Last year at about this time I wrote that Bruce Dal Canton was the 75th Greatest Royal of All-Time. He was by all accounts a well-liked teammate, and loved to teach, not only on the ballfield, but he was literally a teacher when the Pirates gave him a try out in 1965.

RIP Bruce.

Condolences.

But I can't resist ...

51-49, 3.67. Not shabby.

would make a great gravestone eh? :-)

Then some stathead jerk would come along and add the ERA+ and VORP.

Then some stathead jerk would come along and add the ERA+ and VORP.

The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones;

51-49, 3.67. Not shabby.

would make a great gravestone eh? :-)

If I could put that on my gravestone, I absolutely would.

If you put that on your gravestone, it would be far from the most dishonest thing I've seen on 'em.

Myrtle Beach Online story. Dal Canton was the only pitching coach that the revived Myrtle Beach franchise had until this summer, when he was forced to take a leave of absence to deal with the cancer. He was very popular with the young Brave pitchers who passed through there.

-- MWE

A couple of notes from the back of Bruce Dal Canton's 1973 Topps card:

*He worked as a biology teacher during the off-season. (How many other guys now, or even back then, would have had that as an off-season job?)

*His greatest thrill in baseball was striking out Willie Mays with the bases loaded, a major component to his first major league save. That's a pretty good thrill.

As I recall, Dal Canton had a pretty good knuckleball. And as Mike said, he was an excellent teacher of young pitchers who developed a real rapport with youngsters in the Braves' system.