It must be something about the seasons changing, as I sadly report the fourth death this week of a Major Leaguer from the 1950's. Former New York Yankee catcher / outfielder Johnny Blanchard has died at the age of 76 in Robbinsdale, MN. Blanchard was signed by the Yankees in 1951, and made his debut in 1955 after serving the prior two seasons in the Korean War.
He spent most of his eight MLB seasons with the Yankees, playing in five World Series from 1960-1964. He had a sparkling performance in the 1961 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, where he hit two home runs to lead the Yankees to victory in five games.
Hall of Fame 3rd Baseman and legendary Detroit Tigers announcer George Kell has passed away at the age of 86. Kell was a humble presence as the voice of the Tigers alongside Ernie Harwell. A class act, Kell was generous with his fans, answering large quantities of his fan mail with personal notes in response to their queries. He donated a lot of the money he would receive from fans seeking his signature to local churches in his home of Swifton, Arkansas.
The ten time All-Star made his debut with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1943. He was traded to Detroit in 1946, where he had the opportunity to blossom, making his first All-Star team in 1947. In 1949, he won the American League batting title by less than two-ten-thousandths of a point over Ted Williams. He also played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles before retiring after the 1957 season. He finished with a career average of .306. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1983.
Flowers spent 15 seasons in professional baseball from 1945-1960, with parts of four seasons in the major leagues. Flowers pitched in the majors for the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies. He held the American League record for pitching in nine consecutive games in 1953 until it was broken by Dale Mohorcic in 1986.
I had the opportunity to interview Bennett Flowers in October of 2008 regarding his experiences playing professional baseball, serving in WWII and his successes selling electric motors and parts after baseball.
He signed after trying out in front of 16 different scouts in 1945 with the Boston Red Sox organization to play in Roanoke for an $8,500 bonus. At that tryout, the Red Sox didn't even have an official team representative there, it was a college coach from the University of North Carolina who was also a scout that signed Flowers to the Red Sox. The following year, he enlisted in WWII at Fort Bragg, and wound up in Fort Benning as a paratrooper. Upon returning from his military service, he quickly ascended up the ranks of the Red Sox organization. He posted a 17-8 record in 1951 at Scranton, which was enough for the Red Sox to call him up at the end of the season.
Here is the contract from the Boston Red Sox that purchased him from the Scranton team that season.
Reflecting on his career, he had great memories of playing with Hall of Fame teammates such as Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Robin Roberts, Al Kaline and Jim Bunning.
Below is a short video clip of Flowers throwing out the first pitch at a minor league game on his 80th birthday. My condolences go out to the family of Mr. Flowers. A true gentleman from baseball's "golden era."
MLB.com reports that catcher Ivan Rodriguez will sign with the Astros pending a physical exam after the World Baseball Classic. "Pudge" is currently batting .600 for the Puerto Rican team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The Astros have been auditioning many of their prospects in hopes of solidifying the catching position after the departure of Brad Ausmus to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Houston was one of the few teams able to offer Rodriguez their number one catching position. Hopefully durability is not an issue, as Rodriguez will be entering his 19th Major League season. His recent performance at the WBC hopefully indicates that Pudge is poised to have a strong 2009 season after batting .219 during the last two of months of 2008 with the Yankees.
While Pedro Martinez's audition at the World Baseball Classic was unexpectedly cut short by the Dominican Republic's elimination at the hands of the Netherlands, hopefully his six scoreless innings of relief piqued the interest of a GM willing to take a flyer on the three-time Cy Young Award winner. His former Mets manager Jerry Manuel has already went on record saying that he is not interested in bringing Martinez back to the New York, however, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti expressed some interest in a recent LA Times interview. Colletti said, "He's someone we're curious about." If and when that curiosity turns into courtship, only time will tell.
Martinez still has the guile and tenacity to make himself effective against Major League hitters, but he has to prove that he is fully recovered from his arm injury and can withstand the rigors of an entire Major League season. Martinez has said that he is looking for much more than what Tom Glavine accepted, which was $1 million for the upcoming season. With rosters and payrolls close to being set, Martinez will likely have to come down on his asking price for teams to take a chance on him for 2009.
It must be something about the seasons changing, as I sadly report the fourth death this week of a Major Leaguer from the 1950's. Former New York Yankee catcher / outfielder Johnny Blanchard has died at the age of 76 in Robbinsdale, MN. Blanchard was signed by the Yankees in 1951, and made his debut in 1955 after serving the prior two seasons in the Korean War.
