ARTICLE: Death of a Shortstop

[Brian the Automator]

Thanks to Todd for his latest article:

 

LINK

 

Pretty eerie timing with the Mike Coolbaugh story.

[splitterpfj]

That is very strange. I finished up, emailed the article to Brian, then immediately read the news about Coolbaugh.

 

As rare as this stuff is, that's a little freaky.

 

I hope you enjoy the article.

 

-Todd

[jaybird2001wi]

The Brewers issued a small statement on the death of former infielder Mike Coolbaugh per milwaukeebrewers.com.

 

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Brewers organization offers their deepest condolences to the family of Mike Coolbaugh, a former player for the organization who passed away Sunday night.

"We came to know Mike both from his time with the Brewers and the Texas Rangers organization, and the news has hit us very hard," said Brewers Special Assistant to the General Manager and Director of Player Development Reid Nichols. "Mike was a kind and hard working individual who lived life and played the game with great passion. He will be greatly missed."

[JimH5]

Good article on the story of Chapman and Mays.

 

FYI--Mike Sowell also wrote a terrific book "July 2, 1903: The mysterious Death of Hall-of-Famer Big Ed Delahanty".

 

I believe it's now out of print (not absolutely sure), but I have seen it in used book stores. It was published by Macmillan and was released in 1992.

 

It's a great read on the wild raucous times in early baseball history, and of course Delahanty.

 

I'm also just finishing a Hack Wilson biography called "Fouled Away: The Baseball Tragedy of Hack Wilson" by Clifton Blue Parker. It was published by McFarland in 2000.

 

Both terrific stories that describe the harshness of everyday life not all that long ago--and a couple of brilliant but flawed star players.

[hawing]

My library has both of the books JimH refers to. Send me a PM if you need information on how to borrow.

[splitterpfj]

Thanks for mentioning those two books, I had already planned to read both.

 

That era has always held my interest, when I see the enormous money and luxury in today's game, I'm fascinated by the stories of grandfathers and great-grandfathers who dealt with such a completely different world.

 

When we discuss arbitration, signing bonuses and free agency, imagine a world where a $3,000 World Series share had a real impact on a player's life.