kim, who literally forgot more about baseball than Butch Hobson ever knew, has died of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 64. Kim would have been the first Korean-American to play in the major leagues, if he had made the major leagues. Known as “Windmill” Wendell or “Wave ‘em Home” Wendell as the third base coach of the San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, Kim was a fan of home plate collisions, as indicated by the number of runners he futilely sent to their demise at the dish. 

Gereing Up for the Afterlife

Don Zimmer, the one Yankee Pedro Martinez was not referring to when he called them his daddy, has died of heart and kidney problems at the age of 83. Baseball’s version of Forrest Gump, Zimmer spent 66 years as a player, manager, coach and fixture, proudly boasting that he never cashed a paycheck not directly related to the game. He played with Jackie Robinson, was a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers when they finally reached next year with the 1955 World Series Championship, and helped expand the game to the West Coast as a member of the first Los Angeles Dodgers team three years later. He was an original member of the New York Mets in 1962, going 0-for-34 for the worst team in major league history before getting traded to Cincinnati. As a manager, he cost the San Diego Padres their first no-hitter by re-positioning players with 2 outs in the 9th, resulting in the game’s first hit; the Padres still await that elusive no-no. As the Red Sox third base coach, he almost blew Game 6 of the 1975 World Series when his “No, no, no,” was misheard as “Go, go, go,” and Denny Doyle got himself thrown out at the plate. Not satisfied, he blew a 14-game lead as manager of the 1978 Red Sox, then started a rookie pitcher rather than aces Bill Lee (the man who dubbed him Gerbil) or Luis Tiant in the 1-game playoff helping to cost them the division title. He won a surprise division title with the 1989 Chicago Cubs, earning Manager of the Year honors. He was a coach in the inaugural season of the Colorado Rockies in 1993, the first MLB expansion in 16 years. And in his third go-round as a coach with the New York Yankees, he was Joe Torre’s right-hand man for 4 World Series championships, filling in as manager when Torre was being treated for prostate cancer in 1999, the one year in 5 they didn’t win it all. In 2003, at the age of 72, during a shoving match in a Red Sox-Yankees playoff game, he took a run at Martinez, who threw him to the turf at Fenway Park to the delight of fans. In 2011, then coaching for the Tampa Bay Rays, he left the bench in the 6th inning of the last game of the season, as any good baseball man would be apt to do, and on his drive home, decided to turn around to say his goodbyes, arriving in time to see the Rays rally to win the game and make the playoffs. All of it almost never happened, as he was nearly killed in a 1953 minor league game when he was hit with a pitch, sustaining a fractured skull and spending two weeks in a coma. The incident helped push MLB to make batting helmets available, but Zimmer, a once-promising prospect, was reduced to role player status. Almost 50 years later, he was hit by a foul ball in the dugout of a game, prompting the Yankees to install protective fences, a move that was duplicated by most other teams.

Looking for Pesky Poll-bearers

Johnny Pesky, the most beloved player in the star-crossed history of the Boston Red Sox, has died at the age of 92. He spent 73 of those years in and around the greatest game, 61 of them with the Sox. His last game with Boston was in 1952, but when the Red Sox handed out rings in April 2005 after ending their 86-year World Series championship drought, the loudest cheers were for Pesky – including cheers from the visiting hated Yankees – the team the Red Sox had rallied from 3 games down to win the 2004 ALCS. Players, coaches, managers and even owners came and went, but the only things at Fenway more permanent than Pesky were obstructed seats, overpriced beer and rats the size of dogs. He was one of “The Teammates” with Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr and Dom DiMaggio that came within a win of ending the Sox drought in 1946. In his first season in 1942, he led the league in hits, then after missing 3 seasons in the Navy earning the rank of lieutenant j.g. during World War II, led the league his first 2 years back, making him the only player to do so in his first 3 seasons. The promising start didn’t pan out, but he finished his career with a .313 average and 1,455 hits, among them 17 home runs, ironically only 6 of them at home, but Mel Parnell noticed Pesky had a tendency to hook them around the right field foul pole. First in common parlance and then by official decree in 2006, the yellow column oddly placed just 302 feet from home plate came to be known as Pesky’s Pole. He was traded to the Tigers in 1952, but returned to Red Sox Nation starting as a AAA manager in 1961, and serving as a coach, manager, announcer, all-around ambassador and even at his death was still listed as a special assignment instructor. He probably hit more fungoes than any man in history, but should not be held responsible for Mike Greenwell’s kamikaze approach to the outfield. He was part of the first class inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame, and in 2008 his number 6 was retired, the first time the Red Sox set aside their ridiculous team policy that the honor was reserved for members of the Major League Hall of Famers.

And Joost Iced For All

Eddie Joost, who had the lowest batting average for any player with 400 or more at-bats in a season, has died at the age of 94. The slick-fielding shortstop spent 17 years in the majors, helping to fuel a brief revitalization of the Philadelphia Athletics in the late 1940s after Connie Mack had sold off anyone worth watching, dooming the A’s to the second division for 12 years in a row. After years of dwindling attendance and the cross-town Phillies relevant for the first time in a generation, Joost led the team to a winning record and a franchise record attendance in 1948. The resurgence was short-lived and Joost served as the player-manager of the team in 1954, their last before moving to Kansas City and ceded the city to the Phillies, a decision that would pay off with a World Series parade just 26 years later. He played one more season with the Boston Red Sox before retiring. No longer an athlete, Joost was an active Athletic supporter, as a frequent guest of Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society events, and throwing out first pitches in Philadelphia and Oakland as the abomination of interleague play brought the Phillies and Athletics franchises together again. Joost was also notable as one of the few baseball players to wear glasses in the field to correct an astigmatism, as toric IOLs were a half century away, was the last living player to have played at Baker Bowl, the Phillies home from 1895 to 1938, and was the last surviving member of the 1940 World Champion Cincinnati Reds, the earliest World Series winner that still had a surviving player. With his death there are just 37 surviving players from the Philadelphia A’s.

Tune In, Turn On, Dropo Out

Walt Dropo, UConn ‘s best non-women’s-basketball-playing athlete, has died at the age of 87. Dropo won the 1950 AL Rookie of the Year award with the Red Sox, hitting .322, with 34 homers and 144 R.B.I. in 136 games – no player would average an RBI a game for a full season again until George Brett in 1980. A broken wrist the following spring cemented Dropo’s status as a one-year wonder, though he remained a productive major leaguer for 13 years and entered the record books in 1952 with the Tigers by recording hits in 12 consecutive at-bats. Dropo died just 3 weeks after 1951 AL Rookie of the Year Gil McDougald.

Where Have You Gone Dom DiMaggio? Oh, St. Paul’s in Wellesley.

Dom – the Harpo of the DiMaggio clan – has resumed his place in the shadows of his brother and outfield mate, following Joe and Ted Williams into the grave at the age of 92. The 7-time All-Star spent his entire 11-year career with the Red Sox, hitting .298 with 7 100-run seasons, and a Red Sox record 34-game hitting streak in 1949. With the Sox, he had the two toughest jobs in baseball – center fielder, where he had to cover most of left while Ted practiced batting stances, and lead-off hitter, the first witness for Teddy Ballgame’s third degree on what the day’s opposing starter was throwing. Still, theirs was a more cordial relationship than he had with his brother. The joke in baseball was that Joe was the best hitter, Dom the best fielder and Vince was the best singer, and even Dom said that the only two things he did better than Joe were playing pinochle and speaking Italian, but Joe never missed the opportunity to burnish his own image and didn’t dissuade anyone of the supposition that his brothers followed on his coattails. As a member of the Red Sox for 11 years, the Little Professor contributed to the 84 years of heartache between titles. In the top of the 8^th inning of Game 7 of the 1946 World Series, his 2- run double tied the game 3-3, but he pulled a hamstring in the process. DiMaggio, who had already thrown out three runners in the series, was replaced by Leon Culberson, whose weak arm did nothing to deter Enos Slaughter from racing around from first to score the winning run in the bottom of the 8^th.

Marz Visits Pluto

John Marzano, beloved mediocre back-up catcher, died after a drunken tumble down the stairs at the age of 45. The Temple grad was a member of the 1984 Olympic baseball team, but he was more John Hoover than Mark McGwire and the Boston Red Sox wasted the 14th round of the 1984 amateur draft on him, ahead of future Hall of Famers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine – overlooking the Billerica boy in their own back yard. Marzano’s best moment for Boston fans actually came while he was a member of the Seattle Mariners and told whining Yankees outfielder Paul O’Neill to “shut up and hit,” then punched him in the face. Although he never made the majors with his hometown team, the Phillies, Marzano spent a season with their AAA farm club and later served as baseball analyst in Philadelphia and on mlb.com.

Coup de Grass

Edward "Buddy" LeRoux, the Al Haig of Boston Red Sox owners, has died at the age of 77. The former team trainer worked his way up to VP, then was a minority owner of the team with Haywood Sullivan and Jean Yawkey, widow of former owner Tom Yawkey. In June 1983, with the team preparing to honor former star Tony Conigliaro, recovering from a stroke the year earlier, LeRoux announced the “Coup LeRoux” in which he announced he had taken control of the team. Fans were outraged that Conigliaro’s night was upstaged and LeRoux lost the court battle with Yawkey and Sullivan and was forced to sell his share of the team.

Monster Mashed

Former Red Sox ace closer Dick “the Monster” Radatz died following a fall in his home at the age of 67. Standing 6-foot-5 with a 95 mph fastball, Radatz’s presence alone was intimidating, but as so often occurs with the Red Sox, his nickname and legend were secured against the New York Yankees. Entering a game at Fenway Park with the bases loaded, Radatz struck out Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Elston Howard, Yankees who would win 6 AL MVP Awards in an 8-year span, on a total of 10 pitches. When asked later, Mantle chalked the inning up to “that monster Radatz.”

Curses, Foiled Again

Darrell Johnson, who perpetuated the Curse of the Bambino by blowing the 1975 World Series and then by getting fired, leading to the hiring of Don Zimmer, who then blew the 1978 season, died at the age of 75. Johnson also started the losing tradition in Seattle as the first manager in Mariners history.

Bretter Off Dead

Ken Brett, a pitcher with the Phillies, Red Sox, Pirates, Brewers, Yankees, Twins, White Sox, Angels, Dodgers and Royals, where he was a teammate of his brother, Hall of Fame third baseman George, died at the age of 55 after a lengthy battle with cancer. His 10 major league teams was a record, and he is the youngest man to ever pitch in a World Series game, for Boston in 1967. He also set a major league record with home runs in 4 consecutive games with the Phils in 1973, then won the 1974 All-Star Game with the Pirates. He and his brothers George and Bobby were owners of the Spokane Indians, 2003 Northwest League Champions.

The Splendid Genetic Splicings

or
Man, he sure had a sweet stroke. In fact, he had a couple of strokes, if we're not mistaken.
-- www.stiffs.com

Forgive the tardiness in updating the dead ledger, but I was on vacation, then returned home to find that ironically, my car had died. As no one had my battery in their pool, no points this round. But points were to be had by picking the late, great Ted Williams, who walked on to the Field of Dreams at the age of 83 over the weekend. While his kids may debate the status of his DNA, for our purposes he adds 17 points to the tallies of Greg, Christine and my second entry.

With the latest, I retake the lead with 3 dead and 85 points, Christine takes 5th with 2 hits and 51 points and Greg leaps into 7th with 2 and 17.

The leaderboard:
1st: Me 3 dead, 85 points
2nd: Ryan 3 dead, 73 points
3rd: Me again 3 dead, 41 points
4th: Tom 3 dead, 23 points
5th: Christine 2 dead, 51 points

And I know no one on the list had her, but the subject line for Rosemary Clooney's death, had she been in the Dead Pool, would have been "Come On-A My Hearse."