Goodbye to Davey Johnson at the age of 82
Johnson is a person who had an excellent career as both a player and a manager, yet both fall just short of induction into the Hall of Fame.
Johnson won two World Series as a player with Baltimore (1966 and 1970), made three All-Star teams (1968, 69, and 70), and won three Gold Gloves (1969, 70, and 71) for the Orioles.
After Johnson was traded to Atlanta in 1973 to make room for Bobby Grich, Johnson hit forty-three homers for the Braves in his first season, making his final All-Star team.
Johnson would play for the Yomiuri Giants in 1975 and 1976 before returning for his final seasons in 1977 and 1978 with the Phillies and Cubs.
Johnson is very deserving of Cooperstown consideration for his managerial career, which saw him win the 1986 World Series with the Mets, win division titles with the Reds, Orioles, and Nationals.
Johnson won 1,373 games in his career with a winning percentage of. 562.
Goodbye to Ken Dryden at the age of 78.
Dryden was the standout netminder of the 1970s for the Montreal Canadiens, leading them to six Stanley Cups, and won five Vezina Trophies as the NHL's top goalie.
Dryden played for only six games in 1971 before winning the Stanley Cup in net for the playoffs, and would win the Calder Trophy the following season as the league's top rookie.
Dryden played just seven seasons (eight if you count the six games and playoffs in 1971) in his career, sat out the 1973-74 season when he thought the Canadiens were undercutting his salary, and was voted to the Hockey Hall of Fame with a winning percentage of an astonishing seventy-four percent.
After retirement, Dryden wrote several books, including The Game, which might be the best hockey book ever, and worked as a commentator for ABC for three Winter Olympics, including the Miracle on Ice, and would be an elected official in the Canadian House of Commons.
Goodbye to Ed Giacomin at the age of 86.
Giacomin made six All-Star teams in a thirteen-year career, spent mostly with the New York Rangers from 1965 to 1977, and won the Vezina Trophy for the 1970-71 season.
Giacomin played his final three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings after being waived to make room for John Davidson, with a memorable return to Madison Square Garden with the Red Wings when the Ranger fans cheered for Giacomin and booed their team with every shot on goal in a Detroit win.
Giacomin was voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987, and his number was the second to be retired by the Rangers.
Goodbye to D.D. Lewis, at the age of 79
Lewis played thirteen years for the Dallas Cowboys, and his twenty-seven postseason games are the most in Cowboys history and rank behind only Tom Brady and Jerry Rice among non-kickers.
That number is remarkable when you consider how limited playoff games were during Lewis's career (1968-1981).
Drafted in the sixth round in 1968 from Mississippi State, Lewis never made All-Pro or a Pro Bowl, but started 132 of a possible 134 games from 1973 to 1981 for a team that won a Super Bowl and lost two others during that time, which is indicative of a solid career.
Goodbye to Jim Fahnhorst at the age of 66.
A fourth-round pick by the Vikings in 1982, Fahnhorst signed instead with the USFL in 1983 and played two years with the Chicago Blitz and Arizona Wranglers before moving to the NFL.
Fahnhorst joined his brother, Keith, with the San Francisco 49ers after the 1984 USFL spring season and would win Super Bowls in three of his six seasons in the NFL, all of them spent with San Francisco.
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