http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=h...dies-treasured-white-sox-ballplayer.html?_r=0
I am posting this because when I was a kid his was one of the first baseball cards that I owned, a 1953 card. He is the only player to have played in the majors in five separate decades, first showing up in the majors in 1949, being active as a player throughout the fifties and most of the sixties. He was than activated as a publicity stunt in 1976 so that it could be said that he played in four decades. He was a coach in the majors in 1980, and in a season going nowhere for the team, the Sox activated him again and he pinch hit in a couple of games to achieve the fifth decade.
He was ne of those guys who had a long and good career, but since his career paralleled Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Musial, Williams he was not deemed Hall OF Fame caliber.
His age when he died is uncertain, just as uncertain as Satchell Paige's was. He said he was born in any of the years from 1922-1925, and perhaps he really did not know.
RIP Minnie, at age 89-93. You remind me of how long I have loved baseball.
I am posting this because when I was a kid his was one of the first baseball cards that I owned, a 1953 card. He is the only player to have played in the majors in five separate decades, first showing up in the majors in 1949, being active as a player throughout the fifties and most of the sixties. He was than activated as a publicity stunt in 1976 so that it could be said that he played in four decades. He was a coach in the majors in 1980, and in a season going nowhere for the team, the Sox activated him again and he pinch hit in a couple of games to achieve the fifth decade.
He was ne of those guys who had a long and good career, but since his career paralleled Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Musial, Williams he was not deemed Hall OF Fame caliber.
His age when he died is uncertain, just as uncertain as Satchell Paige's was. He said he was born in any of the years from 1922-1925, and perhaps he really did not know.
RIP Minnie, at age 89-93. You remind me of how long I have loved baseball.
