Willie Davis, 69. Was some kind of ballplayer.
 

Saw him many times versus the Mets. He bridged two eras. He was terrific. I saw him make a catch at Shea in the late 60's I will never forget.

http://bit.ly/d6jzWx

Didn't he wear those "lamb chop" sideburns (courtesy of Elvis)?

Really good, solid ballplayer - no flaws.....

Very good defensive CF whose numbers were hampered by playing his first 8 years before they lowered the mound. His hitting numbers jumped dramatically begining in 1969, the first season with the lower mound. The current player that he most resembles is probably Curtis Granderson.

They say that foul play was not suspected in his death, but I know that it was Pro Ride that killed Wilie.

Wille could be seen on track at Santa Anita. He looked to be older that he really was and you knew his winners were far and few between.

May he rest in peace.

great player whom i saw a few times as a kid but sadly i remember him most as the guy on the downslope of his career the dodgers traded to the expo's for mike marshall (the pitcher, not the outfielder).

what a great year for the dodger front office. they also sent claude osteen and some minor leaguer to houston for jimmy wynn.

i almost miss caring about baseball when i think about how great those trades were.

Jimmy Wynn! The Toy Cannon.

God's post that dredged up Jimmy Wynn made me think for a second that it was the Toy Cannon that was involved when baseball was tracking who was going to score the 1,000,000th run in history. I thought it came down to Wynn and maybe Cesar Cedeno crossing the plate at almost the exact same time, but some research turns up the facts: It was actually Bob Watson and Davey Concepcion! (Truthfully, there isn't a whole lot seperating Bob Watson/Jimmy Wynn and Cesar Cedeno/Davey Concepcion...)

Anyway, the research to get the correct names involved turned up this terrific blog, BASEBALL MINUTIA, which I think anyone of a certain age will love.

I actually typed (on a typewriter for you youngsters here) a letter to Cesar Cedeno, when I was a young Astros fan. I sent it to him c/o the Astrodome. I never got a response, so that became my one and only attempt at contacting a professional player. Was kind of disappointing to a 8-9 year old kid....

:o

Man, you are OLD. What's a typewriter?

Seth..you'll appreciate this..only time I ever wrote an athlete was when I asked Rod Gilbert for his autograph...got a nice signed pic back in the mail.. Made my week

You're lucky he didn't seek you out during spring training some year and beat you senseless. By all accounts, Cedeno was not a pleasant guy.

That is awesome. I was a big Walter Tkaczuk fan myself. The "Human Tripod" as Bill Chadwick used to call him.

http://nyrangerslegends.blogspot.com...t-tkaczuk.html

He is so old, after he typed it on the typewriter, he sent the letter via Pony Express:eek:

As a kid, reading of his on the field exploits in The Sporting News and living 2,000 miles away, I didn't know anything about his demeanor.

You can do better than that.

I know. This cold is kicking my ass, so I'm still half out of it:wf

Being a lifelong Astros fan, I still remember the year Jimmy Wynn showed up to spring training 30 pounds overweight. What did he do during the offseason. He got a job at a brewery as a beer taster.


Too bad the Astros are going to be the Lastros for the foreseeable future.

I actually used to hand write those letters all the time, and actually got a signed picture from the great one himself Wayne Gretzky. I couldn't believe it. Then in one of the very rare dick moves my father (who I love dearly) ever pulled, he went on to tell me that Gretzky gets thousands of letters a day and probably has a secretarty that answers and signs everything he gets. Way to crush an 11 year old Pop, but I really believe that Gretzky signed it. The only thing is that I have absolutely no idea where it is.

He was the Joey Belle of his era.