Hopefully, the page of passings will not get larger too quickly.
To keep the posts fairly short, I'll be breaking down the tributes in three categories- Big Four team sports, smaller sports, and non-sports.
Goodbye to Jimmy Wynn at the age of 78.
Wynn possessed one of the best nicknames in baseball in the "Toy Cannon", which was given for Wynn's height (5'9) and impressive power.
Wynn was handicapped by playing in the Astrodome for most of his career but still hit over 20 homers seven times with the Astros.
Wynn's 37 homers in 1967 set a team record and Wynn finished with 107 RBI during that season, but his best season might have been 1974 with the Dodgers, who traded for Wynn in the off-season for pitcher Claude Osteen, hitting .271 with 32 homers and 108 RBI for the National League champions.
Wynn finished fifth in the MVP voting for the National League and Wynn had a legitimate argument for winning over teammate and eventual winner Steve Garvey.
Wynn's career went downhill after 1974 and was gone from baseball after 1977, but worked for the Astros front office and on television for years after retirement.
Goodbye to Ted Cox at the age of 65.
Cox played for the Red Sox, Indians, Mariners, and Blue Jays in a five-year career that had interesting notes for a career that wasn't all that special or lengthy on the surface.
Cox first made news in a spring training appearance that saw Ted Williams compliment the swing of Cox and stated that Cox had batting title potential.
Cox was the minor league player of the year in 1977 and was thought to be an All-Star in the making as the Red Sox brought him to Boston in September.
Cox quickly set a major league record for hits to start a career with hits in his first six at-bats and hit .362 for the month to become the major position player that Cleveland received in a package for Dennis Eckersley in the following off-season.
Cox would hit a combined .224 with only five homers in two years with the Indians and two years and two teams later, Cox exited the game.
Cox still had one more achievement of note as it was a double against Toronto that was the first-ever game-winning RBI in American League history for Seattle in 1980.
1980 was the inaugural season that the statistic had been tallied with Seattle and Toronto playing in the first game to be completed.
Goodbye to Mike Stratton at the age of 78.
Stratton made six All-AFL teams at linebacker for the Buffalo Bills and started for the only two championship teams in Bills history in 1964 and 1965.
Stratton is most remembered for his vicious hit on Chargers running back Keith Lincoln in the 1964 AFL title game that knocked the San Diego star from the game with two broken ribs and deflated the defending champions in a game that crowned Buffalo's first of two AFL titles.
Stratton played his first eleven years of his twelve-year career in Buffalo before finishing his career with San Diego in 1972.
Goodbye to Benny Malone at the age of 68.
Malone was the second-round draft pick by the Dolphins in 1974 after rushing for over 1,100 yards as a senior at Arizona State.
Malone's biggest NFL moment was with Miami (he would later play for the Redskins) when Malone smashed through the Oakland Raiders for a 23-yard touchdown run to give the two-time defending champion Dolphins a lead with just over two minutes remaining.
However, this was the famous "Sea of Hands" game and Oakland marched down the field for a touchdown to eliminate the Dolphins and stop their reign.
Had Miami held on, the Malone run would likely be one of the more memorable runs in NFL playoff history.
Goodbye to Henri Richard at the age of 84.
The "Pocket Rocket" and brother of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Henri holds the record for most Stanley Cups won by a player with eleven and spent his entire career with Montreal as a Canadien.
Unlike his older brother, who was a goal-scoring star, Henri was noted for his passing and led the league in assists twice.
Richard's eleven championships are more than any other athlete in the major sports except for Bill Russell, who matched Richard's eleven titles during his run with the Boston Celtics.
Richard was also named as one of the NHL's top 100 players in 2017.
Next time, I'll be writing about the latest Browns signing and it's a player that I was hoping that the Browns would have signed five years ago.
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