Yellowdog

[Captain Cold Nose]

Sadly, here is some information about longtime Braves Moderator yellowdog.

Posted per request of Atlanta Braves Freak, from a letter to Sean.

Dear webmaster,

Per his instructions, I am typing this message on behalf of my father, John Stricklin, who is known at this message board by the username, Yellowdog. Several weeks ago he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor which was unoperatable. Since then his condition has deteriorated much faster than we thought it would. He has been in severe pain and heavily medicated. On one of has last "good" days and before he was moved to a hospice center, he instructed me on how to contact you through this site. He asked that I explain to you why he has disappeared from this site and why he will not be returning. He also wanted me to ask that you to be so kind as to pass this information on to a member by the name of "Baseball guru." He also wanted to say to you how much he has enjoyed this site and wishes you and all your members the best of luck.

I apologize for not getting to you this sooner, but as you can probably imagine, our lives have been turned upside down by this. But I'm trying to fullfill as many of his last wishes as possible, and this was one of them. Thank you very much.

Sincerely, Johanna Stricklin



Please keep our good friend in your thoughts and prayers.

[MetsFan11368]

I read this e-mail on another board and it totally crushed me. I am at a complete loss of words.

[Knick9]

h

He will be missed, especially for BBF Braves fans.

+ (without smile)

[Baseball Guy Rob]

Keep fighting Yellowdog!!!

[Perseas]

God... I don 't know what to say... He was probably the most well mannered, frinedly and polite poster in this forum. As for the human being.. My prayers are with him and his family and friends... I am really crushed... Sadly it's all the good people in this world that are hit by things like this...

[Go Bravos!!!#1]

yellowdog has been a devoted and insightful baseball fan and he will surely be missed by this poster. and others also

[ATL22]

Man, that's just rough. What can you say. Yellowdog, it's not been the same without you around here. My prayers are with you and your family.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Awefull.

When you read things like this, you realize that there are things in live much more important than baseball.

I wish Yellowdog and his family all the strength they need for the times to come. I really hope that the doctors can reduce his pain to a minimum.

[atlbravesfan]

I was wondering what happened to him, he was always on here. Missed his comments. Sad to hear the news. All our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

[shlevine42]

Two years ago, Yellowdog posted a public greeting wishing me a happy birthday.

I thanked him in a PM, and he answered me with this:

You know, Steve, I enjoy the Brooklyn Dodger forum more than any other one here at BBF. I actually spend more time there than I do in my own forum. I wish I had more to contribute, but the Dodgers time in Brooklyn preceded my baseball memories by about a year. So while I don't have any actual recollection of them and I have never been an L.A. Dodger fan (though I did love Sandy Koufax) I have always had a fascination with the whole Brooklyn Dodger mystique and the special relationship that existed between that team and their fans.

But all my knowledge of those great days comes from what I read in books and been told by people that actually experienced it. And I've never found a greater source of information, insight and things you just won't learn anywhere else than in the Brooklyn forum. I want to thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge and memories with those of us who weren't fortunate enough to ever experience anything like that, or even remember those times.

I have great admiration for all the Brooklyn fans here like you, DODGER DEB, jaykay and ALL. I only wish our fans were half as passionate about the Braves as you guys are about the team that was unjustly stolen from you nearly a half century ago.

Sincerely, John

In light of the sad news about his illness, I wanted to share his personal note as a tribute to his civility and decency.

I wish I'd known him better. And longer.

[Go Bravos!!!#1]

amen to thath Great Post

[donzblock]

Yellowdog: such a decent human being and such a gentleman. He is polite, knowledgeable, interesting, and always very humble. His team wins every year, and yet Yellowdog is happy simply because he has been lucky enough to see one world's championship. Such a feeling is only too understandable, but Yellowdog deserves much more. Most of us have only met Yellowdog in print, but his written words clearly reveal what a wonderful person he is. "Yellowdog" is probably a name an author would give to a villain, but all of us here who have corresponded with him know that he is a true hero. This illness is devastating and terribly, terribly sad. It would be wonderful and right if this malignancy would simply disappear.

[Baseball Guru]

A great man indeed!

John is a person that I have "met" online that I have the highest respect for. I met him at this site and I really took to him and his knowledge of baseball. We became friends and he even helped me moderate the trivia forum at my site.

I sent his daughter an email a few weeks ago and would like to share with you all her response to me:

Dear James,

Thank you for your letter. It has been touching that so many people from
the baseball-fever site have taken time to express their concern. I have a
totally new appreciation for internet chat forums which, prior to this, I
never held in very high regard. But the members at this forum seem to be a
real genuine group of very good people. I understand now why he enjoyed it
so much.

Without going into a lot of detail and technical jargon, my dad's conditon
is not good. Last summer, he began having headaches that got progressively
worse. He has always been in perfect health and took excellent care of
himself, therefore never went to the doctor. He told me many times that the
three people in this world he didn't trust were doctors, lawyers and
preachers. So he was reluctant to go in this instance. When it finally got
so bad that he had to go, basically, it was too late.

He has been resting comfortably but the prognosis is not good. In fact, he
has already hung on longer than we expected. He has been heavily medicated and shows little or no emotion. But it appears to me that he has attempted to smile when I've read him the all letters, including yours, from the baseball-fever people.

Thank you again for you concern. Although he failed to contact you
personally, I'm sure that the reason he asked me to mention you to the
baseball-fever webmaster was so he could contact you on his behalf. And
please know that even if he hasn't been able to comprehend all the messages
he has recieved, that I have personally taken a lot of comfort in all the
kind words that so people have had to say about him.

Sincerely,
Hanna


Isn't it amazing that the game of baseball can bring so many people together and along with the internet can bring so many new friends? Just the fact that he asked his daughter to contact us (people he only knows because of baseball and message boards) during this whole ordeal is just amazing and incredibly touching.

Again, even if he isn't comprehending all of our messages, we actually are n our own little way, giving comfort to his daughter. I truely feel blessed to have been able to "meet" such a great guy like John as well as many other members at this site and other sites i have been to over the years. It really is, an amazing world we live in

[otis89]

I really don't know what to say. It's such a shame we're losing some of our best members.

[RBi]

Otis, I second that, Yellowdog was a role model to us all here.

He will be missed my thoughts go out to his entire family, at such a hard time in their lives.