RIP, Mr. Beard.

:( He was only a few days away from his 91st birthday.

RIP

From the BR Bullpen page:

In July [1950], the 5'8", 165 lb outfielder smacked a home run over the 86-foot high right field grandstand wall in Forbes Field, something only accomplished by Babe Ruth, Willie Stargell, Mickey Mantle, Willie McCovey and Eddie Mathews, pretty good company for Beard.

Pretty good company indeed!

When I first began reading about minor league baseball & the old Pacific Coast League Ted Beard was one of the players who caught my attention. A small OF w\ surprising power & an excellent batting eye, in addition to the Forbes Field HR Beard also, in separate instances, hit 4 HR in a game & recorded a hit in 12 successive at-bats for the Hollywood Stars during the month of April 1953. He inspired my silliness in this thread, where I supplemented his thorough Bullpen bio with desultory look at a few others sources.

It's sad to hear the passing of another minor league star from a bygone era--the last years that it retained a semblance of autonomy--there are so few left as it is. . . .

I just picked Beard in the second round of the 1948 draft for my OOTP league.

Apparently, Beard also instigated this incredible brawl with the Hollywood Stars in 1953. Awesome photos.