Enough is enough.
Many people are going to have 2020 etched in their memories for a lot of different reasons. I’ve had friends and family members pass away and it was difficult.
Although many hoped for better things in 2021, not much seems to have changed in the baseball world this month.
My childhood heroes are leaving us and it’s tough to watch as the list continues to grow.
Of course, members of the Baseball Hall of Fame have passed away since my youth. It was always sad to hear people discussing their exploits and many are legendary.
As a child in the 1970s, players like Dizzy Dean, Nellie Fox, Lefty Grove and even a recently discovered cousin in my family tree, Earle Combs, all passed away.
The difference for me is that I really had no connection to those players other than what I had read.
Roberto Clemente was not a member of the Hall of Fame when he died in 1972. He would soon be enshrined, but it was devastating as an nine-year old.
I had actual memories of watching him play in the 1971 World Series and a year later in the National League playoffs against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Hammer
Hank Aaron was always a hero to me, so his passing gives me that same feeling the day I read about Clemente’s plane crash.
As an adult many years later, it was awesome to stand in the parking lot at Turner Field and see the place where the 715th homer happened.
I remember that 1974 home run like it was yesterday. It was spring break and I was staying with my aunt and uncle. I was sitting on the living room floor until Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing threw the ball that became the most historic baseball moment of my childhood.
Watching it now thanks to the Internet, my thoughts go back to jumping up and down in front of the television and yelling.
The New List
Tommy Lasorda and Don Sutton were part of the hated Dodgers in the 1970s for this young Reds fan … but … ugh.
Lasorda was one of the great characters of the game, while I always enjoyed Sutton as a broadcaster. Those two were also part the night of Aaron’s blast that moved him past Babe Ruth.
The 2020 List
Whitey Ford retired when I was four years old, so what I learned about him came from books, highlights or interviews.
However, the other players who passed away in 2020 make me feel as if part of my childhood is disappearing.
I enjoyed watching Joe Morgan, Tom Seaver and Lou Brock play in person. Bob Gibson and Al Kaline were closing out their careers when I was a youngster, but I was able to watch them on TV and listen to games on the radio.
It’s interesting to think about the connections of the six players from last year. To have all of them on the stage during the Hall of Fame induction when I attended the ceremony back in 2000 was special.
Ford and Kaline met for the first time during the 1954 season in Detroit on May 15. Ford worked in relief and was the winning pitcher that day as the Yankees won 7-5, but Kaline took the individual battle as he reached on an error and later singled.
Ironically, the final meeting between the two longtime rivals was also in Detroit on May 21, 1967. A sore arm forced Ford to leave the mound after one inning, but he gave up a sacrifice fly to Kaline in what turned out to be the final game of the lefthander’s career, which was a loss as the Tigers won 9-4.
Morgan and Brock were both there when Seaver threw his no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978. Brock and Gibson faced Kaline in the 1968 World Series.
So much of what these nine players did is ingrained in my memories, it will be very difficult to forget them.