1971 in Baseball - Deaths

Deaths

  • January 1 – Harry Rice, 69, outfielder noted for his defense who also hit .300 five times
  • January 7 – Dud Lee, 71, infielder for the St. Louis Browns and Boston Red Sox in the 1920s
  • January 7 – Hal Rhyne, 71, shortstop who played from 1926 to 1933 for the Pirates, Red Sox and White Sox
  • January 9 – Elmer Flick, 94, Hall of Fame right fielder and lifetime .313 hitter who led AL in triples three times, steals twice, and batting and runs once each
  • February 16 – Cedric Durst, 74, outfielder for the St. Louis Browns, New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox between 1922 and 1930, who also was a member of the 1927 and 1928 World Champions Yankees
  • March 18 – Tony Welzer, 71, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox from 1926 to 1927, who was the first player born in Germany to appear in an American League game
  • April 4 – Carl Mays, 79, underhand pitcher who won 20 games five times with three teams, but was best remembered for his pitch which struck Ray Chapman in the head for the only field fatality in major league history
  • April 9 – Elmer Eggert, 69, pitcher for the 1927 Boston Red Sox
  • April 9 – Will Harridge, 87, president of the American League from 1931 to 1958
  • April 15 – Mickey Harris, 54, All-Star pitcher who won 17 games for the 1946 Red Sox, led AL in saves with 1950 Senators
  • April 16 – William Eckert, 62, commissioner of baseball from 1965 to 1968
  • April 16 – Ron Northey, 50, outfielder with a powerful arm who hit a record three pinch-hit grand slams in his career
  • April 19 – Russ Hodges, 60, broadcaster for the Giants since 1949, previously with the Reds, Cubs, Senators and Yankees, best known for his call of Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning home run in 1951
  • May 12 – Heinie Manush, 69, Hall of Fame left fielder and career .330 hitter who won 1926 batting title with Detroit, led AL in hits and doubles twice each
  • May 15 – Goose Goslin, 70, Hall of Fame left fielder who starred for five pennant winners in Washington and Detroit, batting .316 lifetime with eleven 100-RBI seasons; one of the first ten players to hit 200 home runs, he retired with the 7th-most RBIs in history
  • May 20 – Martín Dihigo, 65, Cuban star in the Negro Leagues who excelled at all positions, particularly as a pitcher and second baseman
  • May 26 – Judge Nagle, 91, pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Red Sox during the 1911 season
  • July 12 – Wally Judnich, 54, center fielder who twice batted .300 for the St. Louis Browns
  • July 28 – Myril Hoag, 63, outfielder who recovered from a brutal 1936 collision to become an All-Star three years later
  • October 8 – Murray Wall, 45, relief pitcher for the Boston Braves, Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators between 1950 and 1959
  • November 5 – Toothpick Sam Jones, 45, All-Star pitcher who led NL in strikeouts three times after beginning in the Negro Leagues
  • November 17 – Smead Jolley, 89, outfielder who played for the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox in the 1930s
  • December 13 – Mike Ryba, 68, pitcher who caught both games of a doubleheader in 1942
  • December 16 – Ferdie Schupp, 80, pitcher who won 21 games for the 1917 New York Giants but whose career faltered after service in World War I

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Famous quotes containing the word deaths:

    “As deaths have accumulated I have begun to think of life and death as a set of balance scales. When one is young, the scale is heavily tipped toward the living. With the first death, the first consciousness of death, the counter scale begins to fall. Death by death, the scales shift weight until what was unthinkable becomes merely a matter of gravity and the fall into death becomes an easy step.”
    —Alison Hawthorne Deming (b. 1946)

    “On almost the incendiary eve
    Of deaths and entrances ...”
    —Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)

    “You lived too long, we have supped full with heroes,
    they waste their deaths on us.”
    —C.D. Andrews (1913–1992)