The Death of Lyman Bostock

[splitterpfj]

I'm 45, I remember this well. For those of you who don't, Lyman was a great young ballplayer, and FWIW, he nearly signed with the Brewers prior to the 1978 season. Larry Hisle was Lyman's best friend, and when he chose Milwaukee, he tried to convince Bostock to join him here.

 

This whole thing was just crazy...and it still is.

 

http://www.baseballintheblood.com/?p=809

[TURBO]

Thanks for that article...

 

I remember this clearly, and still have the newspaper clipping with the photo of the bullet hole in the car window.

 

I was 12 years old, and this was just horrifying to me, as an innocent pre-teen and a baseball fan.

 

Very sad, even to this day.

[RockCoCougars]

I remember catching this story on ESPN, I have to give credit where credit is due, it was very well done. It makes my blood boil that his killer walked free. Bostock is largely forgotten, and that's too bad. One thing that I've never been able to figure out was how he became a free agent after only three seasons in the bigs. My guess is that the tightwad owner of the Twins must have failed to offer him a qualifying contract or something. Back then, guys could play without a contract (play out their option) for a season to get into the free agent draft, but I always thought that there were service time requirements.

[reillymcshane]

Great story. I was 16 at the time. I remember Bostock - how he signed with the Angels as a free agent, gave away a month's check because he was doing so bad - and then the murder.

 

Thanks for the post.

[502 to Right]

I'm 42 and the first time I learned that famous athletes could die was when Thurman Munson died in 1979. I guess I was a year too young to learn about Lyman Bostock.

[Nottso]

"I was going to write an article on this, but there is no need, I can’t say it any better than this…"

 

Bravo. The story you deferred to was indeed well written; and sadly, most of the hacks out there today could not have resisted the urge to add their own take or spin to it. This type of humility should serve you well. Seriously. Well done.

[LaprilOne]

Thank your for this post. Sad story, yet well written story. It makes for a good tribute.

[splitterpfj]

Thank you all for the compliments.

 

That whole story is just crazy...wrong place, wrong time. The man who shot him died of natural causes in 2010.

[StearnsFTW]

This broke my heart when it happened. I was 9 years old and he was my favorite non-Brewer player.

 

RIP Lyman.

[MNBrew]

Incredibly sad & touching story. Thanks for sharing the link.