Those We Lost In 2019

I paid tribute to some of these people with obituary posts.

In Memoriam:

* Larry Weinberg, January 23, 1926 - January 1, 2019, a founder owner of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, his tenure including their 1977 World Championship, the team retired Number 1 in his honor.

* Jumping Johnny Wilson, Date Unknown, 1927 - January 11, 2019, played for the Negro Leagues' Chicago American Giants and the Harlem Globetrotters in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

* Mel Stottlemyre, November 13, 1941 - January 13, 2019, won 164 games and made 5 All-Star teams as a Yankee pitcher, helping them win the 1964 American League Pennant; served as pitching coach for the Mets, helping them win the 1986 World Series, and for the Yankees, helping them win the 1996, '98, '99 and 2000 World Series along with the 2001 and '03 AL Pennants; honored with a Plaque in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.

* Eli Grba, August 9, 1934 - January 14, 2019, relief pitcher helped the Yankees win the 1960 American League Pennant, was an original 1961 Los Angeles Angel.

* Emiliano Sala, October 31, 1990 - January 21, 2019, Argentine soccer star for French team FC Nantes, killed in a plane crash on the way to sign with Welsh team Cardiff City.

* Gerry Plamondon, January 5, 1924 - January 26, 2019, left wing was the last surviving member of the 1946 Stanley Cup Champion Montreal Canadiens.

* Dale Barnstable, March 4, 1925 - January 26, 2019, basketball player won 1948 and '49 National Championships with the University of Kentucky, got caught up in the 1951 college basketball point-shaving scandal, was banned from the NBA for life, later won some golf tournaments.

* Bob Friend, November 24, 1930 - February 3, 2019, pitched for the 1960 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates, but held dubious distinctions, such as leading the National League in ERA in 1955 despite pitching for the last-place Pirates, and finishing his career at 197-230, making him the only pitcher to lose 200 games without winning 200.

* Matti Nykänen , July 17, 1963 - February 4, 2019, Finnish ski jumper, won a Gold Medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, and 3 more at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

* Frank Robinson, August 31, 1935 - February 7, 2019, Hall of Fame right fielder, the only man to win Most Valuable Player awards in both Leagues, with the 1961 National League Champion Cincinnati Reds, and winning the Triple Crown with the 1966 American League and World Champion Baltimore Orioles, won another World Series with the Orioles in 1970; became the 1st black manager in each League, with the 1975 Cleveland Indians and the 1981 San Francisco Giants; President of the American League 2015-19, Number 20 retired by the Reds, the Orioles and the Indians, each team also dedicated a ballpark statue of him.

* Gordon Banks, December 30, 1937 - February 12, 2019, one of the greatest goalkeepers in soccer history, starred for English teams Leicester City and Stoke City, played every minute of every game in England's 1966 World Cup win.

* Don Newcombe, June 14, 1926 - February 19, 2019, pitcher from Elizabeth, New Jersey was one of the last surviving stars of the Negro Leagues, playing for the Newark Eagles; a 4-time All-Star with the Brooklyn Dodgers, won 5 National League Pennants; named 1949 NL Rookie of the Year, helped Dodgers win 1955 World Series by winning 20 games and hitting 7 home runs, won the NL Most Valuable Player award and the 1st-ever Cy Young Award in 1956; oddly, was not included .

* Carl Meinhold, March 29, 1926 - February 23, 2019, last surviving member of the 1948 NBA Champion Baltimore Bullets.

* Eusbeio Pedroza, March 2, 1956 - March 1, 2019, Panamanian boxer, Featherweight Champion of the World from April 15, 1978 to June 8, 1985.

* Ted Lindsay, July 29, 1925 - March 4, 2019, Hockey Hall-of-Famer, won the 1950, '52, '54 and '55 Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, they retired his Number 7, made 11 All-Star Games, won the Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer in 1950, an early activist in the NHL Players' Association, named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players.

* Dan Jenkins, December 2, 1928 - March 7, 2019, sportswriter was one of the greatest authorities on college football, especially in his native Texas; wrote the novel Semi-Tough, which became one of the most popular football-themed films; also a golf expert, played collegiately at Texas Christian University, and wrote one of the most popular books about the sport, The Dogged Victims of Inexorable Fate; he and his daughter Sally Jenkins both wrote for Sports Illustrated.

* Harry Howell, December 28, 1932 - March 9, 2019, Hall of Fame hockey player, played more games for the New York Rangers than any other player, 1,160, Rangers retired his Number 3; won the 1967 Norris Trophy for best defenseman, won the 1990 Stanley Cup as a scout for the Edmonton Oilers.

* Leroy Stanton, April 10, 1946 - March 13, 2019, right fielder was traded by the Mets, along with Nolan Ryan, to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi after the 1971 season, one of the worst trades in baseball history; also an original 1977 Seattle Mariner.

* Johnny "Lam" Jones, April 4, 1958 - March 15, 2019, track star at the University of Texas, won a Gold Medal with a U.S. relay team at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal; also played football, but drug problems and injuries derailed his career as a receiver with the New York Jets.

* Cal Ramsey, July 13, 1937 - March 25, 2019, perhaps the last great basketball player at New York University (NYU), played just 13 games for the New York Knicks, in the 1959-60 and 1960-61 seasons, broadcast for the Knicks from 1972 to 1982, and worked in their community relations department from 1991 until his death.

* Joe Bellino, March 13, 1938 - March 27, 2019, running back for the Naval Academy, won the 1960 Heisman Trophy, played for the Boston Patriots in the AFL after serving his naval commitment.

* Myer "Whitey" Skoog, November 2, 1926 - April 4, 2019, basketball star at the University of Minnesota, who retired his Number 41, won the 1952, '53 and '54 NBA Championships with the Minneapolis Lakers, coached basketball and golf at Minnesota's Gustavus Adolphus College.

* Scott Sanderson, July 22, 1956 - April 11, 2019, pitcher won 163 games; reached the postseason with the 1981 Montreal Expos, the 1984 and '89 Chicago Cubs and the 1990 Oakland Athletics; was a 1991 All-Star with the Yankees.

* Tommy Smith, April 5, 1945 - April 12, 2019, soccer defender helped Liverpool FC win the Football League in 1966, '73, '76 and '77; the FA Cup in 1965 and '74; and the European Cup in 1977.

* Forrest Gregg, October 18, 1933 - April 12, 2019, Hall of Fame offensive tackle, from 1961 to 1972 won 5 Super Bowls with the Green Bay Packers and a 6th with the Dallas Cowboys, coached the Cincinnati Bengals to their 1st AFC Championship in 1982.

* John MacLeod, October 3, 1937 - April 14, 2019, coached the Phoenix Suns to their 1st NBA Finals in 1976, and the New York Knicks in the 1990-91 season; named Big East Coach of the Year at Notre Dame in 1997.

* Chet Coppock, April 30, 1948 - April 17, 2019, Chicago-based sportscaster.

* Billy McNeill, March 2, 1940 - April 22, 2019, captained Celtic FC of Glasgow to the 1967 European Cup, making them the 1st British team to win it; between playing for Celtic and managing them, won 31 major trophies.

* John Havlicek, April 8, 1940 - April 25, 2019, member of the Ohio State basketball team that won the 1960 National Championship, helped the Boston Celtics win 8 NBA Championships from 1963 to 1976, an All-Star in 13 of his 16 NBA seasons, Most Valuable Player of the 1974 NBA Finals, his Number 5 retired by Ohio State and Number 17 by the Celtics, named to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players.

* Gene Stephens, January 20, 1933 - April 27, 2019, outfielder played in MLB from 1952 to 1964; in a 1953 game with the Boston Red Sox, he collected 3 hits in 1 inning, the 1st player to do that in the modern era.

* Gino Marchetti, January 2, 1926 - April 29, 2019, Hall of Fame defensive end captained the Baltimore Colts to the 1958 and '59 NFL Championships, they retired his Number 89.

* Josef Šural, May 30, 1990 - April 29, 2019, Czech soccer player, killed in a car accident while a player for Turkish team Alanyaspor.

* Leonard "Red" Kelly, July 9, 1927 - May 2, 2019, 1st player to win the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman, in 1954; won the 1950, '52, '54 and '55 Stanley Cups for the Detroit Red Wings; converted to a center by the Toronto Maple Leafs, with whom he won the 1962, '63, '64 and '67 Stanley Cups; both teams retired Number 4 for him; the only player ever to win 8 Stanley Cups without playing for the Montreal Canadiens; 1st head coach of the Los Angeles Kings in 1967, named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players.

* Bart Starr, January 9, 1934 - May 26, 2019, Hall-of-Famer quarterbacked the Green Bay Packers to the 1961, '62, '65, '66 and '67 NFL Championships, named Mos Valuable Player of Super Bowls I and II, Packers retired his Number 15.

* Bill Buckner, December 14, 1949 - May 27, 2019, outfielder helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the 1974 National League Pennant, converted to 1st base with the Chicago Cubs, National League batting champion in 1980, a 1981 All-Star, collected 2,715 career hits, helped the Boston Red Sox win the 1986 American League Pennant, but committed the most famous error in baseball history to end Game 6 of the World Series.

* José Antonio Reyes, September 1, 1983 - June 1, 2019, Spanish soccer player was a member of Arsenal's "Invincibles" Premier League Champions of 2003-04, and later starred for both Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, and Portuguese team Benfica, before returning to original team Sevilla; killed in a car crash while playing for Spanish team Extramadura.

* Erzsébet Gulyás-Köteles, November 3, 1924 - June 16, 2019, Hungarian gymnast, won a Gold Medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

* Thalles Lima de Conceição Penha, May 18, 1995 – June 22, 2019, Brazilian soccer player known by just his first name, played for Rio de Janeiro team Vasco da Gama, helping them win league titles in 2015 and '16, killed in a motorcycle crash.

* Tyler Skaggs, July 13, 1991 - July 1, 2019, pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, died of an accidental drug overdose.

* Jim Bouton, March 8, 1939 - July 10, 2019, pitcher helped the Yankees win 3 Pennants including the 1962 World Series; wrote Ball Four, a diary of his 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and the Houston Astros, which became a revelatory (but not as much as people thought) best-seller; became a sportscaster, leaving to make a comeback with the 1978 Atlanta Braves, co-invented Big League Chew gum.

* Ernie Broglio, August 27, 1935 - July 16, 2019, pitcher won 21 games for the 1960 St. Louis Cardinals, but hurt his arm, and was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1964 for Lou Brock, one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history.

* Elijah "Pumpsie" Green, October 27, 1933 - July 17, 2019, reserve infielder became the 1st black player for the last "Original 16" team to integrate, the 1959 Boston Red Sox.

* Don Mossi, January 11, 1929 - July 19, 2019, relief pitcher won an American League Pennant as a rookie with the 1954 Cleveland Indians, was an All-Star with the Indians in 1957, and nearly helped the 1961 Detroit Tigers and the 1964 Chicago White Sox defeat the Yankees for the Pennant; but may be best remembered for his big nose and sticky-out ears.

* Egil Danielsen, November 9, 1933 - July 29, 2019, Norwegian javelin thrower, won the Gold Medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

* Max Falkenstien (that's right, "stien," not "stein"), April 9, 1924 - July 29, 2019, broadcast football and basketball for the University of Kansas from 1946 to 2006, including 24 Conference Championships, 11 Final Four berths and their 1952 and 1988 basketball National Championships.

* Mike Troy, October 3, 1940 - August 3, 2019, American swimmer won 2 Gold Medals at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

* José Luis Brown, November 10, 1956 – August 12, 2019, Argentine soccer player, helped La Plata team Estudiantes win league titles in 1982 and 1983, a member of the 1986 World Cup winners.

* Jim Hardy, April 24, 1923 - August 16, 2019, quarterback for Southern California, Most Valuable Player of the 1945 Rose Bowl, backed up Bobby Layne on the 1952 NFL Champion Detroit Lions, was the last surviving member of that team.

* Al Jackson, December 26, 1935 - August 19, 2019, pitcher was an original 1962 New York Met.

* Truman "Tex" Clevenger, July 9, 1932 - August 24, 2019, pitcher for the last "old" Washington Senators team in 1960, an original Los Angeles Angel in 1961, and a World Champion Yankee in 1961 and '62.

* Wally Westlake, November 8, 1920 - September 5, 2019, reserve outfielder on the 1954 American League Champion Cleveland Indians that won 111 games.

* Tom Phoebus, April 7, 1942 - September 5, 2019, pitcher won the 1966 and 1970 World Series with the Baltimore Orioles, pitched a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox on April 27, 1968.

* Charlie Silvera, October 13, 1924 - September 7, 2019, backup catcher to Yogi Berra, won the World Series with the Yankees in 1949, '50, '51, '52, '53 and '56.

* Fred McLeod, September 1, 1952 - September 9, 2019, broadcast for the Detroit Pistons from 1984 to 2006, seeing them win NBA titles in 1989, '90 and 2004; and the Cleveland Cavaliers since 2006, seeing them win the 2016 NBA title.

* Rudi Gutendorf, August 30, 1926 - September 13, 2019, German soccer player for TuS Koblenz, went on to set records managing 55 different teams, in 32 countries, on 5 continents, including 18 national teams, and the St. Louis Stars of the North American Soccer League in 1968; 1st non-Japanese manager to win their national league, with Yomiuri SC in 1984.

* Alex Grammas, April 3, 1926 - September 13, 2019, reserve infielder in the 1950s, briefly managed the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Milwaukee Brewers, won the World Series on the coaching staff of Sparky Anderson with the 1975 Cincinnati Reds and the 1984 Detroit Tigers.

* Howard "Hopalong" Cassady, March 2, 1934 - September 20, 2019, running back helped Ohio State win the 1954 National Championship, won the 1955 Heisman Trophy, Ohio State retired his Number 40, was a member of the 1957 NFL Champion Detroit Lions.

* Isaac Promise, December 2, 1987 - October 2, 2019, captain of the Nigerian soccer team that won the Silver Medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, played most of his professional career in Turkey, was with Austin Bold FC of the USL when he died of a heart attack at age 31.

* Andy Etchebarren, June 20, 1943 - October 5, 2019, catcher for the 1966 and 1970 World Champion Baltimore Orioles.

* Jacinto "Jackie" Hernández, September 11, 1940 - October 12, 2019, shortstop was an original 1969 San Diego Padre, won the 1971 World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

* Al Bianchi, March 26, 1932 - October 28, 2019, played for the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers, 1st head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics, 1971 ABA Coach of the Year with the Virginia Squires, general manager of the New York Knicks from 1987 to 1991, helping to build their 1994 NBA Eastern Conference Champions.

* Ron Fairly, July 12, 1938 - October 30, 2019, 1st baseman won the 1959, '63 and '65 World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, an original Montreal Expo in 1969, and All-Star as an Expo in 1973; in 1977, he became the 1st man to play for both of MLB's Canadian teams, the Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays, named the Jays' 1st All-Star; later served as a broadcaster for the California Angels, the San Francisco Giants and the Seattle Mariners.

* Edmund "Zeke" Bratkowski, October 20, 1931 - November 11, 2019, Bart Starr's backup quarterback on the 1965, '66 and '67 NFL Champion Green Bay Packers.

* Sigvard Ericsson, July 17, 1930 - November 2, 2019, Swedish speed skater won a Gold and a Silver Medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics at Cortina d'Ampezzo.

* Norbert Eder, November 7, 1955 - November 2, 2019, soccer defender won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in 1985, '86 and '87, and helped West Germany reach the Final of the 1986 World Cup.

* Jacque Dupont, June 19, 1928 - November 4, 1929, French cyclist, won a Gold Medal at the 1948 Olympics in London.

* Frank "Pep" Saul, February 16, 1924 - November 7, 2019, won 4 straight NBA Championships, in 1951 with the Rochester Royals, and in 1952, '53 and '54 with the Minneapolis Lakers.

* Antaoly Krutikov, September 21, 1933 - November 8, 2019, Russian defender helped Spartak Moscow win the Soviet Top League in 1962 and the Russian Cup in 1963 and '65; helped the Soviet national team win the 1st-ever European Championship in 1960 and reach the Final in 1964; but achieved infamy in 1976, becoming the 1st manager ever to get Spartak relegated from the Soviet top flight, and remains the only one ever to get them relegated from either the Soviet or the Russian top flight.

* Cyril Robinson, March 4, 1929 - November 9, 2019, the last surviving member of the Blackpool FC team that won the 1953 FA Cup, the Final that included a hat trick by Stan Mortensen and the starring role of Stanley Matthews.

* István Szívós Jr., April 24, 1948 – November 10, 2019, Hungarian water polo player, won medals at 4 straight Olympics, including a Gold in 1976 in Montreal; his father, István, won Gold Medals in 1952 and '56, and his son Márton has won a World Championship, but, as yet, not an Olympic Medal.

* Harrison Dillard, July 8, 1923 - November 15, 2019, won 2 Olympic Gold Medals each in 1948 in London and 1952 in Helsinki, becoming the only man to be the "World's Fastest Man" (Gold in the 100 meters in 1948) and the "World's Greatest Hurdler" (Gold in the 110-meter hurdles in 1952).

* Irv Noren, November 29, 1924 - November 15, 2019, reserve outfielder was the last surviving player from the 1952 World Champion New York Yankees (Whitey Ford and Bobby Brown are still alive, but both were serving in the Korean War at the time); also won the 1953 and '56 World Series with the Yankees, an All-Star in 1954, served on Dick Williams' coaching staff and won the 1972 and '73 World Series with the Oakland Athletics.

* Jim Coates, August 4, 1932 - November 15, 2019, All-Star relief pitcher for the Yankees in 1960, helped them win the 1961 and '62 World Series.

* Pat Sullivan, January 18, 1950 - December 1, 2019, quarterback won the 1971 Heisman Trophy with Auburn, played in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons and the Washington Redskins, later served as head coach at Texas Christian University (TCU).

* Bob Willis, May 30, 1949 - December 4, 2019, cricket fast bowler currently stands as England 4th all-time wicket taker.

* Jorge Hernández, November 17, 1954 – December 12, 2019, Cuban boxer, won the Gold Medal in the Light Flyweight division at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

* Karin Balzer, June 5, 1938 - December 17, 2019, hurdler won a Gold Medal for East Germany at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo; despite competing for East Germany in the 1960s and '70s, and later working as a chemist, she has never been credibly accused of cheating.

* Roland Matthes, November 17, 1950 - December 20, 2019, swimmer won 8 Olympic Medals, including 2 Golds each in 1968 in Mexico City and in 1972 in Munich; had a 7-year winning streak in backstroke competitions from 1967 to 1974; despite being East German, he always denied having used doping or any other form of cheating.

* Martin Peters, November 8, 1943 - December 21, 2019, English soccer star for West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur, won the 1966 World Cup.

Top 10 Disses by Sports Organizations to Their Own Great Players

Nick Foles is the starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

I understand why the Jaguars wanted him. What I don't understand is why the Philadelphia Eagles got rid of him.

After all, he's the only quarterback ever to lead them to a Super Bowl win.

True, Carson Wentz is nearly 4 years younger. And he's pretty good. But he's not better, and he's injury-prone.

The Eagles may regret dumping the last quarterback to lead them to the NFL Championship.

Which is something they've actually done before.

You know the old saying: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Top 10 Disses by Sports Organizations to Their Own Great Players

10. Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles, 2019. I have to list this one at the top (or the bottom, depending on how you look at it), because it just happened, and we haven't seen the repercussions just yet.

But when you didn't win the NFL Championship in 57 years -- the last time, it wasn't even called the Super Bowl yet -- and a guy leads you to it, and brings you to within 3 games of another, both times stepping in for a guy who got injured, why would you keep the guy who gets injured, and dump the guy who wins?

9. Reggie Jackson, New York Yankees, 1981. Reggie had a bad year at the plate in the worst possible year, the last year on his Yankee contract. Team owner George Steinbrenner chose not to sign Reggie to a new contract.

Reggie went to the California Angels (now the Los Angeles Angels), and returned to The Bronx with them on April 27, 1982. He'd gotten off to a lousy start, but on a rainy night, against Ron Guidry (a lefthander, one of the best of that era), he hit a home run. The Angels won the game, 3-1.

When Reggie swung, the fans were chanting, "Reg-GIE! Reg-GIE! Reg-GIE!" By the time he made his way around the bases and touched home plate, the chant had become, "Steinbrenner sucks!"

"Never... mind... the Queen. I... must embarrass... The Boss."

Reggie would help the Angels win the American League Western Division title in 1982 and 1986, and the Yankees didn't win another Pennant until 1996. George would later admit that letting Reggie go was his biggest mistake. They would eventually patch things up, and, since 1993, Reggie has worked in the Yankees' front office and been a uniformed spring training instructor. His Number 44 has been retired, and a Plaque in his honor stands in Monument Park.

8. Frank Robinson, Cincinnati Reds, 1965. When Gabe Paul was running the Reds, Branch Rickey, then general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, wanted to acquire Robinson. Paul said, "I wouldn't give you Frank Robinson for your entire team." That entire team included 2 future Hall-of-Famers, Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski; 2 future Most Valuable Players, Clemente and Dick Groat; and a future Cy Young Award winner, Vernon Law.

By 1965, following a National League Pennant for the Reds in 1961 (when Robinson was named NL MVP) and nearly 2 others in 1956 and 1964, Bill DeWitt, father of current St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr., was the owner of the Reds. He traded Frank Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles for Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson. Baldschun and Simpson were throw-ins, designed to make the trade a 3-for-1, so it didn't look like the Reds were trading Robinson even-up for a single pitcher.

Yes, the Reds needed pitching. Yes, Pappas was a good pitcher. And if they had hung onto him longer -- say, through 1970, when he could have started for them in the World Series against Robinson and the Orioles -- the trade might not look so bad in hindsight.

Still, given Robinson's stats, why would the Reds trade him? DeWitt defended the trade, saying Robinson was "not a young 30." This eventually got twisted into the more familiar "an old 30."

DeWitt didn't realize that Robinson's best year was about to arrive: He won the Triple Crown in 1966, helping the Orioles win their 1st Pennant and their 1st World Series, and became the 1st man ever to win the MVP in both Leagues.

It would be many years, well into Robinson's career as MLB's 1st black manager, before he and the Reds organization made peace. He lived long enough to see them retire his Number 20 and dedicate a statue of him outside Great American Ballpark.

7. Carlton Fisk and Fred Lynn, Boston Red Sox, 1980. When Tom Yawkey owned the Red Sox from 1933 to 1976, he spent his vast fortune however he wanted, and gave his players nice salaries. When he died, his widow Jean inherited his fortune. She liked baseball, but liked Tom's money more. So she had her new general manager, Haywood Sullivan, lowball the players.

Unfortunately for Sox fans, Yawkey's death came just as free agency was taking shape in baseball. Big signings Bill Campbell (1976-77) and Mike Torrez (1977-78) didn't quite work out, and so Sullivan became reluctant to make any more big signings.

After the 1980 season, the contracts of catcher Fisk and center fielder Lynn, both among the best players in the game, and key figures on their 1975 team that won the Pennant and their 1977 and 1978 teams that just missed Division titles, expired. Sullivan mailed new contracts to them -- postmarked the day after the contractual deadline. In other words, they became free agents, not just because Sullivan and Mrs. Yawkey were cheap, but because Sullivan was spiteful.

Fisk signed with the Chicago White Sox, Lynn with the Angels. Lynn helped the Angels win the AL West in 1982. Fisk helped the ChiSox win the AL West in 1983, and ended up playing longer on the South Side than he did in the Back Bay. It would be 1986 before the Red Sox made the Playoffs again.

After Mrs. Yawkey's death, The Yawkey Trust straightened things out. Both players have been elected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, and Fisk's Number 27 has been retired.

6. Eric Lindros, Philadelphia Flyers, 2000. In 1992, Eric Lindros made his NHL debut, with the Philadelphia Flyers. In 1994, just 21 years old, he was named their Captain. In 1995, he got them to the NHL Eastern Conference Finals, and won the Hart Memorial Trophy as MVP. In 1997, he got them to the Stanley Cup Finals, In 1998, still only 25, he was ranked 54th on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

He looked like a sure bet to live up to his nickname: "The Next One," a reference to Wayne Gretzky being "The Great One." Along with Allen Iverson of the NBA's 76ers and Scott Rolen of baseball's Phillies, he seemed to be part of a triad that would make the early 21st Century a great time to be a sports fan in Philadelphia. The question wasn't if those guys would lead their teams to titles, but to how many.

As it turned out, only Rolen would ever win one -- and that would be in St. Louis. Things began to happen. In Lindros' case, it was injuries. It got to the point where one writer said, "This wasn't the next Gretzky. This wasn't even the first Lindros."

Flyer fans still love Bobby Clarke, their superstar captain of the 1970s. But they had no love for Bob Clarke, their general manager of the 1990s, even though it was the same guy, but with considerably less hair and considerably more wrinkles. Clarke -- one of the earliest athletes known to be playing with diabetes, and one of the top 5 players in the sport during the Nixon/Ford and Carter terms -- questioned Lindros' toughness.

Lindros' parents, who micromanaged his career, argued that the way the Flyer training staff handled an injury suffered in a game against the Nashville Predators late in the 1999 season nearly killed him. The doctors who treated him in Nashville backed them up. In 1999-2000, he suffered 2 concussions in the regular season, bringing his career total to 4, and he criticized Flyer trainers for improperly diagnosing him, and Flyer management for backing the trainers up.

Clarke decided that, rather than listening to his meal ticket, he should betray his status as a former player, and side with the organization, and punish him. A video was made of the Flyer equipment manager removing the C for Captain from Lindros' Number 88 jersey. The captaincy was handed to defenseman Eric Desjardins, a key figure in the Montreal Canadiens' 1993 Stanley Cup run, so if it had to go to someone else, that was a good choice. But stripping Lindros of the captaincy was a very petty thing to do, and unwarranted.

Lindros got clobbered by Scott Stevens in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Flyers lost to the New Jersey Devils. When Lindros could have played again is a matter of debate, but he would never wear Flyer Orange & Black in another competitive game.

He wanted the Flyers to trade him to his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs. They refused. So he sat out the entire 2000-01 season -- probably the best thing he could have done for his brain. Finally, they traded him to the Rangers, and he spent 3 seasons with them. After missing the 2004-05 season due to the lockout, he finally signed with the Leafs, but only played 1 season with them, and 1 more season with the Dallas Stars before retiring in 2007.

He ended up scoring 372 goals, a lot more than most players ever get, but a lot fewer than he was expected to. He never got a 2nd shot at the Stanley Cup Finals.

By 2011, he and the Flyers, long since having kicked Clarke upstairs into an advisory role with little power, had made peace, and he and Clarke played together in an alumni game as part of the celebrations of the 2012 NHL Winter Classic between the Flyers and the Rangers. (Lindros was 38, Clarke was 62.) He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016, and and Clarke played together in the Flyers' 50th Anniversary Alumni Game in 2017, and his Number 88 joined Clarke's 16 among the team's retired numbers in 2018.

5. Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings, 1957. The 1956-57 season was be Lindsay's 9th as an NHL All-Star. But it would also be the end of the line for him with the Wings. He had become active in the recently-formed NHL Players Association, and league management did what it then did best: It overreacted. On July 23, Wings owner Bruce Norris traded Lindsay and goaltender Glenn Hall to the then-weak Chicago Blackhawks for Johnny Wilson, Forbes Kennedy, Hank Bassen and Bill Preston.

For Hall, the trade made sense: The Wings had Terry Sawchuk, the best goalie in the sport at the time, and Hall thrived in Chicago, becoming a Hall-of-Famer himself. But for Lindsay, it was punishment: Essentially, Norris, one of the biggest jerks in the history of sports team ownership (and that's saying something), was telling him, "I consider union activism so much of a personal insult that I'm sending you to a crap team for 4 nobodies." (Wilson was a decent left wing, but center Kennedy and goalie Bassen were career backups, and Preston never played a shift in the NHL.)

It got worse: Jack Adams, general manager of the Wings, told the media that Lindsay had made defamatory comments against his old team, and showed them a fake contract, with a salary far higher than he had actually been paid.

Lindsay sued. The case could have broken the NHL wide open, especially since the Norris family also held the mortgages on Chicago Stadium, the Boston Garden, and even that era's Madison Square Garden -- effectively making Bruce Norris the most powerful American in hockey. Norris' lawyers told him to settle. In February 1958, he did: Most of the union's demands were met, and the accusations against Lindsay were retracted.

Norris sold the Wings in 1982. They didn't win the Stanley Cup again until 1997. Of course, it didn't help that they later also screwed over Lindsay's pal on the "Production Line":

4. Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings, 1973. After the 1971 season, his record 25th in the NHL, Gordie was convinced by a nagging wrist injury to retire at age 43. He was given a job in the Wings' front office, but, essentially, he was just a schmoozer, shaking hands with corporate clients at the Olympia, and allowing the Wings to put his magic name on their corporate letterhead.

Gordie grumbled about not having any actual input in the running of the organization. He wasn't the head coach, or an assistant coach, or the general manager, or the director of scouting, or anything of substance. In his words, he was "vice president in charge of paper clips."

The World Hockey Association launched for the 1972-73 season. Bill Dineen, a teammate of Gordie's on the '54 and '55 Cup winners, was named head coach of the WHA's Houston Aeros; another '55 (but not '54) teammate, Larry Hillman, was his assistant. In the 1973 WHA Draft, Dineen took Gordie's sons Mark and Marty.

To help the WHA get better publicity -- they'd already gotten Bobby Hull onto the Winnipeg Jets -- Dineen asked Gordie to come out of retirement. After talking to his wife Colleen, who was also his agent (a very rare thing for a woman at the time), he was willing to get surgery on his troubled wrist, and give it a shot.

Bruce Norris told the Howe family that if Gordie quit the Wings' front office and went to "the rebel league," not only would he be blackballed from the NHL, never to work in it again in any capacity, but that Mark and Marty would also be blackballed -- and since they were players just starting out, this would affect them much more.

In other words, he gave Gordie and Colleen an anti-incentive that would have hurt them personally much more than his own blackballing would have hurt Gordie, personally or professionally. It may not be the biggest dick move in the history of sports, but it's the best-known dick move in NHL history.

And it backfired. Few decisions in the history of sports have backfired this much. Gordie called Norris' bluff. He and his sons led the Aeros to the 1974 and 1975 WHA Championships. Gordie was named WHA MVP at age 45. Their MVP trophy was renamed the Gordie Howe Trophy. They got back to the Finals in 1976. Desperate for cash, the Aeros sold the Howes to the New England Whalers.

When the merger between the leagues happened, the Whalers were one of the teams admitted to the NHL. The other owners knew that Norris was as short on cash as the WHA owners were, and they set aside his unofficial ban, and cleared Gordie's Wings contract. The 1980 NHL All-Star Game was held in Detroit, and Gordie got a standing ovation that went on and on and on. I wonder if how bad it felt for Norris was more than how good it felt for Gordie. This was a bigger insult from fans to team owner than even the 1982 Yankee Fans gave Steinbrenner after Reggie's return homer.

Mike Ilitch, who bought the Wings from the Norris family, repaired relationships with several stars, including Howe, putting his Number 9 back in the rafters, and Lindsay, retiring his Number 7. He put statues of both at Joe Louis Arena, and they've been moved to Little Caesars Arena.

3. Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1956. Jackie had been brought to the Dodgers by team president and part-owner Branch Rickey. By being the team that reintegrated Major League Baseball, the Dodgers reached a special place in American lore, and Jackie Robinson was the reason why.

In 1950, Rickey was bought out by another part-owner, Walter O'Malley. O'Malley hated Rickey (and the feeling was mutual), and didn't trust any of Rickey's people, including Jackie. In 1954, O'Malley hired Walter Alston as manager, and while Alston's commitment to treating his players fairly regardless of race has never been seriously questioned, he seemed to be under O'Malley's orders to let Jackie know that his time was running out. Although the Dodgers finally won the World Series in 1955, Alston did not play Jackie in the deciding Game 7 on October 4.

In all fairness, Jackie had put on some weight, and his batting average dropped from .311 (which turned out to be his career average) in 1954 to .256 in '55. His last hurrah was driving in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning in Game 6 of the 1956 World Series, but in Game 7, on October 10, 1956, the Yankees shelled the Dodgers, 9-0. Jackie's last at-bat was the last out of the game, a strikeout, but Yogi dropped the 3rd strike. Remembering the Mickey Owen play from the 1941 Series between the teams, Jackie took off for 1st; but Yogi remembered it as well, got the ball, and threw him out.

On December 13, O'Malley traded Jackie to the arch-rival Giants for Dick Littlefield (you don't need to know anything else about him) and $30,000. Jackie's response to this F.U. from O'Malley was to F.U. him right back: He retired rather than report to the enemy. He had played 10 seasons, and was about to turn 38.

In 1972, with O'Malley still in charge, the Los Angeles edition of the Dodgers retired Jackie's Number 42. Later that year, Jackie died from complications of diabetes. A statue of Jackie now stands outside Dodger Stadium.

2. Norm Van Brocklin, Philadelphia Eagles, 1960. He was the 1st quarterback to lead to different teams to the NFL Championship: The 1951 Los Angeles Rams and the 1960 Philadelphia Eagles. This feat would not be matched until Peyton Manning did for the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos, in the 2015 season.

Van Brocklin knew he wanted to retire at the end of the 1960 season, so the Championship Game, a 17-13 win over the Green Bay Packers, would be his last game. He also knew that Buck Shaw, the head coach of the Eagles, was also retiring. Van Brocklin thought he had the inside track to being named the new head coach. After all, he had proven himself as a leader.

Instead, the Eagles hired Nick Skorich as their head coach. He led them for 3 seasons, dropping from 10-2 in 1960, the last year of the 12-game schedule, to 10-4 and 2nd place in the NFL Eastern Division in the 1st year of the 14-game schedule -- so far, not bad -- to a disastrous 3-10-1 in 1962 and 2-10-2 in 1963. It was the start of a 57-year title drought for the Broad Street Birds.

Van Brocklin did get a job offer, though, as the 1st head coach of the expansion Minnesota Vikings. He didn't do much better over those 3 years than did Skorich in Philadelphia, but did get the Vikes to 8-5-1 by 1964.

He later coached the Atlanta Falcons as well, but in 13 seasons as an NFL head coach, he was 37-49-3, with only 3 winning season: 1964 with Minnesota, 7-6-1 with the '71 Falcons, and 9-5 with the '73 Falcons. After losing 6 of his 1st 8 in 1974, he was fired, and never coached again. He was only 52.

If the Eagles had hired Van Brocklin, would they have done better? It's hard to say, as the New York Giants won 6 Division titles in 8 years, and by the time the Giants got old, the Cleveland Browns got good again.

But they certainly would have been better off with Van Brocklin instead of Skorich and his even worse successor, Joe Kuharich, the man who traded Sonny Jurgensen to Washington for Norm Snead, one of the worst trades in the history of the NFL.

It took the Eagles 57 years to win another title. Could it be called The Curse of the Dutchman? At any rate, there was never a reunion of the 1960 Eagles until the 25th Anniversary, 1985, 2 years after Van Brocklin's death. He was a charter inductee into the Eagles Hall of Fame in 1987, but his Number 11 has not been retired.

1. Tom Seaver, New York Mets, 1977. The man that Met fans called "Tom Terrific" and "The Franchise" thought he was underpaid. Given that he was the Mets' biggest drawing card, he was right: In the 8 home games that he started, the Mets got an average per-game attendance of 23,257; the 17 home games he didn't start, they averaged 11,913, about half as much.

Seaver wanted to remain a Met for the rest of his career, but wanted more money and over a longer period of time, guaranteed. He decided to go over the head of team president M. Donald Grant, and asked owner Lorinda de Roulet for a contract extension. She agreed to it. No problem, right?

Wrong: Grant acted as though he was the true owner of the Mets, and took this as a grave personal insult. (Well, maybe it was, but he deserved it.) Grant went to Dick Young, longtime baseball columnist for the Daily News. Once a liberal crusader who stood up for Jackie Robinson, Young was now 59 years old. Years of hard drinking had lined his face and turned his hair stark white. He had become embittered and conservative, as he saw what he called "my America" fading away.

Aside from possibly Whitey Ford, Seaver was the best pitcher that Young would ever see for a New York team, but he was now tight with Grant. Grant asked him to write a column smearing Seaver. Young didn't need much convincing. He probably traded it for a drink. He was probably happy to do it.

Here is a summary of the most infamous sports column in the history of New York newspapers, from the Daily News of June 15, 1977 -- at the time, June 15 was the trading deadline in MLB:

In a way, Tom Seaver is like Walter O’Malley. Both are very good at what they do. Both are very deceptive in what they say. Both are very greedy.

Greed is greed, whether it is manifested by an owner or a ballplayer...

Tom Seaver is after more money. He wants to break his contract with the Mets. “Renegotiate” is the pretty word he used for it in this time of pretty words.

So, Tom Seaver said, over and over, that the Mets were not competitive in the free agent field. He said the front office was not spending money the way it should. He made it appear that he wanted the money to be spent on others, but really he wanted it to be spent on him. He talked ideals, but actually he was talking hard cash.

Like O’Malley, Tom Seaver couldn’t say that out loud. How would it sound for Tom Terrific, All-American boy, to disavow a contract he had signed in good faith?...

“Tom, we can’t do that,” said Grant. “I have a board of directors to account for. Were you happy when you signed your contract?”

“Yes, I was, but things have changed.”

“You asked for more money than had ever been paid to any pitcher, and you got it.”

“That’s not so anymore,” said Seaver.

“Who gets more?”

“Tiant, Ryan, Tanana.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Grant, “but it was you who opted for a three year contract. If we renegotiate for you, we would have every player on the team in the office. Please see the light of day. I beg you to reconsider and be the Tom Seaver happy to play with the Mets.”

“You want me to be happy at your terms.”

“Yes, and you want to be happy only on your terms, and that’s a standoff. I have told you 10 times we don’t want to trade you. Of the cities you prefer, we have our best offer from Cincinnati. If that can crystallize, we’ll make it.”

Tom Seaver’s base pay is $225,000, and he could do $250,000 with a good year. Luis Tiant does not make $225,000. Frank Tanana, by threatening to play out his option, received a $1 million signing bonus from Gene Autry, but his base salary of $200,000 is below Seaver’s. Nolan Ryan is getting more now than Seaver, and that galls Tom because Nancy Seaver and Ruth Ryan are very friendly and Tom Seaver long has treated Nolan Ryan like a little brother.

It comes down to this: Tom Seaver is jealous of those who had the guts to play out their option or used the threat of playing it out as leverage for a big raise — while he was snug behind a three-year contract of his choosing. He talks of being treated like a man. A man lives up to his contract...

Young had lied through his dentures about what Seaver said, and his reasons for wanting to renegotiate. That was bad enough. But he had also brought Seaver's wife into the lies -- and Ryan's wife, too.

Young wrote about what "a man" does. A man may disagree with another man, but a man does not bring the other man's family into it. That is a line that a man does not cross. Ever.

You got a problem with someone? Fine. But leave the family out of it. By playing Major League Baseball, Tom Seaver had made himself a public figure. Nancy Seaver was not a public figure until Dick Young made her one, and for what? Selling a few newspapers, and doing his pal M. Donald Grant a big fat favor.

"That Young column was the straw that broke the back," Seaver told the Daily News in 2007, on the 30th Anniversary. "Bringing your family into it, with no truth whatsoever to what he wrote. I could not abide by that. I had to go."

Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon bought the team in 1980, and brought Seaver back in 1983 -- and then lost him due to a bureaucratic mixup. They retired his Number 41 in 1988, elected him to their team Hall of Fame, and invited him to throw out the last ball at Shea Stadium in 2008 and the first ball at Citi Field in 2009 and at the 2013 All-Star Game. Next year, a statue of him will be dedicated outside Citi Field.

*

So, out of the 9 earliest of these 10 stories, there were eventually happy endings with 8 of them. But the 1 that isn't is that of Norm Van Brocklin -- also an Eagles quarterback. Is that a bad sign for Foles?

It's highly unlikely that there will be any long-term feud between them. Most likely, there will be a reunion, if not while Foles is an active player.

Ted Lindsay, 1925-2019

Unlike the actor, from Nutley, New Jersey, who starred on Baretta, Ted Lindsay was born with the name Robert Blake. Also unlike that Robert Blake, Lindsay never killed anybody.

But he was tough, as a generation of hockey players found out. That was on the ice. Off the ice, he was tough when he had to be, and nice when that was called for.

Robert Blake Theodore Lindsay was born on July 29, 1925 in Renfrew, Ontario, west of Ottawa, and grew up far to the north, in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. I can find no reference to why he used "Ted" for Theodore, instead of "Bob" or "Bobby" for Robert, and it wasn't until 2004 that he legally changed his name to "Ted."

A left wing, he won the Memorial Cup, the championship of Canadian junior hockey, with the Oshawa Generals in 1944. That got the attention of the Detroit Red Wings, and he made his NHL debut the following season, 1944-45. The Wings reached the Stanley Cup Finals that season.

In 1946, Gordie Howe arrived on the Wings. He on the right, and Lindsay on the left, centered the veteran Sid Abel on a forward line. Tapping into Detroit's reputation as the world's leading automobile-building center, they became known as the Production Line. In 1947, he played in the 1st official NHL All-Star Game.

The Wings reached the Finals again on 1948 and 1949, but lost both times. In 1950, Lindsay led the NHL in scoring, winning the Art Ross Trophy with 23 goals and a League-leading 55 assists for 78 points, playing in 69 of the season's 70 regular season games.

Despite losing Howe to a nearly-fatal head injury (he returned the next season), the Wings got to the Finals again, and beat the New York Rangers on Game 7, on a double overtime goal by Pete Babando.

Lindsay started a tradition: Previously, the President of the NHL (Clarence Campbell at this point) had the Cup put on a table on the ice, and he handed it to the winning team's Captain, who held it up for photographs, and then it was put on the ice, and there was a team photo, and that was it. Lindsay -- Abel was still the Captain -- was the 1st player to pick the Cup up and skate around the ice with it, to let the fans have a closer look at it, what's known in English soccer as a "lap of honour."

"I recognized who was paying my salary," he said. "It wasn't the owners. I saw all the people sitting there, so I picked it up and took it to them." 

Lindsay was just 5-foot-8, and was listed at 168 pounds during his career, but was one of the toughest players in the game: "When I put my skates on, I'm 6-foot5." He earned the nickname "Terrible Ted" -- and, eventually, "Old Scarface," less because they thought he was as mean as 1920s Chicago gangster Al Capone, who was also known as "Scarface," but because the hazards of the game had rendered it literally true. Longtime team doctor John Finley said, "Terrible Ted had a face only a hockey mom could love."

The NHL tried to rein him in, instituting penalties for "elbowing" and "kneeing." But you know the old saying: "It ain't cheating if you don't get caught," and players continue to do those things today, when they think they can get away with it.

"I hated everybody I played against, and they hated me," he said. "That's the way hockey should be played."

Later, he said, "I've been slashed, speared, elbowed, board-checked, butt-ended and hit on the head as much as anyone. I just like to keep the ledger balanced."

In 1952, the Wings did something that had never been done before: With 2 rounds of Playoffs, each a best-4-out-of-7, they swept to the Cup in the minimum 8 games, beating first the Wings, then the Canadiens.

Pete Cusimano, owner of a local fish market, noted that an octopus has 8 legs, 1 for each necessary win. So he brought an octopus from his store to the Wings' arena, the Olympia Stadium, and threw it onto the ice. This started a rather disgusting tradition that the NHL has tried, without much success, to curb. It has been copied in other cities: Boston with lobster, Edmonton with steak, San Jose with a leopard shark (bigger than most of these, but smaller than most sharks), Nashville with catfish. (Did I mention that the tradition was disgusting?)

At any rate, the Wings completed the 8-game sweep. Only once more, in the 2-round structure of the Playoffs before the 1967 expansion, would a team go 8-0 in the Playoffs: The 1960 Canadiens.

After this, Sid Abel retired, and was replaced as the Wings' Captain by Lindsay, and as their top center by another future Hall-of-Famer, Alex Delvecchio. Lindsay-Delvecchio-Howe would become known as Production Line II. Later, after Lindsay had retired, the Wings would acquire another Hall-of-Famer, Frank Mahovlich, from the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Mahvolich-Delvecchio-Howe would be Production Line III.

The Wings lost in the Semifinals in 1953, but beat the Canadiens in the Finals in 1954 and 1955, making it 4 Cups in 6 years. In addition to Howe, Lindsay, Abel and Delvecchio, defensemen Leonard "Red" Kelly and Marcel Pronovost, and goaltender Terry Sawchuk, would all make the Hockey Hall of Fame. In other words, the Wings could field an entire starting lineup of future Hall-of-Famers.

In 1955, Wings coach Jimmy Skinner started another tradition: He kissed the Cup, and it was caught on film for the official newsreel. Players on the winning team have been kissing the Cup ever since.

The Wings couldn't make it 3 straight Cups in 1956, losing the Finals to the Canadiens, who began a streak of 5 straight Cups. But before that, they had to face the Leafs in the Semifinals. In Game 2 at the Olympia, Howe clobbered Toronto's Tod Sloan. A man who was never identified called one of the Toronto newspapers, and said, "Don't worry about Howe and Lindsay tonight. I'm going to shoot them if they play."

The paper publicized this, and Leafs owner Conn Smythe had police all over Maple Leaf Gardens. Howe and Lindsay played as if nothing was wrong: Ted said, "We figured it was a crank call, and didn't take it seriously."

The Leafs led 4-2 in the 3rd period. Gordie scored to make it 4-3. Ted scored the tying goal late in the 3rd period, and then the winning goal in overtime. As soon as his teammates had finished jumping on him in celebration, he held his stick like a rifle and pretended to shoot it at the fans.

"You gotta ask yourself one question:

'Do I feel lucky, eh?' Well, do ya, punk?"

Gordie later said, "We were lucky nobody threw a firecracker, or Ted and I would have dug a foxhole in the ice."

*

The 1956-57 season would be Lindsay's 9th as an NHL All-Star. But it would also be the end of the line for him with the Wings. He had become active in the recently-formed NHL Players Association, and league management did what it then did best: It overreacted. On July 23, Wings owner Bruce Norris traded Lindsay and goaltender Glenn Hall to the then-weak Chicago Blackhawks for Johnny Wilson, Forbes Kennedy, Hank Bassen and Bill Preston.

For Hall, the trade made sense: The Wings had Terry Sawchuk, the best goalie in the sport at the time, and Hall thrived in Chicago, becoming a Hall-of-Famer himself. But for Lindsay, it was punishment: Essentially, Norris, one of the biggest jerks in the history of sports team ownership (and that's saying something), was telling him, "I consider union activism so much of a personal insult that I'm sending you to a crap team for 4 nobodies." (Wilson was a decent left wing, but center Kennedy and goalie Bassen were career backups, and Preston never played a shift in the NHL.)

It got worse: Jack Adams, general manager of the Wings, told the media that Lindsay had made defamatory comments against his old team, and showed them a fake contract, with a salary far higher than he had actually been paid.

Lindsay sued. The case could have broken the NHL wide open, especially since the Norris family also held the mortgages on Chicago Stadium, the Boston Garden, and even that era's Madison Square Garden -- effectively making Bruce Norris the most powerful American in hockey. Norris' lawyers told him to settle. In February 1958, he did: Most of the union's demands were met, and the accusations against Lindsay were retracted.

Lindsay played 3 seasons in Chicago, and retired. CKLW-Channel 9, a TV station affiliated with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, transmitting from across the Detroit River from Detroit in Windsor, Ontario (it's now CBET), gave him his initial entry into hockey media, with a hockey-themed talk show on Saturday night, which preceded their broadcast of the CBC's most popular program, Hockey Night In Canada.

In 1964, with an aging Adams forced out (he died in 1968), Abel was now the Wings' GM, and brought Ted out of retirement for 1 more season. NHL President Clarence Campbell didn't think he could do it: "This is the blackest day in hockey history, when a 39-year-old man thinks he can make a comeback in the world's fastest sport."

Ted played in 69 out of 70 games, scored 14 goals, and assisted on 14 others. The Wings finished with the League's best overall record. Campbell conceded: "This is one of the most amazing feats in professional sports. I didn't think it could be done. He has to be rated a truly amazing athlete." Ted then retired for good, with 379 career goals and 472 assists, for 851 points.

*

He moved back into broadcasting, calling games for the Rangers on New York's WOR-Channel 9. His tagline was seeing someone getting away with a good hit with a stick, and saying, "That's laying the lumber on 'em!" From 1972 to 1977, he called games nationally for NBC. From 1977 to 1981, with he and Norris apparently having buried the hatchet, he was named general manager of the Wings. He was named NHL Executive of the Year in 1978, and even served as both GM and head coach in 1980.

In 1966, Ted was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. But when he found out that wives and children were not invited to the induction ceremony, he boycotted it. This was terribly embarrassing for the Hall, and the rule was changed for the next year. Ted and his wife Joanne never missed a ceremony until her death in 2017. Ted had a son Blake, daughters Lynn and Meredith, and a stepdaughter Lesli. He lived to see 6 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

In 1991, the Wings retired his Number 7. In 1998, The Hockey News ranked him 21st on their list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. In 2002, he was elected to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. In 2004, Canada Post issued a stamp with his picture on it. To put that in perspective: The U.S. Postal Service waits 10 years after a person's death before considering them for a stamp. (Exceptions are made for Presidents, whose stamps get issued the year after their deaths.)

At the retirement ceremony for Steve Yzerman's Number 19:

Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Ted Lindsay,

Sid Abel's son Gerry, and Terry Sawchuk's grandson Jonathan.

In 2008, a statue of him was dedicated at Joe Louis Arena, and it was moved to the Little Caesars Arena in 2017. That year, as part of the NHL's 100th Anniversary celebrations, he was named one of the League's 100 Greatest Players.

In 2010, in recognition of his actions in establishing the NHL Players Association, the NHLPA renamed the Lester B. Pearson Award, which had been named for Canada's Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963, the Ted Lindsay Award. While the Hart Memorial Trophy, the NHL's official most valuable player award (which he never won), is voted on by sportswriters, the Pearson/Lindsay Award is voted on by the players.

He became active in children's charities. In 2001, along with a friend, John Czarnecki, whose son Dominic had autism, he founded the Ted Lindsay Foundation, to study the condition in the hopes of finding a cure.

Ted Lindsay lived to see the Wings win the Stanley Cup 4 more times, in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008. He died this past Monday, March 4, 2019, in the Detroit suburb of Oakland, Michigan. He was 93 years old.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman -- no friend of the NHLPA -- said, "One of the game’s fiercest competitors during his 17-season NHL career, he was among its most beloved ambassadors throughout the more than five decades of service to hockey that followed his retirement."

Nicklas Lidstrom, Red Wings Hall-of-Famer: "A fierce competitor and a true gentleman off the ice. I will forever remember the conversations I had with this great man."

Pavel Datsyuk, recently retired Red Wings star: "World lost a legend Ted Lindsay. Ted was always kind, modest and a total role model. Rest In Peace my friend!"

Chris Chelios, Blackhawks and Red Wings Hall-of-Famer: "I'll never forget our conversations and what he meant to me. He was a mentor."

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils Hall-of-Famer: "Sad to hear about the passing of the great Ted Lindsay. He had a tremendous impact on hockey.  Condolences to Ted’s Family."

Eric Lindros, Philadelphia Flyers Hall-of-Famer, and a former ombudsman for the NHLPA: "Not to overlook his playing ability but every player that has played pro hockey continues to benefit because of Ted Lindsay’s determination to seek fairness. Thank you Mr Lindsay. Rest In Peace."

Alexander Ovechkin, Captain of the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Washington Capitals: "Obviously it’s hard news. He was a legend in the hockey world. Obviously, I was excited to meet him, and I'm going to remember for all my life."

Bob McKenzie, hockey announcer for TSN, Canada's version of ESPN: "The face and spirit of hockey has left us."

In the headline of his obituary of Ted for the Detroit Free Press, Bill McGraw called him, "A badass on ice, a gentleman off." Given the nature of hockey, that might be the highest possible praise.

Red Wings retired numbers: 5, Nicklas Lidstrom; 19, Steve Yzerman; 

12, Sid Abel; 1, Terry Sawchuk; 10, Alex Delvecchio; 7, Ted Lindsay;

and 9, Gordie Howe. They have since added 4 for Red Kelly.

*

With Ted's death, there are 4 surviving players from the 1950 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings: Red Kelly, Marty Pavelich, Pete Babando and Doug McKay. There are 5 players left from the 1952 Stanley Cup Champion Red Wings: Kelly, Pavelich, Glenn Hall, Alex Delvecchio and Vic Stasiuk.

There are 5 players left from the 1954 Stanley Cup Champion Red Wings: Kelly, Pavelich, Delvecchio, Stasiuk and Dave Gatherum. And there are 6 players left from the 1955 Stanley Cup Champion Red Wings: Kelly, Pavelich, Delvecchio, Stasiuk, Marcel Bonin and Larry Hillman.

And Howie Meeker, also the last surviving member of the Toronto Maple Leafs' Stanley Cup winners of 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1951, is now the last surviving player from the 1st official NHL All-Star Game in 1947.

UPDATE: Ted Lindsay's final resting place is not publicly known.