Goodbye to Tim Wakefield at the age of 57.
The knuckleballer first came to prominence with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1992 when he came up from the minors in midseason.
Wakefield finished 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA in thirteen starts for the Pirates that season and won both of his starts in the NLCS, throwing complete games in both wins.
Wakefield was the Bucs Opening Day starter in 1993 but was in Triple-A by mid-season and was released by Pittsburgh in 1995, and signed by Boston.
Wakefield would win fourteen of his first fifteen decisions for Boston in 1995, finished 16-8, and finished third in the Cy Young balloting in the same season that he was released.
Wakefield would pitch seventeen seasons for Boston, winning 186 games, and would be part of the Boston World Championship teams in 2004 and 2007 before moving to the studio for NESN's broadcasts of Red Sox games.
Goodbye to Russ Francis at the age of 70.
The three-time All-Pro's most productive seasons by the numbers were with the New England Patriots, who drafted him in the first round of the 1975 draft but after the 1980 season, Francis announced his retirement due to the Patriots refusing to pay a contract bonus for making the Pro Bowl because Francis didn't actually play in the game due to injury.
Francis didn't play in 1981 but did return after New England traded him to San Francisco, where he would play six seasons and win his only Super Bowl ring in 1984.
Francis's father owned the Honolulu wrestling promotion and Francis would wrestle there in the off-season for his father's company but his most remembered wrestling moment was his appearance with other football players in the Wrestlemania 2 battle royal that was won by Andre The Giant.
Goodbye to Walt Garrison at the age of 79.
Legendary for his toughness as the Dallas Cowboys fullback from 1966-74, Garrison also found fame on the professional rodeo tour and fame as a commercial spokesman for the tobacco product Skoal.
Garrison's commercials for Skoal made the phrase "pinch a piece between your cheek and gum" a familiar one to every football fan but Garrison was rugged on the field as well, earning a Pro Bowl selection in 1972 and rushed for close to four thousand yards in his career with the Cowboys.
Goodbye to Wayne Comer at the age of 79.
Comer played parts of five seasons in the majors but would play only one full season- the 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots, the team and season written about by Jim Bouton in Ball Four.
Comer won a World Series with the Tigers in 1968, batting once as a pinch hitter and smacking a single in Game Three.
Comer hit .245 with 15 homers ( in the remainder of his career, Comer hit just one homer) and 18 steals for the Pilots in 1969 before the Brewers traded him to Washington after thirteen games in 1970
Comer was an interesting character in Ball Four as his mentions in the book are usually not friendly towards Bouton, often with salty language!
Comer was a decorated high school baseball coach in Shenandoah, Virginia after his retirement from pro baseball after the 1974 season that he spent in Triple-A and was still coaching as recently as the past high school season.
Goodbye to Jim Poole at the age of 57.
A reliable lefthanded specialist from the bullpen for eight teams between 1990-2000, Poole spent most of his time with the Baltimore Orioles (four seasons) and the Cleveland Indians (four seasons over three different stints), Poole has an interesting career note for each team.
For Baltimore, Poole was the winning pitcher for the final Oriole win (it was the next-to-last game) at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium in 1991, while in Cleveland, Poole allowed a solo home run to Atlanta's David Justice in the sixth inning for the only run of Game Six, which allowed Atlanta to win the game and the series in six games.
No comments:
Post a Comment