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Post by TTX on Mar 11, 2023 13:15:58 GMT -5
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Post by jimsteel on Mar 12, 2023 14:49:48 GMT -5
RICHIE KATES, LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CONTENDER IN ONE OF HIS DIVISION’S GOLDEN ERAS, DEAD AT 69
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Post by jimsteel on Mar 12, 2023 20:38:00 GMT -5
Former NBA center Felton Spencer has died. He was 55.
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Post by TTX on Mar 13, 2023 4:30:56 GMT -5
Reminds me of when I used to focus on the NBA draft almost as much as the NFL. RIP.
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Post by jimsteel on Mar 13, 2023 10:45:26 GMT -5
Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect Luis Andres Ortiz Soriano has died after a battle with cancer, according to multiple reports. He was 20. According to the Baltimore Sun, the Orioles gave the left-hander from the Dominican Republic one of the biggest bonuses of any of its initial 27-player international signing class in 2019. The paper said the pitcher worked seven games in the teams Florida Complex League n 2021 but did not play in 2022.
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Post by jimsteel on Mar 13, 2023 17:47:27 GMT -5
Joe Pepitone, a former 1st baseman and outfielder in the MLB passed away at the age of 82. In 1958, Pepitone was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent. After playing four seasons in the minor leagues, he broke in with the Yankees in 1962, playing behind Moose Skowron at first base. A much-discussed legend was that while on his way to 1962 spring training in Florida, Pepitone spent his entire $25,000 ($234,804 today) signing bonus. He won a World Series ring in his rookie year with the Yankees. Yankee management believed he could handle the first base job and traded Skowron to the Dodgers before the 1963 season. Pepitone responded, hitting .271 with 27 HR and 89 RBI. He went on to win three Gold Gloves, but in the 1963 World Series he made an infamous error. With the score tied 1-1 in the seventh inning of Game Four, he lost a routine Clete Boyer throw in the white shirtsleeves of the Los Angeles crowd, and the batter, Jim Gilliam, went all the way to third base and scored the series-winning run on a sacrifice fly by Willie Davis. He redeemed himself somewhat in the 1964 Series against the Cardinals with a Game 6 grand slam. The ever-popular Pepitone remained a fixture throughout the 1960's, even playing center field after bad knees reduced Mickey Mantle's mobility. Yet by the end of the decade, as the Yankees struggled to return to a .500 winning percentage, fans booed Pepitone regularly and were disappointed with his lackadaisical play and inability to get on base, especially as a left-handed power hitter at Old Yankee Stadium. After the 1969 season, despite having won his third Gold Glove Award, the Yankees traded Pepitone to the Houston Astros for Curt Blefary. However, he played only about half the 1970 season before being traded to the Chicago Cubs. In Chicago, Pepitone replaced Ernie Banks at first base. Peptitone stayed with the Cubs through the 1971 and 1972 seasons, and was traded to the Atlanta Braves in May 1973. In Atlanta, he played only three games, which marked the end of his major-league career in the United States. In June 1973, Pepitone accepted an offer of $70,000 ($427,294 today) a year to play for the Yakult Atoms, (now the Tokyo Yakult Swallows) a professional baseball team in Japan's Central League. While in Japan, he hit .163 with one home run and two RBIs in 14 games played. Pepitone spent his days in Japan skipping games for claimed injuries, only to be out at night in discos, behavior which led the Japanese to adopt his name into their vernacular—as a word meaning "goof off."
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Post by jimsteel on Mar 13, 2023 22:42:01 GMT -5
Dick Fosbury, who revolutionized high jump and was 1968 Summer Olympics champion, dies at 76
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Post by jimsteel on Mar 15, 2023 19:02:59 GMT -5
Since he played in the CFL I will post this here to Jeff Gaylord, who played in the CFL for the Argos and in the USFL, before turning to pro wrestling passed away at 64
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Post by jimsteel on Mar 18, 2023 21:41:59 GMT -5
Frank Thomas, Power-Hitting Original Met, Dies at 93 His 34 home runs and 94 runs batted in were among the few accomplishments worth celebrating on a team that famously went nowhere in 1962.
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Post by TTX on Mar 19, 2023 5:42:15 GMT -5
RIP Frank.
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