During this past calendar year of 2023, the Major League Baseball community lost several important figures. Among their number were 108 men who at one time or another pulled on a uniform and took the field with a big-league club, including one of the greatest Hall of Fame players of all-time.
Brooks Robinson (86) was one of the greatest defensive players in the history of the game. He spent his entire 23-year career with the Baltimore Orioles, including the final 14 exclusively as their third baseman. Robinson won a record 16 Gold Gloves at the hot corner, was an 18x American League All-Star (MVP of the 1966 Midsummer Classic) and was the 1964 AL Most Valuable Player. He helped lead the Orioles to five AL East Division crowns, four American League pennants, and a pair of World Series championships and was the MVP of the 1970 Fall Classic. Robinson is enshrined at the Baseball Hall of Fame after being voted in on the first ballot in the class of 1983.
Tim McCarver (81) enjoyed a 21-year big-league career and is one of just 31 players to appear in four different decades. One of baseball’s best catchers in the mid-1960’s, McCarver was a 1966-67 National League All-Star as part of a dozen seasons spent with the Saint Louis Cardinals. He was runner-up for the 1967 NL MVP honors and won the World Series with the Cards in 1967 and Philadelphia Phillies during his final 1980 campaign. On retiring, McCarver became one of the most beloved broadcasters in the history of the game. He is enshrined at the Baseball Hall of Fame as winner of the 2012 Ford C. Frick Award.
The Oakland Athletics won three consecutive World Series titles during a dynastic run in the early-1970’s and two of the stalwarts of those clubs, pitcher Vida Blue (73) and third baseman Sal Bando (78), each passed away this year.
Blue won 209 games over 17 seasons in the big leagues. With Oakland, he was the 1971 American League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award winner in helping the club to the first of three straight World Series crowns. That was the first of six All-Star campaigns for the southpaw. Bando was a 4x AL All-Star with Oakland and finished among the top four in American League MVP voting three times, including as runner-up to Blue in 1971.
In 1960, Frank Howard (87) won the National League Rookie of the Year Award as a corner outfielder with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Traded to the Washington Senators of the American League as part of a seven-player deal in December 1964, Howard became one of the AL’s most feared sluggers. He averaged 43 homers per season over a four-year stretch 1967-70 and was an AL All-Star 1968-71.
Dick Groat (92) was the National League Most Valuable Player with the Pittsburgh Pirates 1960 World Series championship team and an 8x National League All-Star. Groat, who spent most of his career as a shortstop, finished third in 1952 NL Rookie of the Year voting before losing two full seasons to U.S. military service in Korea.
As a rookie in 1962, Joe Pepitone (82) won a World Series ring with the New York Yankees. Over his first three seasons the Yankees won the American League pennant each year and Pepitone became a 3x All-Star and 3x Gold Glove Award-winning first baseman during the 1960’s. He spent the first eight of a 12-year MLB career with the Bronx Bombers.
A 1969 expansion team, the San Diego Padres were one of baseball’s worst teams over their first decade. That was no fault of Nate Colbert (76), who was an NL All-Star from 1971-73. The powerful first baseman averaged 30 homers per season over five years from 1969-73 for those early Padres clubs.
Utilizing one of the best knuckleballs in the history of the game, Tim Wakefield (57) carved out a 19-year big-league career. The right-hander won an even 200 games, 186 over his final 17 years with the Boston Red Sox. He finished third in 1995 AL Cy Young voting in Boston and made his lone AL All-Star squad in 1992 at age 42.
Dick Hall (92) also pitched in 19 big-league seasons, winning the World Series as a key righty relief pitcher with the Baltimore Orioles in 1966 and 1970. Hall began his career as an outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1952. Recognizing his strong arm, the Bucs began using Hall on the mound by 1955 and he spent a couple of seasons as a two-way player before converting to the mound full-time starting in 1957.
Two of the games most beloved local play-by-play broadcasters, Jim Price (81) of Detroit and Mike Shannon (83) of Saint Louis, passed away this year. Price was a backup catcher with the Tigers in the late-60’s and early-70’s, including their 1968 World Series champions, then broadcast their games for three decades. Shannon won two World Series and three pennants with the Cardinals during the mid-1960’s before becoming a broadcaster and spending a total of more than a half-century with the organization.
The owner and chairman of the San Diego Padres, Peter Seidler (63), passed away in November. Seidler was grandson of legendary Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley, and his mother and uncle then inherited that club from O’Malley. Seidler was part of a group that purchased the Padres back in 2012 and became controlling owner in 2020.
Each year when I do these pieces, I like to highlight the career of someone who was barely a blip on the MLB radar. This year that player is Bill Schlesinger (81) who received just one big-league plate appearance with the Boston Red Sox in 1965. His black and white picture accompanies this piece as the featured image.
Schlesinger grew up in Cincinnati, the son of a hardware store owner who employed several big-league ballplayers during the off-season. This allowed him to meet Reds players including Gus Bell and Ted Kluszewski.
Signed by Boston out of the University of Cincinnati in 1963, Schlesinger had a big year in the minor leagues in 1964 and made the Bosox roster out of spring training in 1965. In the 15th game of the season on May 4 at Dodger Stadium, Boston manager Billy Herman finally gave the 23-year-old his chance.
With the Red Sox trailing the host California Angels by 5-0 in the top of the 6th inning, Schlesinger led off the frame as a pinch-hitter for pitcher Dave Morehead. Facing southpaw Marcelino Lopez, who would finish runner-up in the AL Rookie of the Year voting that year, Schlesinger grounded back to the pitcher for an easy out.
While with the Phillies’ Triple-A farm club at Eugene in 1970, Schlesinger was hit in the face by a pitch. The injury caused serious, permanent vision loss, ending his playing career. Schlesinger would take over his father’s hardware business in 1972, running the business through 2008.
However, the injury did not end his involvement with the sport. From 1971 through 1996, Schlesinger starred as a slow-pitch softball player, eventually becoming honored as a member of the Greater Cincinnati Softball Hall of Fame.
May all these men and the dozens of others lost to us this past year who contributed to the enjoyment of Major League Baseball for millions of fans over recent decades rest in peace.
PREVIOUS MEMORIAL PIECES
2022 – John Sanders, Anthony Varvaro, and those baseball lost in 2022
2021 – Memo Luna and those baseball lost in 2021
2020 – Phillies said goodbye to some memorable pieces of their history in 2020
MATT VEASEY 