Goodbye to Jay Johnstone at the age of 74.
Known almost as well for his zany antics than for what he did on the field, Johnstone managed to use his pinch-hitting prowess and his defensive skills into twenty seasons for eight teams in the majors.
Johnstone hit a two-run pinch-hit homer in game four of the 1981 World Series for the Dodgers in a series that the Dodgers were trailing and would rally to win.
Johnstone's pranks were legendary including one where he dressed as Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, trotted to the mound in a game to talk to the pitcher as he carried Lasorda's recent book and can of SlimFast, which Lasorda huckstered for years!
Johnstone also served as an announcer for the Yankees and Phillies and appeared in the movie Naked Gun, batting righthanded.
Johnstone was a lefthanded batter in real life.
Goodbye to Helen Reedy at the age of 78.
Reddy was a huge solo star in the 1970s with fifteen hits reaching the top forty.
Six of those made the top ten and three climbing to the top spot.
Of course, her signature song was "I am Woman", which was adopted by the feminist movement of the age, but if you grew up in the 70s Helen Reddy was more than a singer.
Reddy was all over your television with many guest appearances, usually on variety shows, but she also had a summer series in 1973, the semi-regular host of the music program the Midnight Special, the starring role in the live-action/animated Disney film Pete's Dragon and a small role in Airport 75.
Reddy retired from show business in 2002 and stayed in retirement with the exception of a brief run of concerts in the early 2010s.
Reddy was reported to have suffered from dementia in recent years that had kept her out fo the spotlight except for singing "I am Woman" as part of a Women's March in Los Angeles in 2017 on the day following the inauguration of Donald Trump.
Goodbye to Eddie Van Halen at the age of 65.
Known as the founder and lead guitarist of his namesake band "Van Halen", it was Van Halen that survived success, changes in the lead singer for the band (David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, and Gary Cherone), and changes in the core band (Bass guitarist Michael Anthony replaced by Eddie's son Wolfgang) for long term success.
Van Halen became known for his 'tapping' guitar work and held a patent until 2005 for a piece that helped to play the guitar similar to a piano.
Of course, the band would be named to the Hall of Fame for their career, and even though the major albums and corresponding singles that the band's biggest hits were the 1984 album with Roth and 5150 with Hagar, my favorite album was always the "Diver Down" album, which I played to the point of wearing out the cassette.
Van Halen also received mainstream attention at a time when hard rock bands really didn't when he dated and then married "One Day at a Time" star Valerie Bertinelli in 1981.
The two divorced in 2007.
Goodbye to Whitey Ford at the age of 91.
The left-handed starter on six World Series champions and a ten-time All-Star for the New York Yankees, Ford won 236 games for the Yankees, which remains tops in Yankee history, and won a Cy Young in 1961, when he finished 25-4 for arguably the best offensive team in baseball history.
Ford still owns the record for victories in the World Series with ten and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1974.
Jim Bouton discussed Ford in "Ball Four" for his various doctored pitches which included the buckle ball, which would be scuffed against a sharpened buckle on catcher Elston Howard's shin guard, the mud ball, the spitter, and a pitch that would arrive with a chunk out of the baseball that was gouged out by Ford's wedding ring.
Ford became almost as well known after baseball for his stories of his off-field antics with Mickey Mantle and for his Miller Lite commercials, as his other ventures which included commentating for the Toronto Blue Jays and a brief stint as a restaurant owner in New York City.
Goodbye to Louis Carter at the age of 67.
Carter was the star running back for the Maryland Terrapins on the first teams under Jerry Claiborne as Claiborne turned Maryland from an also-ran into the ACC powerhouse during the Claiborne era.
Those Terrapin teams were led by several players that would wind up with long NFL careers including Hall of Famer Randy White, Bob Avellini, Walter White, Ken Schroy, and Steve Mike-Mayer that helped the Terps to three bowls in the time when bowl games weren't as plentiful and the ACC was looked at as a second tier football league.
Carter played on the first two of those bowl teams with Maryland losing the 1973 Peach Bowl to Georgia 17-16 and the 1974 Liberty Bowl to Tennessee 7-3.
Carter won the Peach Bowl MVP when he rushed for 158 yards and threw a long touchdown pass to tight end Walter White in defeat.
Carter was drafted by the Raiders in 1975 in the third round and after his rookie season was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1976 expansion draft.
Carter threw the first touchdown pass in Tampa Bay history when he was handed the ball and was stopped behind the line of scrimmage before lobbing the ball to Morris Owens for the score.
Carter would play for three seasons in Tampa Bay before retiring.
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