Cleaning out the Inbox

The inbox needs emptied big time and with the Pirates still off,now seems like a good time to do so.

We start with a few goodbyes.

Goodbye to Lorenzo Charles,who passed away in an accident involving the bus he was driving in North Carolina at the age of 47.
Charles was most remembered for his slam dunk at the buzzer to lift N.C. State to the 1983 National title in a massive upset over heavily favored Houston.
Charles played briefly in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks after his days with the Wolfpack.

Another basketball loss was former UNLV star power forward Armen "the Hammer" Gilliam at the age of 47 also after playing in a pickup game in Pittsburgh.
Gilliam was the second overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns and played for four other NBA teams as well.
The Hammer might have been the Running Rebels best player in their history until the arrival of Larry Johnson.
Gilliam had recently signed some cards for me,which was lucky on my part.

Goodbye to former WBC Jr Welterweight champion Billy Costello at the age of 55 after a bout with cancer.Costello always was an action fighter and was a network TV staple after winning the belt from Bruce Curry on a 10th round knockout.
Costello would make three defenses of the belt before losing to Lonnie Smith via KO.
Costello often worked the big fights held in New York as a ringside judge in recent years.

Goodbye to former baseball manager Dick Williams at the age of 82.
Williams was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008 with a resume' that included two world championships with Oakland and appearances with Boston and San Diego in the fall classic as well.
Williams also was the manager of the Montreal Expos in the late 1970's when the Expos had some large amounts of talent that included Hall of Famers Gary Carter and Andre Dawson.

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I know many of you are uncomfortable with commenting a lot or at all,but the more clicks of approval that the post gets,the higher search rating it gets on Google and that increases readership.
I thank any and all in advance for the help....

Interesting article on prodigious slugger Wily Mo Pena.
I remember thinking the Red Sox got a steal when obtaining Pena for Bronson Arroyo a few years back.
Despite Pena's obvious issues with strikeouts,I had always hoped the Pirates would take a shot at Wily Mo.
His power is hard to find and I sure would have preferred to live with the K's and 30 homers than some of the players the Pirates have ran out to right field over the last few seasons....

Finally, this is way too late,but here are links to my posts on the Hagerstown Suns at the mid season mark at NationalsProspects.com on the hitters and pitchers.