In Memoriam: Sports

[BetterButter]

 

[voiceover]

Luis Tiant! best windup ever.  And the man had a 161-pitch complete game in the 1975 World Series.

RIP, El Tiante.

[BetterButter]

 

[voiceover]

Crap.  I just heard the news.

First thing I thought of was his wind-up.  Then I pinged Annie’s (Susan Sarandon) line from Bull Durham, which I post here in his honor:

Annie (to Nuke): “Now, I want you to breathe through your eyelids[…] like the lava lizards of the Galapagos Islands. See, there are some lizards that have a parietal eye behind their heads so they can see backwards. Haven’t you ever noticed how Fernando Valenzuela, he just doesn’t even look when he pitches? He’s a Mayan Indian. Or an Aztec, I get them confused.”

RIP.

[ProudMary]

From CBS Sports:

Rudy May, 1980 American League ERA champion who pitched for Yankees, Angels, others, dies at 80

[roamyn]

Browns legend Dub Jones who played from 48-55 died Saturday age 99.  He & his wife Schump (yes, Schump) had 7 children, 22 grandchildren, and 48 grt-grandchildren.  I think his wife is still living.

You lived a long productive life Sir.  Rest In Peace now. 

[Notabug]

2 hours ago, roamyn said:

Browns legend Dub Jones who played from 48-55 died Saturday age 99.  He & his wife Schump (yes, Schump) had 7 children, 22 grandchildren, and 48 grt-grandchildren.  I think his wife is still living.

You lived a long productive life Sir.  Rest In Peace now. 

Dub's son, Bert, was QB for the Baltimore Colts and LA Rams in the late '70's-early 80's.

Edited November 5 by Notabug

[Bastet]

John Robinson

He died Monday, age 89, from complications of pneumonia.

Having coached both USC and the Rams, he was huge in Los Angeles sports.  Here's a collection of letters from readers to the LA Times.

[KWalkerInc]

John Robinson lived next door to my parents and sister for a time before I was born (probably around 1969 to start?).  The house belonged to 49ers linebacker Dave Wilcox (who died last year), and apparently there was a time when there were several guys living there who went on to successful coaching careers.  Robinson is the only one I remember my mom specifically mentioning, and my father didn't have any stories (he just remembered there were "a bunch of guys" when I asked).

My sister once sneaked out under the fence (when both parents thought the other one had her) and ran over to Wilcox's house.  Instead of just bringing her back, he called my mom and seemed terrified!  Mom always liked to tell that story.  (Wilcox never ended up having any daughters, just one son who I think played briefly in the NFL and dabbled in pro wrestling, and another who is coach at California.)

[roamyn]

Rocky Colavito who was in famously trades to the Tigers in 1960 which caused the 'curse of Rocky Colavito' since his best years were w/the Indians, has passed away at age 84.

Maybe now we'll finally win that elusive WS.

Edited December 11 by roamyn

[BetterButter]

Dick Van Arsdale, three-time All-Star and Phoenix Suns legend, dies at 81

[baldryanr]

Rickey Henderson has died

Greatest leadoff hitter of all time.  His stolen base record will never be broken.

[roamyn]

That was shocking to hear, but more shocking to me was that he was 65.

I hope it wasn't a long illness, and that he went peacefully.

[Salacious Kitty]

Oh, this one hits hard. RIP Rickey. 😭

[KWalkerInc]

I saw Rickey play in his rookie year in the first game I ever attended (though I don't remember it because I was 3).  I do remember seeing him play a couple times for the A's and twice for San Diego later.  He almost singlehandedly brought the A's back in the 9th inning of one of the games.  He singled with two outs and of course stole second.  After Mark McGwire was walked, the next batter hit a dribbler right to the third baseman near the base--but Rickey beat him to the bag to keep the game going.  I can still picture his fired-up reaction (though the next batter made an out).  Besides being a great hitter, it was amazing how he could affect the game in ways like that with his speed. 

My mom's brother met him once on a plane, when his job had him fly first class.  When he recognized Rickey, my uncle could tell from his facial reaction that he was like, "Oh crap!" and afraid people would start bothering him, so my uncle just kept quiet about it.

[Notabug]

5 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

I saw Rickey play in his rookie year in the first game I ever attended (though I don't remember it because I was 3).  I do remember seeing him play a couple times for the A's and twice for San Diego later.  He almost singlehandedly brought the A's back in the 9th inning of one of the games.  He singled with two outs and of course stole second.  After Mark McGwire was walked, the next batter hit a dribbler right to the third baseman near the base--but Rickey beat him to the bag to keep the game going.  I can still picture his fired-up reaction (though the next batter made an out).  Besides being a great hitter, it was amazing how he could affect the game in ways like that with his speed. 

My mom's brother met him once on a plane, when his job had him fly first class.  When he recognized Rickey, my uncle could tell from his facial reaction that he was like, "Oh crap!" and afraid people would start bothering him, so my uncle just kept quiet about it.

My brother in law used to drive a cab in Chicago.  He picked Ricky up once and recognized him immediately.  He asked him if he was 'the greatest base-stealer in the history of baseball' and Ricky was happy to acknowledge that he was.  They had a really great convo about baseball in general and Ricky's career in particular en route to his destination.  My bro in law hadn't been a big fan of his prior to that, thought he was a show-off.  That ride tipped the scales for him. Well, that and the extremely generous tip.  He met a lot of sports stars back in the day and his interaction with Ricky was one of his favorites.

[Notabug]

Nice article with quotes from Dave Stewart who knew Ricky Henderson virtually his entire life.  They were both from Oakland and played little league baseball together.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/stewart-honors-lifelong-friend-henderson-with-heartfelt-message/ar-AA1wiHrw?ocid=BingNewsSerp