Baseball Obits

DourDoerr

DourDoerr

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I didn't see a thread for this, but please correct me if I've missed it. Thought it might be useful to have a thread to post obits just for players, managers, baseball lifers, etc., who've passed. I posted Davis' below elsewhere but thought it more appropriate here so all can see/share. Obits give us a chance to remember a player we hadn't thought about in years or decades, as was the case for me with Davis. With this site, the remembrance usually sparks an interesting story or two from posters and that's a good thing.

Tommy Davis, 83, LA Dodgers and 9 other teams. His '62 season stands out like Ellsbury's 2011 relative to the rest of their careers. Another reason to like TD - he turned down the MFY for the Dodgers.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-04-04/tommy-davis-dodgers-dies-83-obit
 
Sad Sam Jones

Sad Sam Jones

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Davis really had a unique career. He looked like he was off to a potential Hall of Fame level career when he was 24… then he had only one more star level season the rest of his career, but still managed to do enough to stick around until the age of 37. The career trajectory of kind of a poor man's Vada Pinson, but going by similarity scores, there's really been no one like him (his closest comp is Melky Cabrera and that's only 892.2).
 
DourDoerr

DourDoerr

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gryoung said:
Except he won back-to-back batting titles. And he holds a couple of Dodger batting records.
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I didn't say he didn't have another good season - just the 5.9 WAR season stands out like a sore thumb, much like Ellsbury's 8.3 WAR season stands apart from the rest of a good career. By the way, the two Dodgers batting records he owns that I'm aware of came in that 5.9 WAR season - 230 hits and 153 RBI.
 
SoxJox

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Reaching back to 3 weeks ago.

Former MLB Pitcher Odalis Perez – Obituary

RIP to Odalis Pérez, an All-Star left-handed pitcher who spent 10 years in the majors. He died at his home in the Dominican Republic on March 10. The initial reports started that he had fallen off a ladder and suffered a head injury. However, journalist Héctor Gómez reported that Pérez had suffered a heart attack, which caused the subsequent fall. He was 44 years old. Pérez played for the Atlanta Braves (1998-99, 2001), Los Angeles Dodgers (2002-2006), Kansas City Royals (2006-07) and Washington Nationals (2008).
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Odalis Amadol Pérez was born on June 11, 1977, in Las Matas de Farfan, Dominican Republic — Baseball Reference listed his birth year as 1978 as of this writing, but other online sources including MLB.com put it at 1977. I do believe that most contemporary news stories about Perez have his age off by a year.

Pérez’s ascent to the major leagues was a quick one. He was signed as an international free agent by the Atlanta Braves in 1994. After graduating from high school in 1995, he debuted in the United States as an 18-year-old in the Braves’ Gulf Coast League team. In 65 innings of work across 12 starts, Pérez gave up just 48 hits and 18 walks while striking out 62 batters. He moved up to Eugene of the Low-A Northwest League, but some elbow problems temporarily took him out of the starting pitcher role. He appeared in just 10 games for Eugene in 1996, with 6 starts, and he had a 2-1 record and 3.80 ERA.

Pitching exclusively out of the bullpen in 1997 with the Macon Braves of the Sally League, Pérez picked up 5 saves and had a 1.65 ERA, with 4 wins in 9 decisions. Though still young, he showed excellent control, with 27 walks in 87-1/3 innings. In 1998, Pérez began the season in Double-A Greenville as a starter, was promoted to Triple-A Richmond as a reliever, and joined the Atlanta Braves’ pitching staff in September.

Pérez was just 21 years old when he made his debut against the Houston Astros on September 1, 1998. He threw a scoreless inning in a Braves 6-4 win. In fact, he threw many scoreless innings for the Braves over the final month of the season. He appeared in 10 games and was unscored upon in eight of them. Pérez had just one bad performance, and it happened on September 13. He took over from Greg Maddux with a 1-0 lead over the Florida Marlins and gave up singles to Mark Kotsay and Cliff Floyd, a 2-run double to Derrek Lee and a 2-run homer to Kevin Orie. Wipe that performance off the books, and he would have a sub-1 ERA with the Braves. As it was, he ended the season with an 0-1 record and 4.22 ERA, but he pitched himself onto the postseason roster anyway.

[And more...]
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Baseball Reference

Not a great player, but hey...10 years and $31,515,000 in career earnings...and a great name
 
gryoung

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DourDoerr said:
I didn't say he didn't have another good season - just the 5.9 WAR season stands out like a sore thumb, much like Ellsbury's 8.3 WAR season stands apart from the rest of a good career. By the way, the two Dodgers batting records he owns that I'm aware of came in that 5.9 WAR season - 230 hits and 153 RBI.
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I misinterpreted your response. No worries.
 
RG33

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Julio Cruz, middle infielder for the Mariners and White Sox, played 10 years in the bigs and later was an announcer for the Mariners on the Spanish-speaking channel.

A fairly unremarkable career batting .243 and OPS-ing at .620 but 10 years in the bigs is 10 years in the bigs. I mostly remember him from a baseball card standpoint — rolling my eyes at yet another one of his cards in a Topps or Donruss pack.

He was only 67 and died in late February from prostrate cancer complications it looks like.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/julio-cruz-former-mariners-white-sox-second-baseman-dies-at-age-67/
 
terrynever

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Tommy was never the same player after he dislocated and broke an ankle early in the 1965 season. JD Martínez reminds me on Tommy in some respects.
 
RG33

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Terry Cooney passed away on March 4th, at 88 years old. He was a MLB umpire for 18 years — most famous for his horrendous decision to eject Roger Clemens in the 2nd inning of game 4 of the ALCS in 1988.

View: https://youtu.be/MHO1rZ07BBM
 
LoweTek

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Ford Frick's Asterisk said:
Davis really had a unique career. He looked like he was off to a potential Hall of Fame level career when he was 24… then he had only one more star level season the rest of his career, but still managed to do enough to stick around until the age of 37. The career trajectory of kind of a poor man's Vada Pinson, but going by similarity scores, there's really been no one like him (his closest comp is Melky Cabrera and that's only 892.2).
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I always liked Vada Pinson. I believed he was underrated and unappreciated.
 
Sad Sam Jones

Sad Sam Jones

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Chuck Carr, fan favorite of the original Florida Marlins, has passed away at 55.

After being the 14th selection of the Marlins in the expansion draft, he led the NL with 58 steals (and also in getting caught stealing 22 times) in 1993. Carr's career was short but loud… fans enjoyed his unbridled energy, but he was almost universally despised by opponents for his cockiness and constant talking, and eventually he always got on his manager's last nerve. He once popped up when Phil Garner gave him the take sign, then went back to the dugout to tell his manager, "That ain't Chuckie’s game. Chuckie hacks on 2-0." Shortly after that he blew out his knee, hyperextending it on a highlight catch on the warning track (he had been better known for practicing diving catches). He returned but his career quickly fizzled out after just 3 seasons as a major league regular. The other bit of obscure trivia about Carr is that he was the first player to join the Long Island Ducks.
 
E5 Yaz

E5 Yaz

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Sad Sam Jones said:
Chuck Carr, fan favorite of the original Florida Marlins, has passed away at 55.

After being the 14th selection of the Marlins in the expansion draft, he led the NL with 58 steals (and also in getting caught stealing 22 times) in 1993. Carr's career was short but loud… fans enjoyed his unbridled energy, but he was almost universally despised by opponents for his cockiness and constant talking, and eventually he always got on his manager's last nerve. He once popped up when Phil Garner gave him the take sign, then went back to the dugout to tell his manager, "That ain't Chuckie’s game. Chuckie hacks on 2-0." Shortly after that he blew out his knee, hyperextending it on a highlight catch on the warning track (he had been better known for practicing diving catches). He returned but his career quickly fizzled out after just 3 seasons as a major league regular. The other bit of obscure trivia about Carr is that he was the first player to join the Long Island Ducks.
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Covered the Marlins during their first Spring Training and Carr was the immediate fan favorite. Had he not been injured and burned out so quickly he could have been one of those guys that gained a cult following.
 
Sad Sam Jones

Sad Sam Jones

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I was shocked when Alex Cole was arrested on what turned out to be drug charges… I thought for sure he'd been caught stealing again.
 
phineas gage

phineas gage

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Gaylord Perry has passed--RIP. A memorable player that was widely divergent in terms of fan opinion--some saw him as an outright cheat, others as a savvy and innovative pitcher. Over 300 wins and over 3500 strikeouts, however they were obtained. It convinced enough Hall of Fame voters (whereas they remained adamantly opposed to the steroid-era cheats, such as Clemens).
 
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Humphrey

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Even on a team that pays well, having 2 guys next to each other for 9 years (Campy & Bando) is unimaginable these days. Plus, most of those years, the second baseman was Dick Green.
 
Philip Jeff Frye

Philip Jeff Frye

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Humphrey said:
Even on a team that pays well, having 2 guys next to each other for 9 years (Campy & Bando) is unimaginable these days. Plus, most of those years, the second baseman was Dick Green.
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Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina have been major league teammates since 2005.
 
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