Carl Erskine, RIP

[Petagine in a Bottle]

The legendary Brooklyn Dodger, Carl Erskine, has passed, at 97.

An all time great on the field, an even better man off of it.

https://www.wishtv.com/sports/indiana-native-mlb-great-carl-erskine-dies-at-97/

 

[TheYellowDart5]

Erskine's death leaves three living Brooklyn Dodgers: Sandy Koufax, Fred Kipp and Jim Gentile

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

Erskine's death leaves three living Brooklyn Dodgers: Sandy Koufax, Fred Kipp and Jim Gentile

Bob Aspromonte too. (And Tommy Brown)

 

[TheYellowDart5]

Bob Aspromonte too. (And Tommy Brown)

Ah I missed them because I was only looking at the 1957 Dodgers roster, I do appreciate that Aspromonte was Brookyn's Moonlight Graham

 

[joe dokes]

Oisk (as my grandfather would say).

Bob Aspromonte too.

A big part of another only-in-baseball stretch:

At 18, his 1 AB for Brooklyn was the beginning of his career. (It was probably a short time after his graduation from a Brooklyn high school.)

At 33, he was picked up by the Mets in 1971 as yet another in a long parade of 3Bmen. He was toast.

The year before, they acquired toast-adjacent Joe Foy from KC for 23-year old Amos Otis, who went on to play 14 yrs in KC with a 114OPS+.

The year after Aspro, they acquired a somewhat toasty (as an everyday player) Jim Fregosi to play third. He lasted one year. The Mets traded 4 players for him. One was Nolan Ryan, who played for 22 more seasons.

 

[Humphrey]

Some pitcher named Fred Kipp as well, at least Baseball Reference doesn't have him dead. 92 now.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Some pitcher named Fred Kipp as well, at least Baseball Reference doesn't have him dead. 92 now.

He was in post two. Along with a Jew and a Gentile.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

Oisk (as my grandfather would say).


A big part of another only-in-baseball stretch:

At 18, his 1 AB for Brooklyn was the beginning of his career. (It was probably a short time after his graduation from a Brooklyn high school.)

At 33, he was picked up by the Mets in 1971 as yet another in a long parade of 3Bmen. He was toast.

The year before, they acquired toast-adjacent Joe Foy from KC for 23-year old Amos Otis, who went on to play 14 yrs in KC with a 114OPS+.

The year after Aspro, they acquired a somewhat toasty (as an everyday player) Jim Fregosi to play third. He lasted one year. The Mets traded 4 players for him. One was Nolan Ryan, who played for 22 more seasons.

And Amos Otis was originally a Red Sox- chosen from the roster by the Mets in the 66 minor league draft.

 

[mauidano]

I was a young baseball fan in the 70's when I first read "The Boys Of Summer" by Roger Kahn.

Sad to see the final chapter written today. What an incredible life story he led.

 

[Al Zarilla]

Erskine was on the 1955 Dodgers team that won their first ever World Series, while getting by the Yankees who had beat them in the WS in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953.

Talk about a finally!

 

[Leskanic's Thread]

Erskine was on the 1955 Dodgers team that won their first ever World Series, while getting by the Yankees who had beat them in the WS in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953.

Talk about a finally!

As a great poet once said: "Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team"

(RIP Carl)

 

[BravesField]

I was re reading Boys of Summer when the news of Erskine's passing broke. I wish there were more ballplayers like him today.

He was a great pitcher and a Hall of Fame Dad. RIP Oisk

 

[Deweys New Stance]

Tyler Kepner wrote a really nice piece on Carl Erskine in the NY Times last summer when he was set to receive the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award in Cooperstown., and wrote a wonderful tribute to him yesterday in The Athletic.

Kepner also interviewed him a few months ago in The Athletic after the awful news that the Jackie Robinson statue in Wichita had been vandalized. One short, noteworthy passage from that interview:

After a 12-year career that included two no-hitters, Erskine returned with his family to Indiana, where Robinson once joined him to promote a youth baseball organization in the 1960s.

“I know that anything that Carl Erskine would be associated with has to be a very fine thing,” Robinson, who was joined by Ted Williams and Bob Feller, told the crowd in Fort Wayne that day. “Carl talked about our relationship on the Brooklyn baseball club, and it’s a friendship that I’ll cherish, and I’ll always cherish, for as long as I can remember.”

A fine pitcher and an exceptional human being.