Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings

     Time for a few more tributes from recent days for people who have recently passed away.

Goodbye to Ed Armbrister at the age of 72.

Armbrister would have been just another backup outfielder, if not for one famous at-bat in the 1975 World Series.

In the bottom of the tenth in game three, Armbrister's attempt at a sacrifice bunt saw Armbrister slow out of the batter's box and stand in front of Boston catcher Carlton Fisk.

The collision threw Fisk off-balance in his attempt to throw out Cesar Geronimo at second and the ball flew into center field with Geronimo moving to third and eventually scoring the winning run for Cincinnati.

Despite the protests of Fisk and Boston manager Darrell Johnson, umpire Larry Barnett ruled that Armbrister hadn't interfered, the play stood as called and remains one of the most controversial plays in World Series history.

Goodbye to Bobby Brown at the age of 96.

Brown, who isn't Bobby Brown the singer, the member of Cobra Kai, or even the Yankee outfielder of the early 1980s, but was a Yankee third baseman who won four World Series in five years in Gotham between 1947 and 1951.

Brown never hit more than six homers in a season as part of a third-base platoon for Casey Stengel's Yankees, but hit .300 twice and was a solid gloveman.

Brown missed most of the 1952 season and all of the 1953 season due to serving in the Korean War and Brown would play less than twenty-five games for the 1954 Yankees before retiring at the age of 28 to attend medical school to become a cardiologist.

Brown would later serve as the President of the American League from 1984-94.

Goodbye to Joe Cunningham at the age of 89.

Cunningham was a .291 career hitter that peaked for the St.Louis Cardinals in the 50s, making the 1959 All-Star game, and hit .345 in 1959 that was good enough for second to Hank Aaron in the race for the batting title.

Cunningham had never hit lower than .280 up to the 1963 season when he broke his collarbone in a freak accident while playing first base for the White Sox.

After the injury, Cunningham would never hit higher than .250 and was out of baseball by 1966.

Goodbye to Rusty Tillman at the age of 75.

Tillman spent his entire eight-year career with the then-Washington Redskins as a special teams player and was the captain of the unit for the final four seasons of his career.

Tillman would be an assistant coach for 22 seasons in the NFL, 16 of those in Seattle with the Seahawks, but could be best remembered for his stint in the original XFL as the head coach of the New York/New Jersey Hitmen.

Tillman was involved in what was attempted to be a controversy with "analyst" Jesse "The Body" Ventura during his coaching tenure as Ventura criticized Tillman constantly in a wrestling-style manner in an attempt to create attention in the league that was desperate for it at that time.

Ventura tabbed Tillman as "Gutless Rusty" and at the conclusion of one Hitmen defeat, Ventura came down to the field to "interview" Tillman, who ignored Ventura and walked to the locker room.