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1. Willie Mayspedes Posted: March 09, 2010 at 10:26 PM (#3476014)Wow I don't remember that, was he Wieters' little league coach at the time?
Can we get a "Too soon" ruling on this?
Too Soon!
EDIT: The sigh is that a player from my youth is dead at 69.
Phil Niekro turns 71 in three weeks. I missed out on Willie Davis, but Niekro is a player from my youth.
Say what? Davis hit 295/322/427 for the Expos in '74, stole 25 bases, and earned 20 win shares. It was the standard Willie Davis season. What in the world were you expecting?
and the yearly TSN article..."Is This the Year Willie Davis Puts it All Together?"
lost 2 flyballs in the sun and then made a throwing error
Koufax can't blame Davis for this, however
Over 100 relief appearances and a Cy Young award.
Over 100 relief appearances and a Cy Young award.
Well, dude, in that case it was Jim Fanning who was DOA, not Davis.
and the yearly TSN article..."Is This the Year Willie Davis Puts it All Together?"
That goes in my mental folder along with those two classic SPORT articles: "Ed Bouchee---Slugger or Stalker?", and "Crisis Year for Choo-Choo Coleman."
I'll always remember the reference to him in Mike Shropshire's book, Seasons in Hell, in which he described Davis' unusual physical appearance. Davis had such low body fat that his veins bulged out all over his body. One teammate said he looked like the "Strange Ranger."
He was a memorable character to say the least.
Jim Kaat's 71 already. I saw him pitch once. Last year of his career in garbage relief for the Cardinals, but still.
Sentence of the day.
The oldest player I saw live was Hoyt Wilhelm. The oldest one I remember playing was Warren Spahn.
I saw Niekro pitch, also, and he was older as a player than Yogi was when I saw him.
Jim Kaat's 71 already.
So is Julio Franco, and I saw him play live just three years ago.
I think that Spahn was probably the oldest player I saw live (i.e., the one born first, not necessarily the one with the most advanced age when I saw him and excluding old-timers appearances, of course). Was there anyone older in the 1964 National League? I saw my first game in '63, while Musial was still active, but didn't see the Cardinals until '64. I also missed both Satchel Paige and Minnie Minoso in their very late appearances (which probably shouldn't count).
Yeah, I know. I remember Spahn pitching for the Giants in 1965, listening to him on the radio, but never saw him live. Wilhelm was the earliest-born player I watched live.
R.I.P.
That is interesting. What game was it?
This one.
Hank pinch hit for Frank Tepedino in the ninth with the Braves down one. Willie replaced Don Hahn in the seventh, for obvious reasons.
At that point, one could have won a whole lot of money betting that Aaron would finish up the season hitting .301, and that the Mets would be playing in the 7th game of the World Series.
Like this one.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1969-Topps-565-Hoyt-Wilhelm-PSA-8-Angels-HOF-/370336762826
(click to enlarge, if you dare)
And he pitched several more years beyond that.
My arrival to baseball coincided with Davis' down phase in the mid-late 60s, so I didn't get the effect of his roller-coaster ride. Sad news.
As for Davis, this is the final paragraph of the AP obituary:
He appeared in a few television shows, including "The Flying Nun" and "Mister Ed," usually as himself.
Which makes me wonder if that had anything to do with his problems with reality testing later in life.
Strange. There was a thread on the Strat-O-Matic forum this week about the first games posters saw live, and one poster mentioned that game, and the collision. So someone else had that as their first game. Unless that was you, also...
However, Davis spent two years playing in Japan between his 1976 season with the Padres and 1979 year with the Angels. In James's study, he would have been 155 hits short of 3,000 at the end of 1976. Had he been so close, in that alternate world, would he have gone to Japan, or would he have stayed here to get to the 3,000 hit mark? Davis had 237 hits in Japan, with one of the seasons cut short by injury...
Nope, 'twasn't me.
EDIT: nope.
I saw Fergie Jenkins (born 1942) in this game:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN198308060.shtml
Gave up two homers to Walt Terrell at Wrigley.
Cubs got a nice hand when Terrell grounded to second his third time up.
-- MWE
EDIT: I don't remember ever seeing Wilhelm in person. I must have at some point at the end of his career when he was in the NL, but I just don't remember it.
Just for levity, Julio Franco is only a year younger than Butler. (Or maybe not.)
The oldest player I remember as an active guy is probably Pete Rose.
Willie Davis was my favorite player when I was little. He was beautiful.
Hanging around Detroits Caddy Hotel in 1969, I had every Angel autograph except that cork-necked ###### who would look right through me and hobble away...without saying a word.
At some point I swear...Rosey Grier's head was about to spring into action!
I'd guess I saw Wilhelm play. I know I saw Spahn and Mays.
[...]
So is Julio Franco, and I saw him play live just three years ago.
I checked now and found that Niekro was the oldest player that I remember watching (not in person, but in terms of following baseball). And, from looking at B-R, realizing that he'll probably be that guy for a lot of people -- Niekro was the oldest player in baseball for four years.
And reading the quoted post, I realized that Franco will be that guy for a lot of fans 15-20 years younger than me.
If we venture into the minors, the oldest former MLB player I ever saw live was probably Denny McLain, getting beat up for the Shreveport team circa, I suppose, 1972. (Not sure about future MLB players from that general era. Hector Cruz?)
If not, but you count being a babe-in-arms at a big league park: John Roseboro (or maybe Dick Hall)
If you want the oldest player I saw at a big league game that I was cognizant of attending : Gaylord
I'll assume this was the episode where Ed was phoning in tips to the struggling Dodgers, which resulted in Ed running the bases at Dodger Stadium and sliding at home.
a youtube clip of that is linked in #12
the oldest guy I saw live was Ellis Kinder (b 1914)--I had no idea he was that old until I looked him up
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