RIP: Ted Uhlaender

uhlaender I know it’s been a while, it happened on Valentine’s Day, but I wanted to say Goodbye to Ted Uhlaender. When I started following baseball way back in 1968, Uhlaender was the fleet footed centerfielder of the Minnesota Twins. Without looking, I could still remember Ted’s middle name being Otto, sometimes I have to look to remember my middle name being Herbert. Maybe Uhlaender resonated with me because we shared first names, always thought his first name was Ted, but the back of his baseball card shows it as Theodore.

Despite the 1968 campaign being totally dominated by pitchers, he managed to finish fifth in batting in the American League with a .283 average. He followed that up with his most productive season, establishing career highs with 152 games played, 93 runs scored, 151 hits and 62 runs batted in (RBI). His first playoff experience was in the 1969 American League Championship Series, with one hit in six at-bats. He was traded along with Graig Nettles, Dean Chance and Bob Miller to the Indians for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams on December 10, 1969. He started in center in 1970, before being shifted to left field the next season.

Uhlaender died after a heart attack, the San Francisco Giants said. He had worked as a scout for the team since 2002, and was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer last year. He spoke with his daughter, Katie Uhlaender, by phone in the morning of his death, shortly before she ended the World Cup skeleton sliding season with a silver medal in Park City, Utah.

I’ll be pulling for Katie, if she has her father’s competitive spirit, she ought to do alright. Ted Uhlaender was 68 years old.

RIP (and thanks) Jerome Sacharski, T-ball pioneer

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Jerome Sacharski, a former teacher who is credited with popularizing the game of T-ball, died Friday at the ripe age of 93. 

No one knows who actually exactly invented the game of T-ball.  But many credit Sacharski for popularizing it in his hometown of Albion, Wisconsin where he was teacher and coach.  It is said that here in Albion is where it was first played as an organized sport.

US Rep. Nick Smith even offered a tribute to Jerome Sacharski for his contributions:

“After he started teaching, Jerry took it upon himself in 1954 to head up the Albion recreation department’s summer baseball program,” Smith said at the time. “Because of this position, he was able to see the lack of opportunity for younger children that two years later would drive him to develop one of the largest innovations in youth sports.”

T-ball is similar in so many ways to baseball yet made simpler for younger kids by giving them a fighting chance to hit the ball by hitting a ball off a tee rather than a thrown ball.  Today, millions of boys and girls play the game which emphasizes fairness and education of the game over competition. 

So for all the parents (and for that matter, kids who have grown up) out there going back all those years, I say thanks Mr Sacharski.  That tee made it sooo much easier to hit.

RIP: Bill Werber, Oldest Major Leaguer Dies at 100

bill-werber Bill Werber played his first big league game June 25, 1930 with the New York Yankees, Babe Ruth, & Lou Gehrig. In 1934 he had his best season with the Boston Red Sox when he batted .321, 200 hits, 129 runs scored, 41 doubles, 10 triples, and a league leading 40 stolen bases, he also led the league in stolen bases with 29 in 1935 & 35 in 1937. Bill was the league leader in runs scored in 1939 with 115. Werber was the fastest man in baseball.

Werber graduated from college, was Duke’s first All American basketball player, and was coached by Eddie Cameron, for which Cameron Indoor Stadium was named. He couldn’t get into the batting cage with the 1927 Yankees, Murderer’s Row didn’t have time for a college kid.

“He was a kindly man,” Werber said of Ruth. “He didn’t shove these little kids along. They crawled all over his white shoes and his tan pants. He’d go to hospitals, but he’d never take a newspaper man with him and he’d never take a photographer with him.”

Bill Werber was sharp until the last month of his life and enjoyed talking about his baseball playing days nearly until the end of his long life. Thanks for the memories Mr. Werber, you will be missed.

RIP: Dock Ellis

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Just received an e-mail from Captain Will, it said…

“One of my favorites. I used to love to watch him pitch

When he was with Yanks, one preseason the Yanks were struggling and a reporter asked Dock, “Why are the Yanks struggling?” Dock replied, “Well it is by design, the more we lose, the more George flies down here, and the more George flies, the better the odds are of a plane crash.”

In 1970 Dock overcame eight walks in the first game of a doubleheader against the Padres to throw a no-hitter, several years later, he admitted he was high on LSD when he accomplished the feat. He was 19-9 with the Buccos in 1971 when the Pirates won the World Series. On July 13, 1971, Reggie Jackson blasted what almost certainly is the longest home run ever hit in an All-Star game, and one of the longest of all time. Jackson’s home run came at Tiger Stadium in Detroit off the NL pitcher, Dock Ellis. After the 1975 season Ellis was traded to the Yankees along with Willie Randolph & Ken Brett, in exchange for Doc Medich.

In 1986 the Yankees hired him to offer guidance to their minor leaguers on drug & alcohol abuse. Ellis kept up his campaign against addiction for the rest of his life, and frequently joined former teammates to support them on their charity work.

Dock Ellis always spoke his mind, he was one of a kind, he will be missed.

HENRY BLANCO’S BROTHER MURDERED

In Venezuela, Carlos Blanco, the 39 year old brother of major league catcher, Henry was murdered by kidnappers after he was abducted Sunday in Guaranis, a Caracas suburb. Police believe the kidnappers were seeking ransom. Carlos’s bullet riddled body was discovered Monday.

Venezuela is a dangerous place. I was reminded of this statement made by a major league scout, whose assignment was going to be to go to Venezuela to sign some amateur ballplayers. He told his major league club, he’d need to bring with someone who spoke Spanish, he’d stay in a first class hotel, he wasn’t going off the beaten path, and it would cost about $5,000. The major league club decided to skip the trip, which was alright with this major league scout. That said, I feel bad about the senseless death of Carlos Blanco, my heart & condolences go out to Henry & the entire Blanco family.

Preacher Roe dead at 93

Former Brooklyn Dodgers lefthander Preacher Roe has passed on at the ripe old age of 93. Roe, who long ago settled in West Plains, Mo., near his childhood home of Viola, Ark., had undergone colon surgery recently and never fully recovered. Elwin Charles Roe was a five time All Star and a central character on Brooklyn’s storied “Boys of Summer” teams.

Roe prided himself with keeping hitters off balance with his slider and his “Beech-Nut slider”. Players regularly chewed Beech-Nut gum at the time, he’d use juice from the gum on the ball, causing it to dip dramatically. After Preacher retired he admitted throwing a spitter, without regret, and wanted to pitch made legal. His best year was in 1951, at the age of 36, when he went 22-3 for the Dodgers.

Brooklyn Ralph Branca said he was called Preacher because “he could talk your ear off.” In an interview with an eighth-grader in West Plains, Roe expressed his pride in having had Robinson as a teammate. “I just felt if Jackie hit a home run while I was pitching, it counted just as much for me as if Pee Wee Reese hit it or some of the other guys that were white. … I’d say, ‘You never have seen a good ballplayer until you’ve seen him.’ He was that good.”

RIP, Herb Score

Herb Score has died at the age of 75. The promising lefthander of the Cleveland Indians seemed destined for the Hall of Fame. He was the American League 1955 Rookie of the Year with a record of 16-10, a 2.85 ERA, and was the strikeout leader with 245. His 263 K’s in 1956 again were tops in the league as he upped his record to 20-9. But then a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald drilled Score in the face on May 7, 1957. Blood was streaming from Herb’s nose, right eye, and mouth, but he never lost consciousness. Still he spent three weeks in the hospital and missed the rest of the 57 season with fuzzy vision. Although his vision returned he won only 17 games over the next five seasons before retiring.

“He would have been probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, left-handed pitchers who ever lived,” Feller said Tuesday on the Indians’ Web site. Feller, near the end of his career when Score arrived, likened him to Sandy Koufax, the Dodgers Hall of Famer. “Herb Score had just as good a curveball as Koufax and a better fastball.”

He was an Indians broadcaster, mostly on the radio, from 1964 to 1997. Score was seriously injured in an automobile accident in 1998 and had been incapacitated by a stroke since 2002.

RIP: Mickey Vernon

James "Mickey" Vernon, the firstbaseman who played for over 20 years in the 40’s and the 50’s passed away Wednesday. 

From all accounts, I always considered Vernon to be one the best players who isn’t in the Hall of Fame. 

That may change though.  Vernon has been selected to the final ballot of the Veterans Committee for the 2008 class.  The results of the ballot will be announced on December 8th. 

Vernon also managed the Washington Senators, the team he played the most, between 1961-1963. 

GOODBYE DON GUTTERIDGE

Don Gutteridge has passed on at the age of 96. Gutteridge was the manager of the Chicago White Sox when I started following the team, way back in the Summer of 69. Woe, yeah, in the Summer of 69, sing it! Things were simpler then. I attended a preseason Sox game in 1968 in Milwaukee before the 1968 season, the Boys Benefit game. It won by the Sox over the Cubs 3-2 in 10 innings, it was freezing cold, the game was almost cancelled, as it was a few days after the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. I didn’t make it out to Comiskey Park in 1968, but did get there for the last game of the 1969 season. The neighborhood around Comiskey Park was scary and we were afraid to go down there. But to my father’s credit he took me down there, although money was tight, and he wasn’t a baseball fan. I remember an usher getting us a baseball. I’m sure not many fans were in attendance. We took that baseball to the team parking lot after the game, the parking attendant let us in, and we got that ball signed by everybody. I’m sure Don Gutteridge’s autograph is on that ball, along with Luis Aparicio, Walt Williams, Tommy John, Ken Berry, Ed Herrmann, Bill Melton, and many, many others. I can still remember being a little nervous walking to our car, with our prized possession, not another fan in sight. There was a black man wiping down the windshield of our car when we got to it. Dad gave him some money and we were on our way. The northside of the city and the southside were completely segregated, and we were scared of black people. Times were different back then, there was alot of racial tension in the air.

The 1969 White Sox ended the season with a record of 68-94. Gutteridge replaced Al Lopez as the manager during the 69 season, he would be replaced midway through the 1970 season, with Chuck Tanner in place by the end of the 1970 campaign. Only 589,546 fans showed up and I complain about the lack of support today. The White Sox were in serious trouble and they almost were moved to Milwaukee. Bill Veeck took over the ballclub, traded Tommy John for Dick Allen, and the southside franchise was safe, at least for awhile. There was some talk, later, of moving to either Seattle or St. Pete, but thankfully neither took place.

No wonder, it really didn’t matter if we won or lost, I was more concerned with my team not leaving town. I mean, of course I wanted the Sox to win, and was heartbroken when they lost, but I was never delusional enough to believe we might win a championship. While the Cubbies were licking their wounds after collapsing in their quest for a championship, I was just glad to see I was going to have my team.

Let me tell you a little bit about my team. Little Luis Aparicio was our SS, at age 35, he was just reacquired from Baltimore prior to the 1968 season. The veteran was the team leader in hits, steals, walks, doubles, and runs, while excelling in the field. Only our rightfielder Walt “No-Neck” Williams, .304, had a better batting average than Aparicio’s .280 mark. Ken Berry, the Bandit, patroled centerfield. We were strong defensively up the middle with Bobby Knoop at 2B, a sign in the stands said it all, “EVEN SNOOPY LOVES KNOOPY”. The stars of this team were 23 year old Beltin Bill Melton and 21 year old Carlos May. Melton had more homers & RBI’s than anybody on the team, 23 & 87. Carlos May was the younger brother of N.L. slugger Lee May, but as luck would have it, Carlos would blow off his thumb while in the National Guard, and never have the power promise he had in 69, 18 homers that year in only 367 at bats. Buddy Bradford was another talented young outfielder, who could hit the ball as far as anyone when he connected, but struckout too much to fulfill his promise. The team also had a 22 year old catcher named Ed Herrmann, who had a career year in 1970 with 19 homers, but never developed either.

The White Sox were built around pitching & defense, hitting was a bonus. My favorite pitcher Tommy John was a delight to watch. I was heartbroken when he was traded to the Dodgers for Dick Allen, although it kept the Sox in Chicago. Back in 1969 I never thought Tommy John might be traded. I’ll always hate Dick McAuliffe for slamming my hero to the ground in 1968, after John came to close to his coconut with a fastball. Another young pitcher I liked was Paul Edmondson, a tough luck starter, who had a 1-6 record, despite a respectable 3.70 ERA. Edmondson would die before the 1970 spring training when the car he was driving went off a cliff near Santa Barbara, both Paul & his fiance were killed in the crash.

Don Gutteridge had a 60-85 record in 1969 and his team was 49-87 under him in 1970. Gutteridge was an infielder, who played most of his ball in St. Louis, first with the Cardinals and then with the Browns. Steve was telling me Gutteridge was the last surviving member of the 1st place 1944 Browns, who lost in the World Series to the Cardinals. With the passing of Don Gutteridge, another window to yesterday seems to have been closed. So Goodbye Mr. Gutteridge, you will be missed.

RIP Dottie Collins, 84 member of the AAGPBL

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National Baseball Hall of Fame Library

 

Dottie Collins, star pitcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, passed away from a stroke Tuesday in Fort Wayne Ind.

Not only was she one of the biggest names in the women’s baseball league and one of the best players, she did a lot to keep the memory of the league alive. 

According to Richard Goldstein in the NYT, she was quite a hurler:

She pitched underhand, sidearm and overhand; she threw curveballs, fastballs and changeups; and in the summer of 1948, she pitched until she was four months pregnant. She won more than 20 games in each of her first four seasons. She threw 17 shutouts and had a league-leading 293 strikeouts in 1945 for the Fort Wayne Daisies, when the women’s game resembled fast-pitch softball.

She also had a lot to do with the Women in Baseball exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Without her, it wouldn’t have happened.