Where are they now?

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  • Robb Schwartz
    shalom2006
    • Mar 2006
    • 44

    #31
    sweet

    You guys are awesome...I checked out the minor league record samples that Kramer sent...good stuff...I'd love to see the big volume but may just go ahead and order the cd....$45 seems a good and reasonable investment. Nice call by Kramer.

    VI...nice work on Jim Baxes. Yes, his brother Mike played and had quite a year for Buffalo in '57 or '58 I think. But as happens to many, he had AAA credentials but couldn't translate to the bigs.

    Nice little story for you Koufax fans (and who isn't?). Last night, I attended my daughter's open house and met the husband of her teacher. Turns out he pitched in LA's low minors back in the 80's--never cracked AA but did receive some coaching from Sandy Koufax...who turns out to be true to the stories I've heard--a meek, quiet and retiring guy until he begins to talk about pitching...and then gets animated. Was pretty cool to hear that.

    Thanks again to all of you who make me feel like family here. Wish i could meet all of you.

    RS

    Comment

    • VIBaseball
      Mets/Brooklyn Dodgers fan
      • Mar 2005
      • 2600

      #32
      Ray Hathaway

      Here's a nice personal story about a man who pitched four games for Brooklyn in 1945 at age 28.

      Ray Hathaway later became a manager for quite a few years in the minor leagues. He was in the Pirates chain in the early '60s. As I was researching a capsule biography I wrote on a Pirate from that time named Elmo Plaskett, I found that Mr. Hathaway was his manager with the Asheville Tourists in 1962, and that he still lived in that area.

      The wedding of a college friend took me to Asheville in 1999, and Mr. Hathaway (we'd corresponded and then talked on the phone) agreed to come meet me at my hotel. He was age 82 at the time but drove himself over. We hung out on the porch for about half an hour, he told me stories about Elmo and other experiences, and showed me his 1960 Pirates World Series ring.

      Then he politely took his leave. What a gentleman -- I'm glad he's still with us.

      Comment

      • VIBaseball
        Mets/Brooklyn Dodgers fan
        • Mar 2005
        • 2600

        #33
        René Valdes aka René "El Látigo" Gutierrez

        I was corresponding with a friend who runs baseball tours to Cuba and is highly knowledgeable on Cuban baseball history. He asked around down there, and it is generally accepted that the only major-league vet still in the country is 94-year-old Conrado Marrero. The name Valdez did not ring a bell, and so my friend suggested that maybe he was known by another name down there.

        I looked in "The Pride of Havana" by Roberto González Echevarría, and that is indeed the case. Our man went by René Gutierrez at home, and his sidearm motion got him the nickname "El Látigo" (The Whip).

        I still hope to find out more. Meanwhile, I found this picture from a rare 1955-56 Cuban card series. See #55 in the middle row.

        Note also Chico Fernández in the upper right corner, along with a few other major-leaguers including "Vinegar Bend" Mizell.

        Attached Files

        Comment

        • Centreville82
          Registered User
          • Feb 2006
          • 126

          #34
          How about Cookie Lavagetto ? Is he still alive ?

          Comment


          • #35
            Originally posted by donzblock
            It's amazing that Mickey Owen is still with us. I don't know how he survived the Mexican League. I've got a picture of him peering out of a dugout that appears to have sunk. The roof on the dugout seems to be barely a foot higher than the ground. He appears to be trapped in the dugout and on the verge of being crushed. He was fortunate to have escaped.
            Mickey Owen is the only player that I ever sent a letter to seeking an autograph. I sent him a letter just before I got out of the Navy (he had been in the Navy also) and he was kind enough to send me a response to my parents' house two weeks later.

            Comment

            • Brownie31
              Urbi et Orbi
              • Feb 2006
              • 0

              #36
              Al Lopez

              Al Lopez was the last person who played major league baseball in the 1920s. Sad to think about! Brownie31
              Last edited by Brownie31; 03-13-2006, 07:23 AM.

              Comment

              • Robb Schwartz
                shalom2006
                • Mar 2006
                • 44

                #37
                identities

                Ok, VI...

                You win the Great Gumshoe award! Where did you come up with these? I'm hootin' and hollerin!

                Ok, I think I recognize a few others:

                #72 (lower right hand corner: Elmer Singleton?) Pitched for the Cubs as late as 1959.

                #54 (2nd row; 2nd from left--Is that Seth Morehead) another Cub?

                #21 (1st row; top left--is that Gordon Jones from the Giants and Orioles--late 50's?)

                Is there a possiblity that these players were part of the Cuban Winter Leagues which I remember being broadcast as late as 1959 or 1960??? Anyone else out there with that memory?

                We're really diggin' here, aren't we?

                Comment

                • Centreville82
                  Registered User
                  • Feb 2006
                  • 126

                  #38
                  Originally posted by Macker
                  Lavagetto died August 10, 1990 in Orinda, California.
                  OK, thanks.

                  Comment

                  • VIBaseball
                    Mets/Brooklyn Dodgers fan
                    • Mar 2005
                    • 2600

                    #39
                    That's right, Robb -- the link I posted just above the pic shows that Gordon Jones and Elmer Singleton were part of this batch of Cuban Winter League cards. Although he is called "E Morehead" in the listing, my independent check of other cards shows you're also right on Seth Morehead, who was in the Phillies chain at the time. Just to Seth's left is former Giant Adrian Zabala, who jumped to the Mexican League in 1946 along with NY teammate Nap Reyes (same row). Bill Werle and Dick Smith were also big-leaguers.

                    Comment

                    • CaliforniaCajun
                      Registered User
                      • Jul 2004
                      • 389

                      #40
                      I noticed Johnny Podres pitched 1953-55, 1957.

                      Was the World Series hero injured in 1956?

                      Comment

                      • DODGER DEB
                        BROOKLYN FOUNDER
                        • Jan 2003
                        • 2331

                        #41
                        Originally posted by CaliforniaCajun
                        I noticed Johnny Podres pitched 1953-55, 1957.

                        Was the World Series hero injured in 1956?

                        OUR 1955 World Series hero was in the US Navy in 1956. He was drafted after his glorious win!

                        c.

                        Comment

                        • Robb Schwartz
                          shalom2006
                          • Mar 2006
                          • 44

                          #42
                          Dodgers after their careers

                          This life is made of success and failures...and a lot of stuff in the middle. To that end, I'd like to start a discussion on what happened to the players after their careers. For example, Carl Erskine ended up as a banker with a son named Jimmie (a sweet loving Downs child from the stories I've read). We also know that Jackie went into several business ventures including Chock Full o' Nuts. The tragic story of Don Bessent isn't very far away from today's headlines. What are your memories...good and bad?

                          Comment

                          • kramer_47
                            Gil14HoF2011
                            • Jan 2006
                            • 600

                            #43
                            Originally posted by VIBaseball
                            Here's a nice personal story about a man who pitched four games for Brooklyn in 1945 at age 28.

                            Ray Hathaway later became a manager for quite a few years in the minor leagues. He was in the Pirates chain in the early '60s. As I was researching a capsule biography I wrote on a Pirate from that time named Elmo Plaskett, I found that Mr. Hathaway was his manager with the Asheville Tourists in 1962, and that he still lived in that area.

                            The wedding of a college friend took me to Asheville in 1999, and Mr. Hathaway (we'd corresponded and then talked on the phone) agreed to come meet me at my hotel. He was age 82 at the time but drove himself over. We hung out on the porch for about half an hour, he told me stories about Elmo and other experiences, and showed me his 1960 Pirates World Series ring.

                            Then he politely took his leave. What a gentleman -- I'm glad he's still with us.
                            I just sent him 2 photos, one for autograph and one for him, he not only autographed the photo but sent me a very nice note. In the note he said he had never saw that picture before and thanked me, he also told me he had a 30 year career managing in the minors for various teams. He seems like a very nice man and he's going to be 90 this year.
                            Lets support Gil Hodges for The Hall of Fame, a true Hall of Famer.

                            Comment

                            • kramer_47
                              Gil14HoF2011
                              • Jan 2006
                              • 600

                              #44
                              Dodgers after their careers

                              Originally posted by Robb Schwartz
                              This life is made of success and failures...and a lot of stuff in the middle. To that end, I'd like to start a discussion on what happened to the players after their careers. For example, Carl Erskine ended up as a banker with a son named Jimmie (a sweet loving Downs child from the stories I've read). We also know that Jackie went into several business ventures including Chock Full o' Nuts. The tragic story of Don Bessent isn't very far away from today's headlines. What are your memories...good and bad?
                              Don Newcombe worked for the Dodgers for years in community relations. Joe Black worked for Greyhound bus as an executive. Carl Furillo was basically blackballed from baseball by O'Malley in 1960 because Carl was hurt and fought his release from the Dodgers. Carl went into construction and helped build the World Trade Center then became a sheriff back home in Reading Pa.
                              Duke Snider and Don Drysdale became announcers, LaSorda and Zimmer never worked outside of baseball.
                              Lets support Gil Hodges for The Hall of Fame, a true Hall of Famer.

                              Comment

                              • Blackout
                                Circle of Bosses
                                • Apr 2005
                                • 4595

                                #45
                                apparently theres an old Brooklyn Dodger living in a nursing home somewhere near Bangor, Maine

                                according to my sister atleast

                                I wanna find the guy and interview him

                                Comment

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