Wow, what sad news. There goes one of the most unique offensive players there is.

RIP Mr. Yost

RIP Eddie--he had an ISO OBP (OBP-AVG) of .150--higher than Teddy Ballgame (unfair comparison because of William's much higher AVG)

The last and walkingest of the Walking Eddies.

RIP.

A unique feature of his times was the rise of the whole group of players who are the "Eddies" in my mind: Eddie Yost, Eddie Joost, Eddie Stanky, Ferris Fain, Roy Cullenbine, and so on. And Eddie Yost was the best of them.

Edit: or what SoSH U said.

Mr. Yost coached for the Mets for a number of successful seasons, as well. My condolences to the Yost family and friends.

And Eddie Lake.

It's hilarious that people still sometimes talk as if no one in baseball knew the value of a walk until Rob Neyer got a column.

For more than a decade, DC talk radio host Phil Wood has closed his shows by saying "Eddie Yost", which when said quickly sounds as if he were saying "Adios". Don't know if he'll continue to do so now that Mr. Yost has passed on.

I'm glad Eddie lived long enough to see a first-place Washington team.

No "The Walking Dead" jokes yet?

Too soon, I guess.

By my quick check, Eddie Yost was 7th in career isoOBP at .140. Behind Max Bishop, Gene Tenace, Jack Crooks, Barry Bonds, Eddie Stanky and Bill Joyce.
I've always been fascinated by these types. I always think of Roy Thomas as the epitome of this type of player, but his isoOBP is only .123. However, Thomas does have the biggest career difference between isoOBP and ISO, of .080.

Ah, too bad. A fun player to look at.

All players with OBP > 1.5*BA

What's up with all the Eddies on that list?

I would love it if someone could provide some historical context for the Walking Eddies. How was their offensive strategy discussed at the time, for example? And hell, how did they do it? Could a banjo hitter in 2012 rack up 150 walks?

Most of the Eddies weren't really "banjo hitters," in context, is the thing. Yost had good power, severely masked by playing in Washington. Joost had good power, Lake had what you'd call "odd home run" power. The exception is Stanky, who was probably a bit shorter than his listed 5'8" and just hard to throw a strike to; and even Stanky's power was OK when he got to play for the Giants late in his career. I think you didn't want to make a mistake to any of them, and they'd refuse to swing at balls, so they had you either way.

Max Bishop played in a different era and is harder to explain. He was the leadoff batter for the 1929 A's, for instance, batting .232 with no power in front of much of the Hall of Fame. Why you would throw him something off the plate is hard to figure. But he was a small guy, too. Time was, that was an advantage in baseball (and time not so long ago; it explains some of Joe Morgan's success).