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Friday, January 25, 2013

Ed Bouchee dies at 79

RIP…Ed Bouchee.

From big man on campus at Lewis and Clark High School to big-league first baseman, Ed Bouchee built an oversized reputation as one of the area’s all-time finest athletes.

Bouchee, who lived in retirement in Gilbert, Ariz., died Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix. He was 79. He had outlived a brush with infamy to play seven seasons of major league baseball, enjoy a long industrial career and reap the rewards of enduring friendship.

Suffering from the effects of diabetes, Bouchee had been hospitalized for several weeks, according to former pitcher Jack Spring, his longtime friend and former teammate.

...In 1957, Bouchee became Philadelphia’s regular first baseman. He batted .293 and hit 17 home runs. Although the official vote favored his teammate, pitcher Jack Sanford, The Sporting News named Bouchee its N.L. Rookie of the Year.

Acclaim abruptly gave way to disgrace.

On Jan. 17, 1958, Spokane police arrested Bouchee after he was accused of exposing himself to schoolgirls. He pled guilty to two counts of indecent exposure involving children and underwent psychiatric treatment. By July he rejoined the Phillies for the rest of the season.

 

Repoz Posted: January 25, 2013 at 03:12 PM | 12 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
  Tags: cubs, mets, phillies

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   1. Mefisto Posted: January 25, 2013 at 03:38 PM (#4355024)
Willie Mays said in one of his biographies that possibly the greatest catch he ever made was on a ball hit by Bouchee.
   2. Martin Wolman Posted: January 25, 2013 at 05:54 PM (#4355123)
Ed Bouchee cost me a lot of money back in 1957, although it was at a rate of only 5 cents a pop:

I had the entire 1957 Topps Baseball Card Set, except for Ed Bouchee, who was on one of the Checklist Cards. I kept buying more packs of cards trying to luck out until I realized that NO ONE had an Ed Bouchee card! His card was apparently pulled by Topps after the checklist was created, but before the cards were printed.

Needless to say, back in those days, information was hard to come by, and Ed's indecent exposure problems were not well known in Brooklyn.

I can now forgive him, especially since I foolishly threw out the entire set some time in the 60's!
   3. Martin Wolman Posted: January 25, 2013 at 06:02 PM (#4355134)
Dupe post
   4. Howie Menckel Posted: January 25, 2013 at 06:04 PM (#4355136)

the 1958 card, you mean

consider your collection complete
;)

http://cardsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2011/11/1958-topps-145-ed-bouchee.html

   5. Martin Wolman Posted: January 25, 2013 at 06:16 PM (#4355143)
Thank you, Howie. And yes, it was 1958.
   6. The Chronicles of Reddick Posted: January 25, 2013 at 07:08 PM (#4355170)
Sounds like he was the Lance Rentzel of his time.
   7. Benji Posted: January 26, 2013 at 05:59 AM (#4355350)
Another 1962 Met bites the dust.
   8. neilsen Posted: January 27, 2013 at 12:41 PM (#4355929)
Willie Mays said in one of his biographies that possibly the greatest catch he ever made was on a ball hit by Bouchee.[/quote Indeed, the catch was described in an early bio written By Charles Einstein. Double header against the Cubs in 1960. Mays made the catch in the first game of the double header which the Giants lost. In the second game, Mays went from 1st to home on a single to right to score the winning run in the ninth.
   9. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship Posted: January 27, 2013 at 01:35 PM (#4355963)
Willie Mays said in one of his biographies that possibly the greatest catch he ever made was on a ball hit by Bouchee.[/quote Indeed, the catch was described in an early bio written By Charles Einstein. Double header against the Cubs in 1960. Mays made the catch in the first game of the double header which the Giants lost. In the second game, Mays went from 1st to home on a single to right to score the winning run in the ninth.

With an assist of an error by the second baseman that let Mays score an unearned run. Goddam BB-Ref. takes the romance out of baseball, doesn't it?
   10. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship Posted: January 27, 2013 at 01:38 PM (#4355967)
Only three things I can remember being said about Ed Bouchee during his entire career:

--- A Baseball Digest article called "HOO-RAY BOO-SHAY"

--- "Ick! A pervert!"

--- "Well, at least it wasn't a boy. We'll give him another chance."
   11. Tom Nawrocki Posted: January 27, 2013 at 02:34 PM (#4355992)
I always got him confused with Eddie Waitkus.
   12. neilsen Posted: January 27, 2013 at 02:49 PM (#4355997)
#9, there is a description of the play in the same book. Mays was going and "flustered" the 2nd baseman....who made a bad throw up the line. . So it seems he forced an error. Romance intact.

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