55: No Limit

Today, I turned Hideki Matsui years old. It's an age I certainly hoped to reach, but couldn't imagine myself being.

As Yogi Berra put it, "The future ain't what it used to be." And the 21st Century certainly hasn't gone the way I'd hoped it would. I wanted a world of peace, freedom, abundance and tolerance that extended to missions to Mars. Instead, I got dictators and drones. I wanted Presidents who looked forward. I got a couple. But I also got two who only looked out for themselves and their fellow rich guys.

I wanted more winning for my teams. I've gotten it. But I've also gotten some rotten stretches for them.

And I wanted my own wing of my family. That hasn't happened, and is unlikely to happen. On the other hand, aside from a current cold, my health is good, and the hip replacements have significantly reduced my pain.

The good times are never as good as we think, and the bad times are never as bad as we fear. I've gotten through a lot. I've survived a lot of crap. And I've experienced some wondrous things.

55 miles per hour is the classic legal (if not operational) speed limit for American cars. And I was never especially fast. But the age isn't going to limit everything I do. A lot of things, but not everything.

Being alive is an adventure. And, at 55, I'm not ready to bring it to a close. No matter what my opponents, from the White House to the playing fields, throw at me.

Bring it on.

December 16, 1899: Soccer Comes to Italy

Herbert Kilpin

December 16, 1899, 125 years ago: The Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club is founded in Milan, Lombardy. Its founder is an expatriate Englishman, Herbert Kilpin. It is the 1st professional soccer team in Italy.

Kilpin, a 29-year-old native of Nottingham, had played for Notts Olympic, and went to Italy to work for a textile merchant linked with his employer in Nottingham. There, he joined Internazionale FC Torino. (Both teams were defunct by 1916.) He founded the Milan club, giving it the English Cross of St. George as its crest, and shirts of red and black stripes, giving it the nickname Il Rossoneri, the Red and Black. He said, "We will be a team of devils. Our colours will be red like fire and black like the fear we will invoke in our opponents." 

He led the team to Italian titles in 1901, 1907 and 1909, and married an Italian woman, before dying from the effects of alcoholism in 1916, only 46 years old. In 1908, a dispute led to some players leaving the team, and forming a new one, Internazionale Milano, or "Inter." They chose black and blue stripes, making them Il Nerazzurri, the Black and Blue. The existing team became Associazione Calcio Milan, or "A.C. Milan," or just "Milan."

Since 1926, A.C. Milan have played their home games at a stadium in the San Siro neighborhood, and it is called "The San Siro." Inter have played there since 1947. Ironically, its official name is Estadio Giuseppe Meazza, after an Inter player who helped Italy win the 1934 and 1938 World Cups. Although it is the most famous sports venue in the country, both teams have expressed interest in replacing it, with plans being suggested that they would collaborate, or build separate stadiums.

The San Siro, prior to an AC Milan match

in the UEFA Champions League

Through the 2021-22 season, A.C. Milan have won Italy's national league, Serie A, 19 times, including in said 2021-22 season; the Coppa Italia, Italy's version of the FA Cup, 5 times, most recently in 2003;  and the European Cup/UEFA Champions League 7 times, more than any team except Real Madrid: In 1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003 and 2007.

Inter have also won Serie A 19 times, and the Coppa Italia 8, including in 2021-22. Unlike A.C. Milan, they have won the League and Cup "Double," in 2006 and 2010. They have won the European Cup/Champions League 3 times, in 1964, 1965 and 2010 -- meaning that, in 2010, they won the only "European Treble" in Italian history. (UPDATE: In 2023, Inter won a 9th Coppa Italia; in 2024, a 20th Serie A title.)

Inter's badge

Both teams trail the 30 Serie A titles won by Turin-based Juventus Football Club, and their 14 Coppi Italia, althtough both have exceeded Juve's 2 Champions League titles, of 1985 and 1996. (UPDATE: Juve won a 15th Coppa Italia in 2024.)

Calendar year 1899 was a great year for soccer, as, in addition to A.C. Milan, several other legendary clubs were founded:

* January 8: SK Rapid Wien, in Vienna, Austria.

* March 8: Frankfurter Fußball-Club Victoria von 1899, the predecessor of Eintracht Frankfurt, in Frankfurt, Germany.

* May 3: Ferencvárosi Torna Club, commonly known as Ferencváros, in Budapest, Hungary.

* May 13: Esporte Clube Vitória, in Salvador, Brazil.

* May 14: Club Nacional de Football, in Montevideo, Uruguay.

* May 27: Rangers Football Club, in Glasgow, Scotland.

* August 31: Olympique de Marseille in Marseille, France.

* November 29: FC Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain.

December 16, 1899 was also the day that British actor and playwright Noël Coward was born. 

December 15, 1944: A Big Day In "The Big One"

December 15, 1944, 80 years ago: It's a big day in World War II. Or "Double-you Double-you Two." Or "The Big One." Or, simply, "The War." As my grandmother, who lived through it, said, "Always Capital T, Capital W."

The Battle of the Bulge began. It was Nazi Germany's last stand on the Western Front. With the Allies having liberated France, and marching toward Germany itself from the West, and the Soviet Union's Red Army marching from the East, the Nazis needed a win, somewhere. On December 15, they attacked in the Ardennes Forest, which stretches over France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and even part of Germany.

They pushed forward, and formed a "bulge" in the American line, leading to the conflict being known as "The Battle of the Bulge." By the 22nd, they had the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, then stationed in Bastogne, Belgium, virtually surrounded.

One of the reasons the attack was launched when it was is that the 101st's commanding officer, Major General Maxwell D. Taylor, was away, attending a staff conference. In temporary command was Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe.

(In the Army, the Marine Corps, and, since its separation from the Army in 1947, the Air Force, A Brigadier General wears one star, a Major General two, a Lieutenant General three, a full General four, and a General of the Army five. In the Navy, the equivalent ranks are, respectively: Commodore, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral, and Admiral of the Fleet. However, the Navy discontinued the rank of Commodore in 1985.)

On December 22, the Nazi commander, General der Panzertruppe Heinrich Diepold Georg Freiherr von Lüttwitz, sent a major under a flag of truce, and delivered this message to McAuliffe:

To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.

The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Ourthe near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands.

There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note.

If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours term.

All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity.

The German Commander. 

According to those present when McAuliffe received the German message, he read it, crumpled it into a ball, threw it in a wastepaper basket, and muttered, "Aw, nuts." The officers in McAuliffe's command post were trying to find suitable language for an official reply when Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kinnard suggested that McAuliffe's first response summed up the situation pretty well, and the others agreed. The official reply was typed and delivered by Colonel Joseph Harper. It read as follows:

To the German Commander.
NUTS!
The American Commander.

The German major appeared confused, and asked Harper what the message meant. Harper said, "In plain English? 'Go to Hell.'"

The choice of "Nuts!" rather than something earthier was typical for McAuliffe. Captain Vincent Vicari, his personal aide at the time, recalled that "General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language. 'Nuts' was part of his normal vocabulary."

The artillery fire did not materialize, although several infantry and tank assaults were directed at the positions of the 327th Glider Infantry. In addition, the German Luftwaffe attacked the town, bombing it nightly. The 101st held off the Germans until the 4th Armored Division arrived on December 26 to provide reinforcement.

The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle ever to involve American troops, with 705,000 men eventually taking on a peak of 449,000 Germans. Losses: 75,000 Americans, 104,000 Germans. Among the Americans serving, and earning a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, was Warren Spahn, who would survive the war and pitch his way into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Once the American reinforcements arrived, the Nazis were doomed, both on the Western Front and overall. By January 28, 1945, they were in retreat.

A 1919 West Point graduate, McAuliffe would be awarded a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star and 2 Bronze Stars over the course of his career. After General Taylor returned, McAuliffe was given command of the 103rd Infantry Division, which liberated the Kaufering concentration camp and the Austrian city of Innsbruck. He was named Commander of the Seventh Army in 1953. In 1955, he was promoted to a full General, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army Europe. He retired in 1956, and lived until 1975.

Harry Kinnard, who recommended the response of "Nuts!", had already received the Distinguished Service Cross for his service in Operation Market Garden earlier in the year. He remained in the Army. During the Vietnam War, he came up with the "airmobile" concept: Using helicopters to send troops into battle and then get them out. He retired as a Lieutenant General, and lived until 2009.

Freiherr von Lüttwitz was captured in the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket on April 16, 1945, and was held as a prisoner of war until July 1, 1947. He was not charges with war crimes, was permitted to retire in peace, and lived until 1969.

*

Also on December 15, William D. Leahy was named the 1st Fleet Admiral, a 5-star Admiral. This makes him the 1st U.S. military officer, in any branch, to wear 5 stars. Regardless of official status, George Washington, Andrew Jackson and Zachary Taylor never wore more than 2 stars; while Ulysses S. Grant and John J. Pershing limited themselves to 4.

The next day, December 16, George C. Marshall was named the 1st 5-star General in U.S. history: "General of the Army." On December 17, Ernest J. King was named a Fleet Admiral. On December 18, Douglas MacArthur was named a General of the Army. On December 19, Chester Nimitz was named an Admiral of the Fleet. On December 20, Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower was named a General of the Army. On December 21, 1944, Henry H. "Hap" Arnold was named a General of the Army.

On December 11, 1945, after V-E Day and V-J Day, William F. "Bull" Halsey was named an Admiral of the Fleet. On May 7, 1949, Hap Arnold was made the 1st General of the Air Force. He remains the only one.

On September 22, 1950, during the Korean War, Omar Bradley was named a General of the Army, our last. Despite some calls for it, there was no promotion from 4 stars for William C. Westmoreland (Vietnam War), Colin Powell (Persian Gulf War) or Norman Schwarzkopf (also the Persian Gulf War). There has never been a 5-star General in the U.S. Marine Corps.

After World War II, it was recommended that George C. Marshall be named the 1st Field Marshal in American history. Other countries have that rank, but America doesn't. President Harry S Truman admitted that Marshall deserved it, but thought that calling him "Marshal Marshall" wouldn't be dignified. So we still don’t have the rank.

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Also on December 15, 1944, Glenn Miller, the biggest name of the "Big Band" era of music, disappeared.

Miller was a trombonist, and led The Glenn Miller Orchestra. In 1939, they had hits with "Moonlight Serenade" and "In the Mood." In 1940, he would record "Tuxedo Junction" and "PEnnsylvania 6-5000." In 1941 came "Chattanooga Choo Choo." In 1 day, May 20, 1942, he recorded "At Last" (now better known for the 1961 version by Etta James) and "(I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo."

So in a span of a little over 3 years, he recorded 7 iconic songs, which led to his band being featured in some movies. They became the biggest band of the World War II years (I'm talking about popularity, not just in number of members) -- bigger than Benny Goodman's, bigger than either Tommy Dorsey's or Jimmy Dorsey's, and (no doubt helped by the fact that he and his band were white) bigger than Duke Ellington's and Count Basie's.

Miller's career came to what was expected to be a temporary interruption when he joined the war effort. He was ready to give up a civilian income of $20,000 per week -- about $354,000 in 2024 money, or around $18.4 million a year, so it was comparable to today's biggest stars -- to put on a uniform and serve his country.

At 38, he was too old to be drafted by the U.S. Army. So he volunteered for the U.S. Navy. They told him they didn't need him. So he wrote to an Army General, suggesting that he "be placed in charge of a modernized Army band."

This was done, as he was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces, the precursor to the U.S. Air Force. This allowed his band members -- not the same ones he had in his Orchestra -- to fly to various U.S. installations and perform for their fellow troops.

On December 15, 1944, Major Glenn Miller boarded a single-engine UC-64 Norseman at Clapham, England, heading for recently-liberated Paris, where he would establish the headquarters his band intended to have for the duration of the War. With him were 2 other officers: Lieutenant Colonel Norman Baessell, who would supervise the construction of the HQ; and the pilot, Flight Officer John Morgan.

Left to right: Morgan, Miller, Baessell

The weather was bad the day before, leading to all planes being grounded. Miller was expected to be in Paris on the 16th, but on the 15th, Baessell made a guess that there would be enough of a break in the weather to fly. So the plane took off at 1:55 PM Greenwich Mean Time (8:55 AM on the U.S. East Coast).

No one was expecting the plane to arrive in Paris that afternoon, and so, when it didn't show up, no one thought to look for it. It was only when the rest of the band arrived at Paris' Orly Airport on December 18, and Miller wasn't there to meet them, that anybody realized that anything was wrong. The intended hotel was called, and Miller hadn't checked in.

It was only on December 24, Christmas Eve, that it was announced by the Army that Miller's plane was missing and presumed lost. No trace of it has ever been found. The band's deputy leader, Technical Sergeant Jerry Gray, led the band in that evening's performance in Miller's place.

Investigations turned up nothing solid, but the most common theory is that, given the weather, the plane's carburetor iced up, causing a crash that would have killed everybody on impact with the water. Suggestions of the Nazis shooting the plane down, or a horrible mistake of "friendly fire," or Miller having made it to Paris, dying in a brothel, and having the Army cover it up were dismissed as impossible.

Miller was 39, and left behind a wife and 2 children. His wife, Helen, was given a Bronze Star awarded to him 3 months later.

Today, as with some of the other bands I mentioned, a "legacy band," authorized by the Miller estate, performs the Miller catalog. Trumpeter Ray Anthony was the last surviving member of the original Glenn Miller Orchestra. On January 20, 2024, he celebrated his 102nd birthday.

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Finally, December 15, 1944 was the day the film Hollywood Canteen premiered, with an all-star cast. It was filmed at the real-life Hollywood Canteen, at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The Canteen operated between October 3, 1942, and November 22, 1945 (Thanksgiving Day), as a club offering food, dancing and entertainment for servicemen, usually on their way overseas. It was open to servicemen of allied countries, as well as women in all branches of service.

A serviceman's ticket for admission was his uniform, and everything at the canteen was free of charge. The driving forces behind its creation were Bette Davis and John Garfield, along with Jules Stein, President of Music Corporation of America.

Davis and Garfield were both in this film. So was Roy Rogers.

Rocky Colavito, 1933-2024

Athletes become icons in ways both easy and hard to understand. Rocky Colavito became an icon in Cleveland baseball first by his presence, then by his absence.

Rocco Domenico Colavito Jr. was born on August 10, 1933 in The Bronx, New York City. Being Italian-American and from The Bronx, it was easy to become a fan of both the New York Yankees and their best player at the time, Joe DiMaggio.

He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School, on East Fordham Road. Prominent TRHS graduates include baseball player Ben Oglivie; singer Dion DiMucci and all 3 of his backup singers, The Belmonts, named for nearby Belmont Avenue; actors John Garfield, June Allyson and Chazz Palminteri; and rapper French Montana. Not especially prominent, but leading TRHS to the New York City basketball championship in 1924, was George Goldberg, my grandfather. Attending the school, but not graduating, was Kiss guitarist Paul "Ace" Frehley.

Colavito did not graduate, either: He dropped out at age 16, to play semi-pro baseball. But the Yankees weren't interested in him, having Tommy Henrich in right field. Instead, the Cleveland Indians signed him in 1951. He made his major league debut on September 10, 1955. Wearing Number 38, he pinch-ran for Dale Mitchell in the top of the 7th inning, and was singled home by Bob Lemon (a pitcher who started his career as an outfielder, and could still hit), and the Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-7 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams went 3-for-5 with an RBI. For the Indians, Ralph Kiner hit a home run.

(It was Kiner's 18th home run of the season, and the 369th of his career -- and the last. He retired because of a back injury. Many years later, he and Tim McCarver were broadcasting for the Mets, and a Met player hit his 1st major league home run. McCarver said he didn't remember his first: "You'd think I would, since I didn't hit many!" Kiner said, "I don't remember my last home run, because, at the time, I didn't think it would be my last!")

Colavito became a regular the next season, and finished 2nd in the voting for the American League Rookie of the Year, behind Luis Aparicio of the Chicago White Sox. In 1958, having switched to Number 6, he batted a career-high .303, hit 41 home runs, topped 100 RBIs for the 1st time with 113, and led the AL in slugging percentage with .620. He finished 3rd in the AL Most Valuable Player voting, behind Jackie Jensen of the Boston Red Sox and Bob Turley of the Yankees.

In 1959, Colavito led the AL with 42 home runs, with 111 RBIs, making his 1st All-Star Game. On June 10, he hit a record-tying 4 home runs in a game in an 11-8 Cleveland win over the Baltimore Orioles. The Indians finished 2nd, 5 games behind the White Sox, and finishing 4th in the MVP voting, behind 3 White Sox: Nellie Fox, Aparicio and Early Wynn. It was widely believed that, had the Indians won the Pennant, Colavito would have been named the MVP.

Indians fans loved him. They loved his batting stance, where he seemed to pause his practice swing in such a way that he pointed his bat at the pitcher with both hands. (Decades later, another Cleveland slugger, Jim Thome, would bat lefthanded instead of righthanded like Colavito, and point the bat with one hand.) They loved him for hitting home runs, topping 40 in back-to-back seasons despite Cleveland Municipal Stadium being a pitcher's park. They loved him for having a rifle arm in right field, the best in the AL, at a time when Roberto Clemente had the best in the NL.

"Rocky had tremendous charisma," Herb Score, Cleveland's ill-fated star pitcher, said in an interview many years later. "Fans gravitated to him, not just because he hit home runs. Rocky relished the clutch situations. He didn't always come through, but he wanted to be the guy who took that burden on his back."

Fans began to bring signs reading, "DON'T KNOCK THE ROCK." One man who did knock the rock was Frank Lane, the Indians' general manager. He had been the GM of the White Sox from 1948 to 1955, the St. Louis Cardinals from then until 1957, and the Indians ever since.

He was known as "Trader Lane" and "Frantic Frank" for making so many trades, often for no other purpose than "to shake things up." That is never a good reason to do anything, from trading a baseball player to electing a President. The media loved him, because he was good copy. His players and managers hated him, for breaking up good teams.

On April 17, 1960, just 1 day before the Indians were set to begin a new season, Lane traded Colavito to the Detroit Tigers for Harvey Kuenn. Kuenn had led the AL with a .353 batting average in 1959, and had led it in doubles 2 years in a row. This was the 1st time the defending batting champion and the returning home run leader had been traded for each other, in either League. It remains the last. People wondered why the trade was made at all.

It has been suggested that Lane wanted to get rid of any star on the team, so as to keep salaries down. Kuenn was a good player; no one questioned that. But he wasn't as big a star as Colavito. The effect on the Indians was immediate: After going 89-65 and finishing just 5 games out of 1st place in 1959, they fell to 76-78 in 1960, 21 games behind the Pennant-winning Yankees.

"I loved Cleveland and the Indians," Colavito told The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's leading newspaper, in 2010. "I never wanted to leave."

Lane was fired as Indians GM in 1961. Charlie Finley quickly hired him to be GM of the Kansas City Athletics, and, nearly as quickly, fired him. Apparently, Finley also needed to be the center of attention, and, as the owner, he wasn't going anywhere. (Well, he was, because he wanted to move the team, but he wasn't selling.) Lane would only be a GM once more, with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1971 and 1972, and died in 1981, a baseball pariah. Bobby Bragan, who had managed the Indians in 1958, was the only baseball figure who attended his funeral, and that only because he was personally asked to do so by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

Kuenn batted .303 over a major league career that lasted from 1952 to 1966, topping at .353 in his batting title season of 1959. He was AL Rookie of the Year in 1953, led the AL in hits 4 times and doubles 3 times, and 1960 would be his 8th All-Star season. But it would also be his last, at age 29.

Harvey Kuenn

A native of the Milwaukee suburbs, he was with the Milwaukee Braves in 1965, and was the last out, a strikeout, in Sandy Koufax's perfect game for the Dodgers over the Braves. In 1971, Lane hired him as a Brewers coach. He was still on their staff in mid-season in 1982, when George Bamberger was fired as manager, and Kuenn was named manager. The heavy-hitting team had been known as "Bambi's Bombers," and were now "Harvey's Wallbangers." Kuenn led them to their 1st Pennant -- and it remains the franchise's only Pennant -- but they lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. He died of diabetes in 1988, only 57 years old.

*

The players even switched uniform numbers: With the Indians, Kuenn got Colavito's 6; with the Tigers, whose Number 6 was already worn by future Hall-of-Famer Al Kaline, Colavito got Kuenn's 7. Gabe Paul, then the GM of the Cincinnati Reds, and later the GM of the Indians and the Yankees, said, "The Indians traded a slow guy with power for a slow guy with no power."

At first, the trade worked pretty well for Colavito: Tiger Stadium's short power alleys suited him well, and, in 1961, he had career highs with 45 home runs and 140 RBIs, helping Detroit win 101 games. But that was the year that Roger Maris hit 61 home runs and Mickey Mantle hit 54, leading the Yankees to 109 wins. So not only did his best year as a player, individually and team-wise, not give him the league lead in any major offensive category -- although, in this 1st year of AL expansion, he did become the 1st player to officially play in 163 games, thanks to a rainout and replay -- it didn't even get him as close to the Pennant as he got with the '59 Indians.

The Indians continued to struggle. In 1964, the Tigers traded Colavito to the Kansas City Athletics. The following year, the Indians got him back, in a 3-way deal with the A's and the White Sox that sent Tommie Agee and Tommy John to Chicago.

That season, Colavito had 108 RBIs, good enough to lead the AL. But in 1966, though his home run total went up from 26 to 30, his RBIs dropped to 72, and his batting average fell from .287 to .238. Injuries ended his career 2 years later, with the Yankees, even making a pitching appearance and being credited with the win. He was only 35 years old. He finished with 374 home runs and 9 All-Star berths -- but, oddly, no Gold Gloves. He is one of the best all-around baseball players not in the Hall of Fame.

Terry Pluto, longtime Cleveland newspaper columnist and the man who knows more about the franchise now known as the Cleveland Guardians than anyone, titled his 1994 book about the team's history The Curse of Rocky Colavito, pointing out that, from 1960 to 1993, the Indians never even finished within 10 games of 1st place, except for the strike-split season of 1981. Colavito said he never put a curse on the team: "Frank Lane did."

Pluto has also suggested that the worst trade the franchise has ever made is the one in which they got rid of Colavito. And the 2nd-worst was the one where they got him back. Fans can't blame that one on Frank Lane, who was already gone.

*

Colavito was a broadcaster for the Indians in 1972, 1975 and 1976; and 1st base coach for them in 1973, 1977 and 1978. In 1982 and 1983, he was hitting instructor for the Kansas City Royals. That would be his last job in baseball.

The Indians, now the Cleveland Guardians, named him to their team Hall of Fame. Should he be in the Baseball Hall of Fame? Baseball-Reference.com has a Hall of Fame Monitor, on which a "Likely HOFer" is at 100, the higher, the better. Colavito is at 82. They also have a "Hall of Fame Standards," on which the "Average HOFer" is at 50. Colavito is at 30. Both figures suggest he is well short.

And yet, those figures don't take his defense into account. One thing they did is the fact that Colavito hit 374 home runs. That's more home runs than Yankee Legends Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Johnny Mize, who are all in; and 4 fewer than Mike Trout currently has, and there are people who believe that Trout, even if he never plays another game, is a sure first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. (He's not. If he never plays another game, he shouldn't get in at all.)

B-R also has "Similarity Scores," in which they list the 10 most statistically similar players, usually weighted by position. But of the 10 players most statistically similar to Colavito, according to them, only 1 is in the Hall, and he only recently got in: Gil Hodges, who also got a boost from being a great fielder. The others: Frank Howard, Roy Sievers, Jermaine Dye, Boog Powell, George Foster, Norm Cash, Greg Luzinski, Jack Clark and Greg Vaughn. Some of those guys are close, but none has a lot of people saying they should be in.

Rocky Colavito married Carmen Perrotti, a professional dancer, in 1954. They had sons Rocky Jr. and Steven, a daughter Marisa, 5 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

Unfortunately, like Harvey Kueen, he developed diabetes. On August 11, 2015, he had to have his right leg amputated below the knee. He died from complications of diabetes at his home in Bernville, Pennsylvania, outside Reading, this past Tuesday, December 10, 2024, at the age of 91.

He was the last surviving player who had appeared on the TV show Home Run Derby in 1960, appearing in an Indians uniform, since he had not yet been traded to the Tigers. And his death leaves Stan Pawloski as the last surviving teammate of Indians pitching legend Bob Feller.

Top 5 Great Things About the Arrowverse (& 5 Things They Got Wrong)

Top row, left to right: Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El, Kara Danvers, Supergirl; Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer, The Atom; Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, Green Arrow, The Spectre; Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Sentinel; Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, The Flash; and Jesse Rath as Querl Dox, Brainiac 5.

Second row, left to right: Ruby Rose as Kate Kane, Batwoman; David Harewood as J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter.

Third row, left to right: Katherine McNamara as Mia Queen, the 2nd Green Arrow; Tyler Hoechlin as Kal-El, Clark Kent, Superman.

Front row, left to right: Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels, Harbinger; Caity Lotz as Sara Lance, White Canary; Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane.

Lower right inset: Arrowverse creator Marc Guggenheim.

*

Last week, with the final episode of Superman & Lois on The CW, the Arrowverse officially came to an end, after 12 years.

Top 5 Great Things About the Arrowverse (& 5 Things They Got Wrong)

10. Got Wrong: Teasing Green Lantern, But Not Delivering. During their version of Crisis On Infinite Earths, the Flash of Earth-90 (John Wesley Shipp reprising his role from the 1990-91 CBS Flash series) recognized John Diggle, a.k.a. Spartan (David Ramsey) as "John," suggesting that his counterpart was Earth-90's Green Lantern -- possibly a version of John Stewart. In the last installment, they showed that Earth-12 had a Green Lantern Corps. And the last episode of Arrow showed Diggle finding a box with something glowing green inside. But a later episode of The Flash showed Diggle rejecting the power ring, believing he would be corrupted by it.

There was a notation for "HAL" on the speed-dial of the pre-Crisis Earth-2's version of Barry Allen, the Flash (Grant Gustin), suggesting Hal Jordan. Ferris Air, Hal's employer, was mentioned on 7 episodes of Arrow and 12 episodes of The Flash. Coast City, Hal's hometown, was mentioned on 7 episodes of Arrow, 12 episodes of The Flash, 2 episodes of Vixen, 1 episode of Supergirl, and 1 episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow. And in 1 of those episodes of Arrow, set partly in Coast City, a man wearing a bomber jacket with the name "JORDAN" on it is shown, although his face is not.

And, aside from references to the Earth-2 Green Lantern, Alan Scott, on Stargirl, that was it. We never saw an actor play Scott, or Stewart, or Hal Jordan, or Guy Gardner, or Kyle Rayner, or any of the interplanetary GLs. After the flop of the 2011 film with Ryan Reynolds as Jordan, that was disappointing.

9. Got Right: Diversity. The writers and producers of the Arrowverse were unafraid to highlight female heroes, with Supergirl, Batwoman and Vixen as title characters. They were unafraid to highlight black heroes, with Vixen, Black Lightning, and, eventually, Batwoman as title characters. They were unafraid to show an interracial marriage between John Diggle and Lyla Michaels, a.k.a. Harbinger (Audrey Marie Anderson).

They presented gay characters as well, starting on Arrow with Curtis Holt, a.k.a. Mr. Terrific (also a black character, played by Echo Kellum). Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Kara Danvers, a.k.a. Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) interacted with several gay characters, including her adoptive sister, Alex Danvers, a.k.a. Sentinel (Chyler Leigh); Kelly Olsen, Jimmy Olsen's sister and Alex's eventual wife, who succeeded Jimmy as the hero Guardian (Azie Tesfai); and Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath), Lex's sister who becomes Kara's best friend.

On DC's Legends of Tomorrow, the co-captains of the time-traveling spaceship Waverider, Sara Lance, a.k.a. White Canary, and Ava Sharpe developed a romance that led to a marriage and, through means too convoluted to discuss here, a pregnancy, though the baby hadn't yet been born when the show was canceled. (In real life, their portrayers, Caity Lotz and Ava Jes Macallan, respectively, were both straight, are married to men as of this writing, and each recently had her 1st child.) 

On Batwoman, as the daughter of Jacob and Gabi Kane, Kate Kane was both female and Jewish, as was Jacob's sister, Martha Kane, who married Thomas Wayne, who wasn't Jewish, and this made their son Bruce (played only in a single hallucination scene, out of costume, by Warren Christie), Kate's 1st cousin, and half-Jewish but not raised as such. And Kate was also gay, for a trifecta of potential discrimination.

When Ruby Rose, the Australian supermodel and genderfluid actress who played Kate, left the show after Season 1 despite being "the Paragon of Courage" in the Arrowverse's version of Crisis On Infinite Earths, under controversial circumstances, a new character, who had never previously appeared in comic books, was created to be the new Batwoman: Ryan Wilder, who was written as female, gay, and black. Cast in the role was Javicia Leslie, who, in real life, is also all three.

It didn't bother me that most of the people on the heroic side on Batwoman were gay -- Luke Fox, a.k.a. Batwing (Camrus Johnson), was an exception -- while the show's main villain, Kate's sister Beth, a.k.a. Alice (Rachel Skarsten) was straight. I fully support "Gay people can be heroic, too," but that doesn't mean being straight automatically makes someone the enemy.

Legends also had TV's 1st Muslim superheroes, the siblings Zari and Behrad Tarazi (Tala Ashe and Shayan Sobhian, respectively, not related to each other in real life, but both of Iranian descent).

8. Got Wrong: Making Green Arrow Their "Batman." Since they followed Warner Brothers' demand to not have Batman on TV shows, they needed a "Batman," and made Green Arrow a "dark knight." For fans used to the usual version of Oliver Queen -- a billionaire business lord and playboy who fights crime by night, but doesn't even get along with Batman -- this was jarring. On the other hand...

7. Got Right: Taking Green Arrow Seriously. Like Robin and Spider-Man, he's been a bit of a quipster, the jokes hiding his pain. Throw in the Robin Hood-like costume, and it's a little difficult to take Ollie seriously. But Arrow had him written as a serious character, with plenty of depth, and Stephen Amell was more than up to the challenge. They could have made him a little less dark, and still made him completely watchable.

6. Got Wrong: The Titans. The casting of Titans was not an issue. But making the show as dark as they did was.

As Batman has said in other media, the point of taking on kids and making them his Robins isn't so that they'll end up like him, but so that they won't. Yet, looking at this version of Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) and Jason Todd (Curran Walters), it's clear that this Earth's version of Bruce Wayne did exactly that. Throw in the demonic stuff, and just how ruthless Deathstroke (Esai Morales) could be, and you have something that would have been rated R even without the sex scenes.

Actually, one casting was a terrible mistake. When I saw Iain Glen, at that point best known as Ser Jorah Mormont on Game of Thrones, come out of Wayne Manor to great Dick, I thought he was a great choice to play Alfred. But he was Bruce instead, a role he was way too old for.

5. Got Right: The Justice Society of America: The Next Generation. Okay, the writers and producers of Stargirl never explained how their version of the original JSA got started in the 1940s and were still alive and relatively young in 2010. But they did a terrific job of showing what it would really be like to be both a teenager and a superhero, with Brec Bassinger as Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl, Yvette Monreal as Yolanda Montez/Wildcat, Cameron Gellman as Rick Tyler/Hourman, and Anjelika Washington as Beth Chapel/Dr. Mid-Nite.

And, in what might be the most trivial piece of trivia of all time, but I noticed it, and liked it: As far as I know, Yvette Monreal is the first actor, of either gender, to play a superhero whose secret identity has the same initials.

 

4. Got Wrong: Teasing Batman, But Not Delivering. Batman, under that name and under his real name of Bruce Wayne, was mentioned on nearly every episode of Batwoman (on the pre-Crisis Earth-1). He was mentioned on episodes of Supergirl (on the pre-Crisis Earth-38). On The Flash, "BRUCE" was another name listed on the phone of the pre-Crisis Earth-2's Flash. Iain Glen played Bruce, but not in costume, on Titans (on Earth-9, pre- and post-Crisis). Kevin Conroy, long the voice of Batman in the DC Animated Universe, played Bruce, but not in costume, on the Batwoman installment of Crisis (on Earth-99).

A much-older (and much-fatter) Burt Ward, who played Dick Grayson, a.k.a. Robin, on the 1966-68 Batman TV series, was shown at the beginning of Crisis. So was Robert Wuhl, who played news photographer Alexander Knox in the 1989 Batman film.

But, in 12 years, except for a shadowy figure whose face would couldn't see on 1 episode of Titans, we never saw Batman in costume. Nor did we ever find out what happened to the main universe's Batman after he left Gotham City. 

3. Got Right: Crisis On Infinite Earths. When the Marvel Cinematic Universe had its Infinity War, it was the end of half of all life in the universe, and they had to fix it. In the 1985 DC Comics series COIE, all the life in every universe was at risk. In the Arrowverse's adaptation, the Anti-Monitor actually went further: He did kill all the life in all the universes -- including, by inference, everyone watching -- except for, as it turned out 11 individuals: Himself, 9 heroes, and Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer). And the heroes, plus Lex, had to restore life to the universe, and do it without a Superman, a Batman, or a Wonder Woman (though they did have a Supergirl, and a Batwoman, then played by Ruby Rose).

And they did it. In other words, in this way, the Arrowverse topped the MCU -- and the movies' DC Extended Universe. They took the darkest possible storyline, and still provided it with hope. They went for a young audience, and told an uplifting story, in a way that the MCU couldn't quite do, and the dark as hell DCEU didn't even try to do.

Bringing Brandon Routh, from the 2006 film Superman Returns, to play an older Superman of Earth-96, suggesting (but not outright saying) that he was the same Superman that Christopher Reeve played in 4 films from 1978 to 1987, emotionally wounded but still fighting for humanity, was the symbol of all of this.

When Earth-38's Lois Lane asks him added black to his S-like House of El crest, he said, "Because, Lois, even in the darkest times, hope cuts through. Hope is the light that lifts us out of the darkness."

2. Got Wrong: No Wonder Woman. The real world's leading female superhero character was mentioned on an episode of Batwoman. There was a notation for "DIANA" on the speed-dial of the pre-Crisis Earth-2's version of Barry Allen, the Flash, suggesting Princess Diana of Themyscira, a.k.a. Diana Prince, a.k.a. Wonder Woman. (In addition to "DIANA," "BRUCE" and "HAL," there was also a "CLARK.")

Themyscira, home of the Amazons and birthplace of Wonder Woman, was shown on an episode of Legends and mentioned on 2 others. And Diana's adoptive sister, Donna Troy, a.k.a. Wonder Girl (Conor Leslie), was a major character on Titans, and mentioned Diana a few times.

But that was all we got. The Arrowverse's version of Crisis On Infinite Earth gave us a nod to Chris Reeve's Superman on Earth-96, and showed Burt Ward's Dick Grayson on Earth-66. (Adam West, who played Batman opposite Ward's Robin on the 1966-68 Batman series, had already died.) But no mention was made of any live-action Wonder Woman: Not Lynda Carter from the 1975-79 TV series, not Adrianne Palicki from the failed 2011 TV pilot, not Gal Gadot from the DCEU, not even Linda Harrison from the failed 1967 TV pilot.

When the end of their Crisis showed that the Multiverse had indeed been restored, including Earth-96 and its Superman, I wanted to see a scene of Ward as Dick, Routh as Clark Kent, and Carter as Diana Prince, standing together at the grave of Bruce Wayne, with an image of West carved into the tombstone. It would have been as close to perfect as they could have gotten, short of West still being alive.

1. Got Right: Superman and Lois Lane. Not just the series titled Superman & Lois, but the dynamic between them. Tyler Hoechlin gave us the best Superman since Chris Reeve, and the best Clark Kent ever. And Elizabeth "Bitsie" Tulloch took Lois to heights she'd never reached before.

No more of the games, with Lois trying to prove Clark is Superman, and Clark trying to prevent it. No more of Lois as a "damsel in distress" every week. This showed both of them as fully-rounded characters, complete with the difficulties that come from middle age and raising adolescents -- which, sometimes, is harder than saving the world. 

December 11, 1964: The Death of Sam Cooke

December 11, 1964, 60 years ago: Sam Cooke dies under mysterious circumstances in Los Angeles.

Born on January 22, 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, as Samuel Cook (no middle name), he was taken to Chicago by his family at age 2. He attended Wendell Phillips Academy, an all-black high school on the South Side, named for a well-known abolitionist. That school had already produced singers Nat "King" Cole and Dinah Washington, comedian George Kirby, Negro League star Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, and Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Buddy Young. Actress Marla Gibbs was a classmate of Sam's. The school would later produce jazz bandleader Herbie Hancock and football players Mike Pruitt and Chris Hinton.

In 1950, only 19 years old, Sam was good enough to be asked to replace R.H. Harris as lead singer of The Soul Stirrers, then the country's most popular black gospel group. He infuriated gospel fans by turning secular in 1957, adding an E to the end of his name, and had a Number 1 hit with "You Send Me."

The hits kept coming: "Only Sixteen" in 1959, "Wonderful World" and "Chain Gang" in 1960, "Cupid" in 1961, "Twistin' the Night Away" in 1962, "Another Saturday Night" in 1963, and "Good News" in 1964. Sam wrote, or co-wrote, all of these, some with his brother Charles Cook, with Robert "Bumps" Blackwell producing them. He also had hits with covers of the blues songs "Frankie and Johnny" and "Little Red Rooster."

His concerts became a sensation, including at the Copacabana in New York. Women threw themselves at him. He was married twice, raised his 1st wife's son, had 3 children with his 2nd wife, and is believed to have had 3 other children.

In 1963, he signed a contract with Allen Klein, who would later manage The Rolling Stones and mismanage The Beatles. Cooke had no problem with him, as he negotiated one of the best record-and-royalty deals any star, regardless of race, had ever gotten to that point.

That year, he heard Bob Dylan's song "Blowin' in the Wind," which had verses reflecting the civil rights and antiwar struggles. It stuck in his mind, and made him want to write a similar song. But he was afraid of losing the white fans he'd gained. So he compromised, recording "Blowin' in the Wind," and singing it at his shows. He didn't lose any fans.

On October 8, 1963, he made reservations for himself, his wife Barbara, his brother Charles, and his backing group at the Holiday Inn North in Shreveport, Louisiana, a segregated city. When they got there, the desk clerk, according to a contemporary report, "glanced nervously," and said there were no vacancies.

Sam had a fit. He demanded to see the manager, and refused to leave until he did. Barbara was scared, telling him, "They'll kill you!" He said, "They ain't gonna kill me, because I'm Sam Cooke." He must have forgotten that his fellow Phillips alumnus, Nat "King" Cole, an even bigger star, had been badly beaten onstage at a concert in Birmingham, Alabama in 1956. And that was with thousands of witnesses.

Finally, Sam was convinced to leave. He found a payphone, and called the all-black Castle Motel, and made a reservation there. The police had been tipped off: When the Cooke party got to the Castle, they were arrested for disturbing the peace. It took until 2019 for the City of Shreveport to offer an official apology to the Cooke family.

On January 30, 1964, Sam recorded a new song he'd written, "A Change Is Gonna Come." It had been 7 months since the assassination of Medgar Evers and the removal of George Wallace from the schoolhouse door, 5 months since the March On Washington that featured Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, 4 months since the Birmingham church bombing, 3 months since the Shreveport arrest, 2 months since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and 17 days since Dylan released his civil rights-heavy album The Times They Are A-Changin'. (It had also been 5 days since The Beatles hit Number 1 in America with "I Want to Hold Your Hand," but that had nothing to do with civil rights.)

Klein loved the song, and booked Sam on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for February 7. It was the 3rd time he'd appeared on the show. He sang "A Change Is Gonna Come." Johnny did not object. Nor did producer Fred de Cordova. Nor did NBC executives. Nor did NBC censors. Nor did NBC's sponsors. In fact, there was very little attention paid to it, mainly because this was the day The Beatles arrived in America, to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show 2 days later. (Sam had appeared on Sullivan, twice in 1957 after his initial burst of success, but hadn't done so since.)

On March 1, Sam's album Ain't That Good News was released, with "A Change Is Gonna Come" on it. But it wasn't yet released as a single. And he got nervous, not singing it in concert after The Tonight Show. On November 16, Sam recorded "Shake," a great dance number, and it was set to be released on December 22, with "A Change Is Gonna Come" as the B-side.

On December 10, 1964... We may never know the full facts. Sam was in Los Angeles, and had dinner with Al Schmitt and Schmitt's wife at Martoni's, an Italian restaurant popular with music industry people like Schmitt. They drank martinis, apparently to excess. They made plans to go to a nightclub named PJ's. The last time Schmitt saw Sam, he was at the bar at Martoni's, talking to a woman Schmitt didn't recognize.

Interviewed in 2020, Schmitt said that he and his wife went to PJ's, "But Sam never showed up. So I went home. I was told later he got there about 15 minutes later, just before closing time, and they wouldn't let him in. He was with this girl."

"This girl," apparently the same one Schmitt saw Sam talking to at the Martoni's bar, was Elisa Boyer, then 22. Sam took her to his cherry-red Ferrari, and drove her to South Central Los Angeles, to the Hacienda Motel, known to the Los Angeles Police Department as a hangout for men cheating on their wives. They checked in at 2:35 AM on December 11, signing the register as Mr. and Mrs. Sam Cooke.

Boyer told the police that Sam pinned her on the bed and began to tear off her clothes, intending to rape her. Then he went to the bathroom to take off his clothes. She then grabbed her clothes, and his as well. She found a phone booth and called the police, saying she'd been kidnapped.

The hotel's manager, Bertha Franklin, told the police that Sam, wearing the one piece of clothing he still had, a sport coat, came at her in a drunken rage, grabbed her, and asked, "Where's the girl?" She said she pushed Cooke away, grabbed a gun, and fired 3 shots. One missed, another went through Sam's heart, another through his lung. He yelled, "Lady, you shot me!" And he fell, dead, at age 33.

The LAPD, notorious for racism at the time (and for a long time after), ruled his death a justifiable homicide.

Nobody who knew Sam believed that. They knew he was a womanizer and, if not an out-and-out alcoholic, certainly a drinker. But he was not by nature a violent man. He was not known to go to "no-tell motels." His sister, Agnes Cooke-Hoskins, said, "My brother was first class all the way. He would not check into a $3-a-night motel. That wasn't his style."

And not only was the Hacienda a known hooker's hangout, but Franklin herself had a criminal record as a madam. The prevailing theory is that Boyer was a prostitute who decided to take Sam's money, and also his clothes so that he couldn't just run out after her.

What's more, at his funeral, singer Etta James noticed that he'd been beaten: "His hands were broken and crushed... They tried to cover it up with makeup, but I could see massive bruises on his head." These injuries were not mentioned in the autopsy report. Some people suspect that he was killed elsewhere, and dumped at the Hacienda, and that Boyer and Franklin were paid off to tell the story they told.

Sam had met Muhammad Ali, football star Jim Brown, and Nation of Islam spokesman Malcolm X at the Hampton House hotel in Miami after Ali won the Heavyweight Championship of the World 10 months earlier, beating Sonny Liston. Ali said, "If Cooke had been Frank Sinatra, the Beatles or Ricky Nelson, the FBI would be investigating."

His body was flown to his hometown in Chicago for one funeral, then back to Los Angeles for another. He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in the L.A. suburb of Glendale, California.

Bertha Franklin had to quit her job at the Hacienda. She died in 1966, at age 57, of a massive heart attack. The Hacienda still stands, under the name Polaris Motel, at 9137 South Figueroa Street, 4 miles (52 blocks) south of the Los Angeles Coliseum, and 7 miles (80 blocks) south of the Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center).

Sam's Ferrari from that night would figure in another rock star's death. Dennis Wilson, the drummer for the Beach Boys, bought it, and it was parked nearby when he drowned in Marina Del Rey in 1983, 19 years to the month later. In 2007, a Japanese collector bought the car.

On January 11, 1965, exactly 1 month after the murder, as "Shake" was becoming a Top 10 hit and "A Change Is Gonna Come" was struggling to reach the Top 40, Elisa Boyer was arrested for prostitution. Maybe somebody told her to "lay low," and she misunderstood. In 1979, she murdered her boyfriend, and was found guilty, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. As of December 11, 2024, at the age of 82, she is still incarcerated. Al Schmitt died in 2021.

In 1986, Sam Cooke was 1 of 10 charter acts inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Had he lived, he would have been 55. In 1989, The Soul Stirrers were elected to the Rock Hall in the "early influences" category, making Sam only the 2nd double inductee. (Clyde McPhatter had been elected as a soloist in 1987 and as one of The Drifters in 1988.)

Sam was played by Paul Mooney in The Buddy Holly Story in 1978, and Leslie Odom Jr. in One Night In Miami in 2020.

December 10, 1984: The Mets Trade for Gary Carter

December 10, 1984, 40 years ago: Having made some awful trades in their history, both before and after this day, the New York Mets make perhaps the best trade in their history.

It was nearly a reverse of their 1977 trade, sending their signature player, pitcher Tom Seaver, to the Cincinnati Reds for 4 players. This one sent 4 players to the Montreal Expos: 3rd baseman Hubie Brooks, catcher Mike Fitzgerald, outfielder Herm Winningham, and pitcher Floyd Youmans.

Brooks was popular among Met fans, and would continue to hit well in Montreal, making 2 All-Star Games. The other players were journeymen at best, basically designed to flesh the trade out, so it looked like the Expos were getting some talent beyond Brooks for Carter.

Because Carter, whose big smile and infectious enthusiasm got him nicknamed "The Kid" -- and whose propensity for self-promotion had gotten him the nickname "Camera Carter" -- was already considered Johnny Bench's successor as the best catcher in the National League, and only Carlton Fisk was an American League rival to the title of the best catcher in all of Major League Baseball.

The Mets had won the World Series in 1969, and the National League Pennant in 1973. As recently as 1976, they had finished a decent 3rd in the NL Eastern Division. Then they collapsed, due to mismanagement. They were sold in 1980, to Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon, and the rebuilding began.

In 1983, Darryl Strawberry was Rookie of the Year, and they traded for Keith Hernandez. In 1984, they hired Davey Johnson as manager, and they benefited from several young players coming into their own, including Brooks, none more so than pitcher Dwight Gooden. They finished 2nd, and the acquisition of Carter was a huge upgrade at a key position.

On Opening Day of the 1985 season, one day after his 31st birthday, Carter hit a home run -- off Neil Allen, 1 of the 2 pitchers the Mets had traded to get Hernandez -- in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Mets a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, before 46,781 rapturous fans at Shea Stadium. The love affair between the Met fans and the best catcher the franchise has ever had began.

As with Reggie Jackson, across town on the Yankees a few years earlier, he was in New York for only 5 seasons, but no one can say their were dull years. Most significantly, it was his single that kept the Mets alive in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, leading to the Mets' 2nd title.

Gary Carter died in 2012. The Mets knew he was ill, and that he had already been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. They elected him to their team Hall of Fame. But they have never retired his Number 8. They gave it to Dave Gallagher in 1992, Carlos Baerga in 1997, and Desi Relaford in 2001, but no player since Relaford left that season. But it has not been officially retired.