Gone…
Bygone baseball: The unfamiliar, the unusual, the dramatic
By C. Philip Francis
Here are but a few of those who left us during in the year 2000. Some you may recall, some you may not, but at one time they all played the game.
---ELLIS CLARY was born in Valdosta, Georgia in 1916, and died on June 2, 2000 at his home in Valdosta at the age 83 of heart problems. His four ML seasons occurred in the War World II years, 1942 with Washington and the next three with the St. Louis Browns. Ellis appeared in the 1944 all-St. Louis World Series with one at-bat. He was one of the best utility men in the game, and recently entertained the remaining Browns players and their fans at the annual team reunions held the past few years..
---FAYE THORNBERRY was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1931, and died last April in Collierville, Tennessee at the age of 69. He saw limited outfield play during his eight years with the Red Sox, Senators, and Angels from 1952 through 1961, and lacked the home run power by his brother Marvelous Marv who became famous for his deadpan acting seen in many beer commercials.
---CARDEN GILLENWATER was born in Riceville, Tennessee in 1918, and lost his fight with Lou Gehrig’s Disease in May at the age of 81. In his five-ML seasons from 1940 to 1948, Carden performed for the Cardinals, Dodgers, Braves, and Senators. At the age of 15 he was watching a New York Yankees exhibition game in Knoxville from an elm tree limb when he barehanded snagged a Babe Ruth home run, a forerunner of his defensive savvy. In 1946 Carden tied a ML outfield record of 12 putouts in one game.
---JOANNE WEAVER of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and a member of the Fort Wayne (IN) Baseball Hall of Fame died in her home of ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in Metropolis, Illinois on March 19, 2000 at the age of 64. She was a star outfielder for the Fort Wayne Daisies in the 1950’s, and won three consecutive batting titles from 1952-54. Joanne was one of three sisters who played in the league. Jean is living, and Betty died in 1998 also of ALS.
---HARRY TAYLOR, a teammate of Jackie Robinson in the 1940’s, died in Terre Haute, Indiana on November 5 at the age of 81. Brooklyn brought up the right-handed pitcher for four games in 1946, and then had his best ever season when he won 10 and lost 5 for the pennant-winning Dodgers. Few may recall that Harry was the starting pitcher for Brooklyn in the famous World Series fourth game. Taylor, however, was yanked after facing only four batters because of a sore arm. The Yankees’ Bill Bevens took the potential first-ever Series no-hitter into the ninth with two out before Cookie Lavagetto doubled in two runs for a Flatbush victory. Taylor never won more than four games in one season during his remaining pitching seasons, and finished his career with a 19-21 record.
---After a modest ten-year career with the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers as backup catcher in the 1920’s and ‘30’s, CLYDE SUKEFORTH found himself closely involved in four of baseball’s historical events: 1. Recommended Jackie Robinson to be the first black professional player in this century; 2. Was in the Dodger bullpen and suggested reliever Ralph Branca pitch to Bobby Thomson; 3. Was the Brooklyn manager for Robinson’s first Major League game in 1947; 4. And was sent by the Pirates for report on pitcher Joe Black, but instead sent back raves on a 20-year old Puerto Rican outfielder named Roberto Clemente. Clyde was born in Washington, Maine on November 30, 1901, and served as a Dodger coach for many years. Brooklyn’s Branch Rickey had sent Sukeforth to scout Robinson who was then playing for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues. The young black shortstop was out of the game because of a shoulder injury, but was recommended anyway after an impressive meeting with the Dodger coach.
Prior to the ’47 season Dodger manager Leo Durocher was suspended by the commissioner. Burt Shotten was to take over the team, but before he could arrive Sukeforth was the interim skipper for the first two games. He won both, and remains one of the few managers to have a perfect managerial record (2-0).
Sukey retired back to his home in Maine where he lived until his death in September 3, 2000 at age of 98.
---Former Astro and Padre shortstop ANDUJAR CEDENO died in a two-car accident in the Dominican Republic last September at the age of 31. He became the second MLer to die in a car crash in the same area. Jose Oliva had two years with the Braves and Cardinals before losing his life in a 1998 automobile accident.
---WILLARD NIXON was called the “Yankee Killer”. He had a nine-year ML career from 1950-1958 with the Boston Red Sox, and it was over the years of 1954-’55 Nixon beat the Yanks six games in a row to earn the engaging nickname. Willard was born at Taylorsville, Georgia in 1928, and died December 10 in Rome, Georgia at the age of 72.