Rollie Stiles is "New" Oldest Living Former Big Leaguer!

[Bill_McCurdy]

The July 30th death of former Cardinal Raymond Lee Cunningham was a sad day for all of us who knew him, but it also opened the door to the question that had to follow: Who is now the world's oldest living former major leaguer?

Thanks to Greg Lucas of FOX Sports Houston, I feel comfortable confirming what I first suspected. Greg has supplied us with a link which shows former St. Louis Brown Rollie Stiles as the new oldest living former major leaguer. - Rollie Stiles was born on November 17, 1906. He will be 99, if he survives to his 2005 birthday.

Here's the link to the list of oldest living former big leaguers ...

http://www.wa-wd.com/l_majlea.asp

Here's another link to the article written about Stiles for our St. Louis Browns website by Joan M. Thomas on November 23, 2004. ...

http://www.thestlbrowns.com/OldestLivingBrownsPlayerRemembers.html

Thanks, Greg!

[Bill_McCurdy]

Rollie's big league stats

Here's the Baseball Almanac link to the statistical career of Rollie Stiles in the big leagues. Please note that he was 100% a St. Louis Brown.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=stilero01

[westsidegrounds]

Hurray for Rollie!

Twirled a complete game shutout against the Pale Hose his last major league game.

Found a picture of him (R) with Jersey City later in his baseball career.

(Wonder if it was the Paul Richards gave him his nickname?)

[VIBaseball]

I thought it would be interesting to start compiling a list of the living Browns, similar to what's on the Brooklyn Dodgers forum.

We'll start with Rollie Stiles, who actually looks to be the second-oldest living major-leaguer based on the link Bill supplied earlier.

I've added Don Gutteridge, the other guy I recognize as a Brown from that list, plus the living members of the 1953 squad. I know baseball-reference.com isn't always right up to today with its updates, so maybe some men have recently paased.

I welcome anyone who wants to help me chip away:

Rollie Stiles
Don Gutteridge
Dick Kryhoski
Billy Hunter
Johnny Groth
Don Lenhardt
Roy Sievers
Les Moss
Neil Berry
Ed Mickelson
Jim Pisoni
Marty Marion
Babe Martin
Duane Pillette
Don Larsen
Virgil Trucks
Lou Kretlow
Bob Turley
Max Lanier

[Bill_McCurdy]

The Number is Now 65 ...

I recently researched this question for an article I wrote for the SLB newsletter Pop Flies. With the May 4th death of Jim Delsing, the number of living Browns has now shrunk to 65. I don't know how evenly the following data is going to print out to this post, but here are the names of the living Browns from oldest to youngest, along with birthdates and the ages that each man turns in 2006:

Our Living Browns, May 18, 2006 / Birth Date - Age At Birthday In 2006

1. Rollie Stiles 11/17/06 - 100
2. Elden Auker 09/21/10 - 96
3. Don Gutteridge 06/19/12 - 94
4. Ox Miller 05/04/15 - 91
5. Red Hayworth 05/14/15 - 91

6. Max Lanier 08/18/15 - 91
7. George Binks 07/11/16 - 90
8. Billy Hitchcock 07/31/16 - 90
9. Virgil Trucks 04/26/17 - 89
10. Marty Marion 12/01/17 - 89

11. Eddie Pellagrini 03/13/18 - 88
12. Frank Mancuso 05/23/18 - 88
13. Bob Malloy 05/28/18 - 88
14. Chuck Stevens 07/10/18 - 88
15. Ken Holcombe 08/23/18 - 88

16. Bob Dillinger 09/17/18 - 88
17. Fred Sanford 08/09/19 - 87
18. Tom Jordan 09/05/19 - 87
19. Tommy Byrne 12/31/19 - 87
20. Babe Martin 03/28/20 - 86

21. John Sullivan 11/02/20 - 86
22. George Elder 03/10/21 - 85
23. Dick Starr 03/22/21 - 85
24. Dee Sanders 04/08/21 - 85
25. Lou Kretlow 06/27/21 - 85

26. Al LaMacchia 07/22/21 - 85
27. Bob Savage 12/01/21 - 85
28. Neil Berry 01/11/22 - 84
29. Johnny Hetki 05/12/22 - 84
30. Ray Coleman 06/04/22 - 84

31. Jim Rivera 07/22/22 - 84
32. Duane Pillette 07/24/22 - 84
33. Don Lenhardt 10/04/22 - 84
34. Don Lund 05/18/23 - 83
35. Tom Wright 09/22/23 - 83

36. Fred Marsh 01/05/24 - 82
37. Ken Wood 07/01/24 - 82
38. Joe Lutz 02/18/25 - 81
39. Dick Kryhoski 03/24/25 - 81
40. Cuddles Marshall 04/28/25 - 81

41. Les Moss 05/14/25 - 81
42. Billy DeMars 08/26/25 - 81
43. Bill Jennings 09/28/25 - 81
44. Ned Garver 12/25/25 - 81
45. Frank Saucier 05/28/26 - 80

46. Johnny Groth 07/23/26 - 80
47. Procopio Herrera 07/26/26 - 80
48. Lou Sleater 09/08/26 - 80
49. Ed Mickelson 09/09/26 - 80
50. Don Johnson 11/12/26 - 80

51. Roy Sievers 11/18/26 - 80
52. Tom Upton 12/29/26 - 80
53. Owen Friend 03/21/27 - 79
54. Hal Hudson 05/04/27 - 79
55. Jim McDonald 05/17/27 - 79

56. Al Naples 08/29/27 - 79
57. Jake Crawford 03/20/28 - 78
58. Billy Hunter 06/04/28 - 78
59. Perry Currin 09/27/28 - 78
60. Joe DeMaestri 12/09/28 - 78

61. Bud Thomas 03/10/29 - 77
62. Don Larsen 08/07/29 - 77
63. Jim Pisoni 08/14/29 - 77
64. Bob Turley 09/19/30 - 76
65. J.W. Porter 01/17/33 - 73

Please Note: Modifications to this list are being made to this list on the new thread enitled "The Living Browns." We've already been advised Billy Hithcok died in April. If you know of others listed on "The Living Browns" thread as living who died recently, please post that info as a reply on "The Living Browns" thread and we will keep updating the list for accuracy.

With Hitchcock gone, we're down to 64 living Browns.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Brownieand45sfan]

Not Oldest Living?

Can you give us Lucas' support for this opinion? According to the wa-wd link you provide below, the oldest player is Howdy Groskloss.

The July 30th death of former Cardinal Raymond Lee Cunningham was a sad day for all of us who knew him, but it also opened the door to the question that had to follow: Who is now the world's oldest living former major leaguer?

Thanks to Greg Lucas of FOX Sports Houston, I feel comfortable confirming what I first suspected. Greg has supplied us with a link which shows former St. Louis Brown Rollie Stiles as the new oldest living former major leaguer. - Rollie Stiles was born on November 17, 1906. He will be 99, if he survives to his 2005 birthday.

Here's the link to the list of oldest living former big leaguers ...

http://www.wa-wd.com/l_majlea.asp

Here's another link to the article written about Stiles for our St. Louis Browns website by Joan M. Thomas on November 23, 2004. ...

http://www.thestlbrowns.com/OldestLivingBrownsPlayerRemembers.html

Thanks, Greg!

[Bill_McCurdy]

error

No big story here. The conclusion that Rollie Stiles was now the oldest former big leaguer was simply an error that was soon discovered, but should have been posted here. Unfortunately, real time life sometimes has a way of taking priority over what we've posted on internet forum boards. I should have gotten back here sooner to clarify the correct information that you have now posted today. I recall posting the link to the list of oldest living former big leaguers. I just never mentoned the new title holder, Howdy Groskloss, by name as the current oldest.

[mjoc]

He's the oldest now.

According to the Web site, Howdy died on 715 this year, so Stiles is now the oldest ballplayer. He'll be 100 on 11/17.