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______ Passed Away Today, RIP (1 Viewer)

hagmania said:
RIP John Thompson

He was 78.
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I grew up in the area and its hoops culture in the '70s and early 80s. This one hurts my heart.

I remember first realizing he had something going in the late 70s when Georgetown would start getting games on the local independent TV channels. Bebe Durham, Big Sky Shelton, Tom Skates are all names I remember from those teams...... I loved the way they played. I was, and am, a Maryland fan - but Thompson was starting to eat into Lefty's area dominance. 

Then he landed Sleepy Floyd, out from under Lefty & Dean, and went to an Elite 8. THEN he got Ewing, and started a pipeline of the best HS players out of Baltimore (whose coaches were all pissed at Lefty for supposedly mistreating Ernie Graham). 

The rest, every college hoops fan knows.

John Thompson walked his talk. He was proven more right by history than those who disagreed with him.

I remember him saying at his retirement announcement "How about this ol' racist John Thompson promoting a white boy to replace him?"

His radio show was funny. He had Doc Walker and...... crap, maybe Al Galdi? - on it. Whenever his co-hosts wanted to break him down a little, they'd just say "Harold Jensen" and Thompson would get flustered and mutter "I don't want to hear about no Harold Jensen. Why are you bringing him up?".

 
A large part of me growing up in the early 80s involved watching professional wrestling.  I got to go to Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham a few times to watch Bullet Bob Armstrong and some of his sons sometimes.  He was always the hero, never the heel (at least that I remember).  RIP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80oFVgLMn9k

 
I’m probably one of the few people who thinks of Seaver as a Red. Started watching baseball in ‘80 and my whole family were Reds fans. 

 
Probably my first sports hero. The first game I ever went to at Shea, he was the pitcher. 

:( RIP to "The Franchise"

 
NREC34 said:
I’m probably one of the few people who thinks of Seaver as a Red. Started watching baseball in ‘80 and my whole family were Reds fans. 
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A friend of mine became a Reds fan when they traded Seaver and he still is to this day.

 
NREC34 said:
I’m probably one of the few people who thinks of Seaver as a Red. Started watching baseball in ‘80 and my whole family were Reds fans. 
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So, I grew up back in the 70's and 80's in NE Ohio.  Back then, before cable, we somehow were able to get channels from miles and miles away.  We got all the Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburgh and West Virginia channels.  One of those was WCMH out of Columbus, I recall watching A LOT of Cincinnati Reds baseball with Marty and Joe and I too will always think of Tom Seaver as a Red.

RIP Tom - he was definitely one of the all time greats!

 
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The first baseball card I remember that I wouldn’t trade...

 he and Christy Mathewson are the only pitchers to record 300 wins, 3,000 strikeouts and an ERA below 3.00. Seaver's 16 Opening Day starts is a Major League record.

 
1973 World Series - I was 8 years-old and camping out at a cool, hazy Lake Cachuma fishing and listening to the World Series on a portable, leatheresque-bound radio.  I don't remember cheering for either the Mets or A's, but regardless it felt like magic.

 
At the time of his election to the HOF, Seaver had the highest % of first-ballot votes, because everyone liked him and his importance to the game was undeniable. Only the curmudgeons who turn in blank ballots or refuse to vote for first-ballot players didn't vote for him. 

 
Red Hot Tamales said:
1973 World Series - I was 8 years-old and camping out at a cool, hazy Lake Cachuma fishing and listening to the World Series on a portable, leatheresque-bound radio.  I don't remember cheering for either the Mets or A's, but regardless it felt like magic.
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I believe this is the WS they pitched Seaver on 3 days rest and ended up losing if I am remembering right from the documentary I watched about Seaver maybe a year ago. 

 
The reason I became an Expos fan is because I saw my first MLB game at Jarry Park in Montreal when I was 5. I was too young to really remember anything about the game at the time, but my dad told me years later that Seaver pitched for the Mets that night.

Thanks to first Retrosheet, and later Baseball Reference, I was able to go back and find the game and confirm it. So I "saw" him pitch live, but I never really got to appreciate him other than in All-Star Games or the odd appearances on the old ABC's Monday Night Baseball.

RIP to the original Tom Terrific.

 
Jim Palmer - no shrinking violet when it comes to talking about how good he was - said Seaver was the best pitcher of his (Palmer's) generation.

 
I remember one time in Vegas, it was during the summer time and I guess this was when the NBA was having its summer leagues or whatever, and I saw a bunch of players like John Starks, etc... and for some reason John Thompson was there too.  Saw him in that Irish-themed casino, sitting his massive body down at a slot machine with a huge bucket of quarters (or maybe they were silver dollars).  

That's my John Thompson story.  May he RIP, what a legend.

 
Brock stats vs. Seaver, pitcher he faced the most 
 

157 PA
38 Hits (10 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR)
4 BB
21 K
9 RBI
1 HBP
.250/.274/.362

 
Joe Summer said:
Baseball great Lou Brock has died at the age of 81.

He was a bit before my time, but I wore one of his signature gloves when I was a kid so I became a fan for that reason alone.
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Exact. Same. Thing!  My grandfather gave me a Lou Brock baseball glove when I was a kid.  Was it a Franklin (Rawlings or Wilson???) at any rate what I recall most is my grandfather showing me how to break it in and then playing with that glove into Little League when I eventually grew out of it.   Only later in life did I realize just how great of a baseball player Lou Brock was. . . even though I hated and still hate the Cardinals. . . sorry Grandpa but Go Reds!!! (He was a big Pirates fan.)

 
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El Floppo said:
Just lost two friends parents today as well. And my uncle Albert, who lost his wife, my aunt Arlene, last month, is telling my mom he wants to die. :(
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I can't fathom that kind of loss, either. Best to your Uncle Albert and wishes sent that he may find a way to cope with the grief.

 
Joe Summer said:
Mike Sexton. Some know him by name, others know him only as the voice of poker tournaments.

Dead at 72 from prostate cancer.
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Wow, it seemed like I was just watching one of his tournaments. 

The voice of the World Poker Tour.  :(

 
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Mr. Mojo said:
Wow, it seemed like I was just watching one of his tournaments. 

The voice of the World Poker Tour.  :(
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more than the voice - the reason there are poker tours, if not poker rooms

i was a road player when the only real tournaments were WSOP and Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker up in Tahoe (hold em was only legal in Nv then), and Mike & Tom McEvoy were always yammering on about using tournament poker to open the country to poker rooms. i mean, we all knew it was gonna be bigger someday, but it was actually 20 years in evolution, mostly by Sexton's hard work and belief. everyone who's seen a flop owes Mike Sexton a nod. RIP -

 
wikkidpissah said:
more than the voice - the reason there are poker tours, if not poker rooms

i was a road player when the only real tournaments were WSOP and Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker up in Tahoe (hold em was only legal in Nv then), and Mike & Tom McEvoy were always yammering on about using tournament poker to open the country to poker rooms. i mean, we all knew it was gonna be bigger someday, but it was actually 20 years in evolution, mostly by Sexton's hard work and belief. everyone who's seen a flop owes Mike Sexton a nod. RIP -
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Met him a few times at WSOP.  Always so incredibly nice.  Sad day for poker fans.

 
Joe Summer said:
Baseball great Lou Brock has died at the age of 81.
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RIP Lou

Brock was far from a power hitter in his career - only 149 HRs among his 3023 hits. But as a rookie with the Cubs in 1962, he hit one of the longest home runs ever at the old Polo Grounds - estimated at around 475 feet.

 
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zamboni said:
RIP Lou

Brock was far from a power hitter in his career - only 149 HRs among his 3023 hits. But as a rookie with the Cubs in 1962, he hit one of the longest home runs ever at the old Polo Grounds - estimated at around 475 feet.
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the amazing thing about the Polo Grounds is that there were parts of it where hitting a ball 475 feet wouldnt get you out of the park. twas obvious to me as a kid that Brock could have outhit his size if that had been his job

RIP, Lou. May baseball consecrate your memory by putting Maury Wills in the HOF

 
I knew that Lou Brock played college baseball for Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA. What I didn't know is there are competing accounts of exactly he made Southern's baseball team, at least the lead-up to his tryout:

1) Tried out for baseball to make up for a lost academic scholarship.

Lou Brock didn't play baseball at all until he was 13 years old. It was actually almost an accident that the sport changed his life at Southern University.

Brock earned an academic scholarship to Southern as a math major, but he lost the scholarship after just one semester because of bad grades. So as a result, he turned to volunteering with the Jaguars baseball team.

One afternoon, coaches gave him five practice swings, and Brock smashed three home runs. It was right there that he earned a full baseball scholarship and paved the way for his 19-year Hall of Fame career from 1961-79.
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2) Hitchhiked from rural north Louisiana to try out.

A native of Collinston, a tiny farm town in north Louisiana, Brock was desperate for a better life when he hitchhiked his way to Southern.

He had no scholarship and no food money, and he begged coach Bob Lee for a tryout.

"He told us he had not eaten for four or five days, and the coaches felt pity for him and said to him, 'Lad, take a swing or two,' " said Roger Cador, later a player and legendary coach at Southern. "And his swing — he had five swings to prove his worth — and he hit a couple balls out of the park, though he was weak, he had not eaten. He hit a couple balls out of the park, and the rest was history.

"They gave him a scholarship on the spot."
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Perhaps both accounts are true -- there are several shared details.

 
wikkidpissah said:
the amazing thing about the Polo Grounds is that there were parts of it where hitting a ball 475 feet wouldnt get you out of the park. twas obvious to me as a kid that Brock could have outhit his size if that had been his job

RIP, Lou. May baseball consecrate your memory by putting Maury Wills in the HOF
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I was fortunate to sit between Lou Brock, and wife, and Ozzie Smith at a Seniors ProAm dinner in San Antonio in the early 2000’s. Ozzie was a team mate with me and Rollie Fingers with Lanny Wadkins. We ended up winning the ProAm. Ozzie was very very friendly. Rollie was all business about winning.

 
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Phil Elliott said:
I was fortunate to sit between Lou Brock, and wife, and Ozzie Smith at a Seniors ProAm dinner in San Antonio in the early 2000’s. Ozzie was a team mate with me and Rollie Fingers with Lanny Wadkins. We ended up winning the ProAm. Ozzie was very very friendly. Rollie was all business about winning.
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"Another bogey - net - bird Phil!!!  You da man!!" - Ozzie.  

 
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