Cleaning out the Inbox- Passings

      Once again, it's a sad time but our chance to pay tribute to those who recently left us.

Goodbye to Bill Bergey at the age of 79. 

A second-round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969 from Arkansas State, Bergey was named first or second All-Pro from 1974-78 and made five appearances in the Pro Bowl.

Bergey was traded from the Bengals to the Eagles in 1974 for two first-round picks (1977 and 78) and a second-rounder in 1978 after signing a futures contract with the WFL's Florida Blazers, making head coach and owner Paul Brown angry enough to trade away his star linebacker.

One of many great linebackers of the 1970s that have fallen through the cracks in making the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Bergey finished his career with the Eagles Super Bowl loss to the Oakland Raiders in the 1980 season with twenty-seven interceptions and twenty-one fumble recoveries.

Goodbye to Greg Gumbel at the age of 78.

After joining CBS in 1988 from ESPN, Gumbel began rising through the ranks at CBS and would remain with the network (other than a four-year hiatus with NBC from 1994-98) until now.

Gumbel was the studio host for the NCAA basketball tournament, called two Super Bowls, was the studio host for The NFL Today, and in recent years called NFL games usually games on the lower end of CBS's schedule.

The older brother of Bryant Gumbel, Gumbel also worked in NBA games and two Winter Olympics during his long career.

Goodbye to Olivia Hussey at the age of 73.

Hussey burst into prominence in the 1968 film "Romeo and Juliet" in one of the two title roles and starred in horror films such as Black Christmas, as the mother of "Norman Bates" in a 1990 Psycho prequel, and as Mary of Nazareth in a 1977 NBC mini-series.

However, it was Romeo and Juliet she will be most remembered for, including a nude scene filmed when Hussey was only fifteen, and years later along with co-star Leonard Whiting sued unsuccessfully for damages caused by the film.

Goodbye to Lenny Randle at the age of 75.

A utility man who played for five franchises, Lenny Randle had some memorable moments in a career that might have been forgotten without some strange happenings.

As a Texas Ranger in a 1974 game against Cleveland, Indians pitcher Milt Wilcox threw a pitch behind the head of Randle, who later in the at-bat bunted a ball down the first base line, forcing Wilcox to field the ball.

Randle ran over Wilcox and as Randle continued to run down the baseline with Cleveland first baseman John Ellis waiting- with a two-punch combination that knocked out Randle and led to an on-field brawl.

Still a Ranger in spring training in 1977, Randle attacked manager Frank Lucchesi after an altercation, punching his manager three times, breaking his cheekbone, and resulting in a hospital stay that required plastic surgery.

Randle was suspended for a month but was traded to the Mets before the suspension was completed.

In 1981, finishing his career with the Mariners, Kansas City's Amos Otis bounced a ball down the third base line and was likely to beat out the play for a single, but Randle dropped to his hands and knees and blew the baseball foul.

The umpires declared Otis safe and ruled Randle had interfered without touching the baseball.

Goodbye to Aaron Brown at the age of 76.

A long-time reporter and anchor for ABC and CNN, Brown took the lead role in reporting for CNN during the 9/11 attacks in New York City.

Brown should have been a bigger star in news media but he was a person from a different time.

A time when facts mattered more than getting something on the air first and the story was more important than the person reporting.

People say they wish people in media would be more about substance than style and then the opportunities and viewers state the opposite.

Brown did the overnight shift for ABC's "World News Now", where I discovered his work for the first time and was the original anchor for the program in 1992.

Brown had a sly sense of humor on that show as shown when his original co-anchor Lisa McRee left the show in January 1993 and used a life-size cardboard cutout of McRee in her chair until a full-time replacement was hired months later.

Goodbye to Bob Veale at the age of 89.

The bespectacled Veale spent most of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning a World Series ring in 1971 with the Buccos.

Known for hard-throwing, the southpaw was named to the All-Star team in 1965 and 1966, and led the National League in strikeouts in 1964, fanning two hundred and fifty batters.

Veale won thirteen or more games six times with a high of eighteen in 1964.

Veale holds the Pirates franchise record for strikeouts in a game with sixteen and Veale ranks second in total strikeouts in team history, second only to Bob Friend. 

Cleaning out the inbox-Baseball Version

On a beautiful day for baseball (and the Giants home opener),it's time for an all baseball cleaning out the inbox!

ESPN discusses an opinion that Buster Posey is now the best defensive catcher in the game.
For years,the Cardinal backstop Yadier Molina had gotten that nod,but with the advent of the numbers crowd and their interest in catchers pitch framing abilities,I can see where Posey has risen to the top of the heap.
Between his offensive numbers and defensive capabilities,Posey is the best catcher in the game.

Two articles from the SABR Baseball Card Blog grabbed some attention.
The first dealt with former Pirate fireballing southpaw Bob Veale.
Veale was one of more overlooked pitchers of the 1960's with the Reds Jim Maloney and was one that few wanted to face due to his power arm and sometimes less than accurate control.
Veale also wore glasses and the article shows his various Topps cards and the different looks in the them....

The other article deals with the 1968 Topps baseball game insert set.
The game was built with Topps packs as one card was found in each 1968 pack.
I never played it as a game,but I did always like the cards and tried to collect them as much as I could.
In this years Topps Heritage set,there is a similar set available as short print inserts with the current players.
It's a nice touch and I'm going to try to get that set sometime...

The baseball hall of fame brings a pair of links to the party with one writing about well-traveled outfielder and designated hitter Rico Carty.
Carty had two interesting facts in 1970 as he won the batting title hitting .366 as an Atlanta Brave and as the first player to be voted as an All-Star game starter as a write-in candidate and only one of two ever (Steve Garvey 1974 was the other).
Carty was also a DH for the Indians and put together three strong years in Cleveland.
Carty's knees was the main reason that he became a DH and that wasn't uncommon for the first era of the hitting specialist that saw so many aging stars that could still hit,but not field or run keep a place in the game.

The second was really interesting as it took an in-depth look at the move that Bud Selig managed to buy the Seattle Pilots after just one season (1969) in Seattle and move the team to Milwaukee.
It discusses the Pilots problems,how Milwaukee filled their interim time after the loss of the Braves and all the maneuvering that landed the Pilots in Wisconsin.
One thought to ponder when you play the what if game is what would have happened had Selig never brought baseball back to Milwaukee.
How many of all of these changes to the game would have been different with someone other than Bud Selig as the commissioner?

Hardball Times writes about the career of the recently deceased Bill Hands and does so through his baseball cards.
Hands was an excellent number two starter for the Leo Durocher led Cubs of the late 60's and early 70's and it shows one of those awful Topps airbrushing jobs with Hands shown in a painted over Twins uniform,yet clearly pitching at Wrigley Field long before interleague play was in place.
Hands passed at the age of 76.

We wrap up with the Petaluma Press Democrat writing about their hometown resident and San Francisco Giant home game host Amy Gutierrez.
Gutierrez enters her tenth year doing Giants games and even though I'm not always a fan of sideline reporters,Gutierrez rarely enters the field during the game,stays on the outside for the most part for her new segments and then does the postgame interview.
She does an excellent game of blending into the AT&T Park experience and meshes well with Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper as part of the best local broadcast crew in the game.
Gutierrez talked about her time with the Giants,her children's book series and the issues that come with the job with raising two children.