Two players from the 1960s passed away this week: Braves/Mets/Angels/Royals backup catcher Hawk Taylor, and Twins' starting pitcher Dave Boswell.
Robert "Hawk" Taylor passed away on June 9th at age 73 in Paducah, Kentucky. Hawk played for the Milwaukee Braves in the late 1950s and early 1960s, then spent several years with the Mets in the pre-Tom Seaver days. He moved on to the Angels before winding up his career as an expansion draft pick of the Kansas City Royals.
Dave Boswell passed away on June 11th at age 67 from a heart attack. Dave made his major-league debut with the Twins in September 1964, and spent the next 6 full seasons in the Twins' starting rotation, including pitching in the 1965 World Series, and winning 20 games in 1969. This obituary also recounts the day his manager, Billy Martin, beat him up outside of a bar one night in 1970. Martin apparently held no grudges, as when the Twins cut Boswell in 1971, Martin's Tigers signed Boswell for his final big-league season.
I saw Boswell hook up with Dave McNally in the second game of the 1969 ALSC. They were both terrific into the eleventh inning. McNally was just a little bit better and the O's won on a pinch hit by Curt Motton om Ron Perranoski's second pitch.
ReplyDeleteBob, I became a casual fan of the Orioles (and specifically Jim Palmer) in 1967, based solely on recaps of the 1966 World Series, and the backs of my 1967 baseball cards. After a few rough years (including Palmer languishing in class-A ball), I'm sure you also felt the excitement of their return to power in 1969.
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