Wednesday, December 30, 2015

RIP - Frank Malzone


Former Red Sox' 3rd baseman Frank Malzone passed away on December 29, 2015 at age 85.


Malzone played for the Red Sox from 1955 to 1965 and was their regular 3rd baseman from '57 to '65. He finished 2nd in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 1957, and made the All-Star team 6 times.

Malzone wrapped up his career in 1966 with the California Angels.

After his playing career, Malzone was a scout for the Red Sox for 35 years.

In 1995 he was one of the first players inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame.

Boston Herald obituary

USA Today obituary
 

Monday, December 28, 2015

RIP - Jim O'Toole


Former Reds and White Sox hurler Jim O' Toole passed away on December 26, 2015 in Cincinnati, Ohio at age 78.


After a 1-game cup of coffee in September 1958, O'Toole pitched for the Reds from 1959 to 1966. He won 19 games in 1961, and was the Reds' starting pitcher in games 1 and 4 in the World Series that season. O'Toole was also the NL's starting pitcher in the 1963 All-Star game.

In 1967 he played his final big-league season, with the White Sox. He pitched 1968 in the minors, then retired after an unsuccessful tryout with the expansion Seattle Pilots in the Spring of 1969.

He was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1970.

Cincinnati Reds website

New York Times obituary

Jim O'Toole
 

Sunday, December 20, 2015

RIP - Hal Brown


Hal Brown, a knuckleballer who pitched for 5 teams from 1951-1964, passed away on December 17, 2015 at age 91.


Brown began his career with the White Sox, then played for the Red Sox for a few seasons until making his way to the Baltimore Orioles in July 1955.

The bulk of Brown's career was spent with the O's. His best season there was 1960, winning 12 games with an ERA of 3.06.

Brown played the final weeks of the '62 season for the Yankees, then wrapped up his career playing 2 seasons for the Houston Colt .45s.

 Greensboro, NC obituary

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Sunday, December 13, 2015

RIP - Gus Gil


Late-60s/early-70s 2nd baseman Gus Gil passed away on December 8, 2015 in Phoenix, AZ at age 76.


Gil was signed by the Reds in 1959, and made his major-league debut for the Indians in early 1967. He was their starting 2nd baseman for the first month or so, then returned to the minors for the 2nd half of the season.

Most of his big-league time was from 1969-71, playing for the Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers.

He also played baseball in Venezuela from 1959 to 1977, and was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Brewers fan's blog

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Saturday, December 12, 2015

1960s Blog Hall of Fame Results (#7)


Oh right, we had a Hall of Fame ballot here a few months ago didn't we? Here are the results... 

A pair of slugging 3rd basemen made it in this time - the Braves' Eddie Mathews and the Cubs' Ron Santo.


They join the 25 others shown below. Each made it by receiving the minimum 75% of the votes. (Although the sidebar poll shows that Santo received 85% and Mathews only received 71%, one voter chose to vote using the comments. He voted for Mathews and not for Santo, leaving them with 75% each.)






Complete results:
8 voters participated this time. Three players received less that the minimum 15% to be retained for the next ballot.

(Click the "hall of fame ballot" label below to see all past results.)