On Saturday, February 20, in Union, Missouri, a unique and amazing collection of baseball memorabilia will be auctioned off. Baseball fan Clara Schmitt Rothmeier, who passed away last June, created several baseball-themed quilts, the most famous of which, a piece called “My Favorite Baseball Stars,” was exhibited by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in [...]
Archive of posts filed under the passings category.
Jim Bibby (1944-2010)
Former major league pitcher Jim Bibby passed away on Tuesday at age 65. I remember Bibby fondly from the baseball cards of my youth, and particularly the fact that he shared the sporting spotlight with his younger brother Henry, an NBA point guard.
Bibby’s best years came with the Pirates, particularly the “We Are Family” [...]
Bobby Bragan (1917-2010)
Baseball lifer Bobby Bragan died last week at the age of 92. The man did just about everything in his career, arriving in the majors as an infielder with the Phillies in 1940, learning to catch and becoming the backup backstop of the Brooklyn Dodgers a few years later, transitioning to managing first at the [...]
Death Scores a Hat Trick
Like everyone else, I was surprised and saddened by the death of Michael Jackson yesterday, capping a surreal day of celebrity demises that also claimed Farrah Fawcett and garage rock legend Sky Saxon.
I’m old enough to remember when Thriller hit the racks and was all the rage; I didn’t have a copy, but my [...]
My Favorite Baseball Quilt
I’ve never attended a perfect game, but back in the summer of 2003, I attended “A Perfect Game,” an exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum devoted to baseball. I was so taken with it that I wrote a lengthy review, which included this bit about the image above:
One of the most prominent pieces of [...]
Koko Taylor, RIP
Chicago blues icon Koko Taylor passed away on Wednesday at age 80. In my rather expansive music collection, I’m ashamed to say I’ve got precious little of her work, a compilation cut or two. But I do have a story.
In late September 1999, the aforementioned Nick Stone and I took a trip to the Midwest [...]
Here’s to You, Mrs. Olbermann
One more loss to add to the list of those who have passed in the last week: Marie Olbermann, mother of former ESPN anchor and current MSNBC Countdown Keith Olbermann. In an episode whose roots connect directly with the genesis of my web site, Mrs. Olbermann was struck in the face by an errant Chuck [...]
Losing Streak: Three in a Row
A senseless tragedy, the passing of a legend, and a bittersweet reminder of a Bird that flew too high — it’s been a miserable week for baseball mortality. I was barely 15 minutes into my chat on Baseball Prospectus on Monday afternoon when a chorus of readers posted to inform me of the passing of [...]
Larry H. Miller, RIP
In the years before the baseball bug returned to my life, the Utah Jazz were at the center of my sports universe, and the annual attempts of the John Stockton/Karl Malone/Jerry Sloan teams to win an NBA championship were as absorbing as any Dodgers or Yankees team if not more, since they remained part of [...]
Angell’s in the Outfield
Taking a break from the 28 years we’ll have to digest the Alex Rodriguez steroid saga — his contract runs through 2017, which if he retired then would mean his Hall of Fame eligibility would run from 2023 through 2037 — I meant to post something I read last week. It’s from “The Fadeaway,” by [...]
