* December 6, 1985: Burleigh Grimes, 92, the last survivor of the 17 pitchers who were still allowed to throw one of the altered pitches that fell under the category of "spitball" after they were outlawed in 1920. 65 years. The Hall-of-Famer, who pitched most of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, including winning the 1931 World Series, and won 270 games, was also the last active pitcher allowed to do it, retiring after the 1934 season.
* July 28, 1986: Joe Oeschger, 94, the last survivor from the longest game in MLB history, 26 innings, finally called due to darkness, with Oeschger going the distance for the Boston Braves, and Leon Cadore going the distance for the Brooklyn Dodgers. 66 years. Both pitchers missed a start, but still had good seasons after that.
* August 17, 1986: Sammy Vick, 91, the last surviving player from the game in which Ray Chapman became the 1st player to sustain a fatal injury in an MLB game, August 16, 1920. 66 years. Vick played for the Yankees against Chapman's Cleveland Indians, who won 4-3. Carl Mays hit Chapman in the head with a pitch -- unintentionally, Mays always insisted -- and Chapman died the next day.
* March 14, 1988: Zeb Terry, 96, the last surviving teammate of Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was banned from baseball in 1920. 68 years. An infielder, Terry was a teammate of Jackson on the 1917 World Champion Chicago White Sox, but was with Pittsburgh when Jackson was (accused of) throwing the 1919 World Series.
* March 21, 1988: Edd Roush, 94, the last surviving player from the Federal League of 1914 and 1915, having played for the Pennant-winning Indianapolis Hoosiers in 1914, and moved with them to become the Newark Bears in 1915. 73 years.
He was also the last survivor of the 1919 World Champion Cincinnati Reds. 69 years. He insisted to the end of his life that they would have won the World Series even if the Chicago White Sox had played to win all the way. He was also the last surviving teammate of Christy Mathewson, who closed his career with the Reds in 1916. 72 years. Roush also threw out the first ball before the last game at Cincinnati's Crosley Field in 1970.
With a .323 lifetime batting average, and one of the best outfield arms anyone had ever seen at that point, he was generally considered to be the Reds' greatest player ever before the Big Red Machine of the 1970s, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
* July 14, 1988: Lawton "Whitey" Witt, 92, the last surviving player from the 1923 New York Yankees, meaning he was the last survivor of the 1st game at the original Yankee Stadium on April 18, and of the 1st Yankee team to win the World Series, on October 15. 65 years.
* January 9, 1989: Bill Terry, 90, the last surviving player mentioned in Ogden Nash's 1949 poem "Line-Up for Yesterday." 40 years. The Hall of Fame 1st baseman for the New York Giants (Nash's favorite team) was also the last player to bat .400 for a full season in the National League, in 1930.
* May 17, 1989: George "Specs" Toporcer, 90, the last surviving baseball player interviewed by Lawrence S. Ritter for his book The Glory of Their Times, published on September 26, 1966. 23 years. An infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, he was the 1st player known to have worn glasses on the field, hence his nickname.
He was also the last surviving player from their 1926 team that won the World Series, which included Grover Cleveland Alexander's strikeout of Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded in the 7th inning of Game 7. 63 years.
* February 3, 1990: Erv Kantlehner, 97, the last surviving teammate of Honus Wagner, who retired in 1917. 73 years. A pitcher, Kantlehner was with the Flying Dutchman on the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1914, '15 and '16.
* April 22, 1993: Mark Koenig, 88, the last surviving player from the 1927 World Champion New York Yankees, a.k.a. Murderers' Row, often called the greatest baseball team ever. 66 years. He was also the last surviving player from Game 7 of the 1926 World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals' 1st World Series win, featuring baseball's most famous strikeout (other than the fictional one of "the Mighty Casey"), Grover Cleveland Alexander fanning Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded in the 7th inning and the Cards up 3-2. And he was the last survivor of the Yankees' 1928 World Series win, too.
* November 12, 1993: Bill Dickey, 86, the last surviving player to have played for the Yankees under manager Miller Huggins, in 1928 and 1929. 64 years.
* June 27, 1997: Ray Benge, 95, the last surviving teammate of Grover Cleveland Alexander, who retired in 1930. 67 years. Benge and Alexander both pitched on the 1930 Philadelphia Phillies.
* September 26, 1997: Elwood "Woody" English, 91, the last surviving player from the 1st Major League Baseball All-Star Game, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, July 6, 1933. 64 years. He was a shortstop for the Chicago Cubs. He was also the last surviving player from Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, which featured Babe Ruth's "Called Shot."
* September 17, 1998: Chet "Red" Hoff, 107, the last surviving Yankee to have played under the New York Highlanders name, 1912. 86 years. He was also the last surviving player from the 1910s, and thus the last surviving player from the Dead Ball Era. 79 years.
Despite being teammates on the 1915 St. Louis Browns, in George Sisler's rookie season, Hoff turned out to be Sisler's last surviving teammate. He is also believed to be the longest-lived MLB player ever.
* March 8, 1999: Joe DiMaggio, 84, the last surviving inductee into Monument Park at Yankee Stadium prior to its closing for renovation, September 30, 1973. 26 years. Miller Huggins died in 1929, Jacob Ruppert in 1939, Lou Gehrig in 1941, Babe Ruth in 1948, Ed Barrow in 1953, Pope Paul VI in 1978, and Mickey Mantle in 1995.
He was also the last surviving player from the "Greatest Players Ever" list chosen for the 100th Anniversary of professional baseball in 1969. He was chosen as the "Greatest Living Player," and he insisted upon being introduced as such for the rest of his life.
* April 1, 2001: Joe "Jo-Jo" Moore, 92, the last surviving player who had played for the New York Giants under manager John McGraw, who retired in 1932. 69 years. He was an outfielder, made 6 All-Star Games, and helped McGraw's successor, Bill Terry, win the 1933 World Series.
* March 7, 2002: Mickey Haslin, 92, the last surviving player from MLB's 1st night game, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, May 24, 1935. 67 years. An infielder, he drove in the Phillies' run in a 2-1 loss to the Reds.
* April 3, 2002: Karl Swanson, 101, the last surviving player who had played for the Chicago White Sox under founding owner and ballpark namesake Charlie Comiskey, who died in 1931. 71 years. Swanson was a 2nd baseman, who had played for the Pale House in 1928 and '29.
* July 5, 2002: Ted Williams, 83, the last man to bat .400 for a full season in 1941. 61 years.
* September 25, 2002: Ray Hayworth, 98, the last surviving teammate of Ty Cobb, who retired in 1928. 74 years. A catcher, he was a rookie on the Detroit Tigers in 1926, Cobb's last season with them, before closing his career with 2 seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics.
* January 2, 2004: Paul Hopkins, 99, the last pitcher who gave up one of Babe Ruth's 60 home runs in the 1927 season. 76 years. At the time, he pitched for the Washington Senators. This also made him the last surviving teammate of Walter Johnson. Tris Speaker was also on that '27 Senators team, before closing his career with Cobb on the '28 A's, so Hopkins was also Speaker's last living teammate.
* October 30, 2005: Al López, 97, the last surviving player from the 1920s. 75 years.
* July 22, 2007: Rollie Stiles, 100, the last surviving teammate of Rogers Hornsby, who last played in 1937. 70 years. He pitched for player-manager Hornsby on the 1933 St. Louis Browns.
* January 22, 2009: Bill Werber, 100, the last surviving teammate of Babe Ruth, playing for the Yankees in the 1930 and 1933 seasons. Ruth played his last game on May 30, 1935, so, 74 years. Werber also won the 1940 World Series with the Cincinnati Reds.
* December 1, 2009: Tommy Henrich, 96, the last surviving player from, and the beneficiary of, The Mickey Owen Game, Game 4 of the World Series, October 5, 1941. 68 years. He was also the last survivor of the Yankees' 1937, 1938, 1939 and 1941 World Champions. This also made him the last surviving Yankee who had played for team owner Jacob Ruppert. And the last surviving teammate of Lou Gehrig.
* August 9, 2010: Gene Hermanski, 90, the last surviving player from Jackie Robinson's debut, April 15, 1947. 63 years.
* December 15, 2010: Bob Feller, 92, the last pitcher to have given up a hit to Joe DiMaggio during his 56-game hitting streak in 1941. 69 years. He was probably the best pitcher in baseball at the time. He also turned out to be the last player interviewed for Chicago Daily News sports editor John P. Carmichael's 1945 book My Greatest Day In Baseball.
* February 18, 2011: Buddy Lewis, 94, the last surviving player from Lou Gehrig's last game, on April 30, 1939. 72 years. A 3rd baseman for the Washington Senators, he also turned out to be the last player in the doubleheader played on Lou Gehrig Day on July 4, 1939.
* February 2, 2014: Ralph Kiner, 91, the last survivor from the New York Mets' original broadcasting trio that lasted from 1962 to 1979. 48 years. Lindsey Nelson died in 1995, Bob Murphy in 2004. Kiner was also a Hall of Fame slugging outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
* May 8, 2014: Charlie Mead, 93, the last surviving teammate of Mel Ott, who last played in 1947. 67 years. They played together on the New York Giants in 1943, '44 and '45.
* September 22, 2015: Yogi Berra, 90, the last surviving player from Game 3 of the 1947 World Series, the Bill Bevens Game. 68 years. He caught Bevens in that near-no-hitter. Bobby Brown, the last survivor of the Al Gionfriddo Game, did not play in the Bill Bevens Game. He was also the last survivor of the game where the Dodgers won their only World Series, Game 7, October 4, 1955, the Johnny Podres Game. 60 years.
* January 11, 2016: Monte Irvin, 96, the last living player who was a player in the Negro Leagues and elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, prior to the desegregation of the game in 1947. 69 years.
* November 23, 2016: Ralph Branca, 90, the last surviving member of the 1st desegregated Major League Baseball team, the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers. 69 years.
* April 28, 2017: Luis Olmo, 97, the last surviving MLB player who "jumped" to the Mexican League in 1946, a.k.a. "the Mexican Jumping Beans." 71 years. One of the earliest Puerto Ricans in MLB, he had been a star outfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
* November 13, 2017: Bobby Doerr, 99, the last surviving MLB player from the 1930s. 78 years. With the 1941 Boston Red Sox, he became the last player on the team for which Ted Williams batted .406, and the last surviving teammate of Lefty Grove. 76 years. With the 1945 Red Sox, he became the last surviving teammate of Jimmie Foxx. 72 years.
With the 1949 Red Sox, he became the last surviving player from the 1949 Pennant-decider against the Yankees. 68 years. For the moment, he is also the longest-lived member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
* January 1, 2020: Don Larsen, 90, the last surviving player from the perfect game that he pitched for the Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series, still the only no-hitter in World Series history, October 8, 1956. 63 years.
Larsen was also the last surviving player in the trade with the Kansas City Athletics that brought Roger Maris to the Yankees, on December 11, 1959. 60 years. He and Hank Bauer were the most prominent players going to Kansas City.
* October 8, 2020: Edward "Whitey" Ford, 92, the last surviving player among the Yankees who were involved in what became known as "The Copacabana Incident" at the Copacabana nightclub in Midtown Manhattan, May 16, 1957. 63 years.
Billy Martin died in 1989, Mickey Mantle in 1995, Hank Bauer in 2007, Johnny Kucks in 2013 and Yogi Berra in 2015. The wives of all except Martin, then between marriages, were also there, and Ford outlived all of them as well.
* March 25, 2021: Bobby Brown, 96, the last surviving teammate of Bill Dickey, debuting with the Yankees in Dickey's last season, 1946. 75 years. He was also the last surviving player in Game 6 of the 1947 World Series, the Al Gionfriddo Game; and the last surviving player on the Yankees' World Series winners of 1947, 1949, 1950 and 1951.
* May 5, 2021: Del Crandall, 91, the last surviving player from the Boston Braves, who moved to Milwaukee after the 1952 season. 69 years. He was the catcher on their team that won the 1957 World Series.
*
Alive as of May 6, 2021:
* Eddie Basinski, 98, is the last surviving player from the "tricornered game" in which the Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants each played 6 innings at the Polo Grounds, to raise money for war bonds, June 26, 1944. 77 years.
A Dodger infielder, Basinski is also the last survivor of the 1930s and '40s players mentioned in Dave Frishberg's song "Van Lingle Mungo."
(UPDATE: Basinski died on January 8, 2022.)
* Eddie Robinson, 100, is the oldest living former MLB player, and the earliest surviving player for a World Series winner, the Cleveland Indians of 1948. 73 years. (UPDATE: He died on October 4, 2021.)
* Bobby Shantz, 95, the last surviving player to have played for owner-manager Connie Mack on the Philadelphia Athletics, October 1, 1950. 71 years. Pitching for Mack's replacement, Jimmy Dykes, Shantz won the 1952 American League MVP, and later helped the Yankees win the 1956 and '58 World Series.
Robinson, Shantz, Bill Wilson, Art Ditmar and Bill Harrington are the last 5 surviving former Philadelphia Athletics. (UPDATE: Ditmar died on June 11, 2021, and Robinson died on October 4, 2021, leaving 3: Shantz, Wilson and Harrington.)
* Curt Simmons, 91, the last surviving player from the Philadelphia Phillies' 1950 Pennant-winning "Whiz Kids." 71 years.
* Tommy Brown, 93, the last surviving player from the Dick Sisler Game, where Sisler's 10th inning home run against the Dodgers gave the Phillies the 1950 Pennant. 70 years. With some irony, Brown had been the 2nd-youngest player in MLB history, debuting at age 16 with the 1944 Dodgers.
* Charlie Maxwell, 94, the last surviving player from 3 notable Yankee games in 1951. 70 years. An outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, he played on April 17, making him the last survivor from the 1st MLB game for Mickey Mantle, and the Yankees' 1st game with Bob Sheppard as the public address announcer at Yankee Stadium.
And on September 28, he played in a doubleheader. The opener was Allie Reynolds' 2nd no-hitter of the season. The nightcap was the Pennant clincher. He is also 1 of 14 surviving teammates of Ted Williams.
* Art Schallock, 97, the last surviving teammate of Joe DiMaggio, who last played in 1951. 70 years. A pitcher, Schallock is also the last survivor of the Yankees' 1953 World Series winners. He was not on the Series roster in 1951 or '52.
* Carl Erskine, 94, the last survivor of the Brooklyn Dodger players Roger Kahn profiled in his book The Boys of Summer, having covered the team for the New York Herald Tribune in 1952 and '53. 68 years.
* There are 5 remaining players from the St. Louis Browns, who moved to become the Baltimore Orioles after the 1953 season: Outfielder George Elder, 100; outfielder Frank Saucier, 94; outfielder Johnny Groth, also 94; 1st baseman Ed Mickelson, also 94; and infielder Billy Hunter, about to turn 93.
Hunter is also the last surviving player from the biggest trade in baseball history, 17 players between the Baltimore Orioles and the Yankees, December 18, 1954. Among the players joining Hunter in going from Venable Park to the South Bronx was Don Larsen. Hunter would later become known as the 3rd base coach for the 1966-71 quasi-dynasty on the Orioles, and briefly as the manager of the Texas Rangers.
Groth and Basinski are also the last 2 surviving teammates of Hank Greenberg, on the 1947 Pittsburgh Pirates. 74 years.
(UPDATE: Groth died on August 7, 2021, leaving Basinski as Greenberg's last remaining teammate. Basinski died on January 8, 2022. Elder died on July 7, 2022, leaving 3 living former Browns: Saucier, Mickelson and Hunter.)
* There are 13 surviving players from the Brooklyn Dodgers, who were moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season, 64 years: Chris Haughey, Eddie Basinski, Tommy Brown, Bobby Morgan, Tim Thompson, Jim Gentile, Joe Pignatano, Don Demeter, Carl Erskine, Fred Kipp, Bob Aspromonte, Roger Craig and Sandy Koufax. (UPDATE: Tim Thompson died on October 25, 2021. Don Demeter died on November 29, 2021. Basinski's death brings the number down to 10.)
Brown, Morgan, Thompson, Demeter, Erskine, Aspromonte, Craig and Koufax are the last 8 surviving teammates of Jackie Robinson. (UPDATE: The deaths of Thompson and Demeter brings it down to 6.)
* There are 11 surviving players from the New York Giants, who were moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season, 64 years: Billy Gardner, Joey Amalfitano, Pete Burnside, Ozzie Virgil Sr., Ray Crone, Jackie Brandt, Al Worthington, Eddie Bressoud, Joe Margoneri, Bill White and Willie Mays. (UPDATE: Burnside died on August 26, 2022, leaving 10.)
* There are 2 surviving players from the baseball-themed game show Home Run Derby, which aired in syndication from January 9 to July 2, 1960, 61 years: Willie Mays and Rocky Colavito.
* From the Bill Mazeroski Game, October 13, 1960, 61 years ago, there are 12 survivors. The Pittsburgh Pirates have 7: Mazeroski himself, Dick Groat, Bill Virdon, Bob Skinner, Joe Christopher, Vernon Law and Roy Face. The Yankees have 5: Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek, Hector Lopez, Bobby Shantz and Ralph Terry. (UPDATE: Virdon died on November 23, 2021. Terry died on March 16, 2022. This leaves 10, 6 Pirates and 4 Yankees.)
* From the game where Roger Maris hit his 61st home run of the season, October 1, 1961, 60 years ago, there are 5 survivors: 4 Yankees, Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek, Hector Lopez and Jack Reed; and Red Sock Carl Yastrzemski.
* There are 5 surviving players from the New York Mets' 1st game, an 11-4 loss to the Cardinals at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, April 11, 1962. 59 years. For the Mets: Roger Craig, Felix Mantilla and Frank Thomas. For the Cardinals: Julian Javier and Bill White.
* Denny McLain, 77, is the last surviving pitcher to have won 30 games in a season, going 31-6 to help the Detroit Tigers win the 1968 World Series. 53 years.
