Add Joe Morgan to the 2020 RIP List

[The AD]

Man, this has been a brutal couple months for baseball Hall of Famers: Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Whitey Ford, Lou Brock, and now Joe Morgan. Plus Al Kaline back in April.

[gravitylover]

Bummer

[Single Track]

Dang. I have fond memories of listening to him and Jon Miller on summer Sunday evenings. Thanks, Joe.

[The AD]

In his prime between about 1972 and 1977 he was an astonishing player. Won the NL MVP two years in a row in 75 and 76 and was in the top ten in the voting for five straight years. His 1976 slash line of .320/.444/.576 is crazy and when you add in 60 steals and Gold Glove defense at second base it's probably one of the greatest seasons in baseball history. And his 1975 season was almost as good. What a player.

[fatnslow]

The man with the smallest glove around ! I use to love watching him play on NBC saturday afternoon baseball on that parking lot field at Riverfront.

[BmillsSkier]

Cross-post from the MLB thread, just cause I really liked the guy:

Yes, RIP Joe.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/spo...an/5968325002/

I really liked the guy and had the chance to bump into him on a couple of occasions during my time in Cincinnati. The first time was on Father's Day on a golf course. Morgan was waiting off the green of a long par 5 with his playing partners, which included a tank-top-wearing NFL's Tom Jackson who couldn't have looked more comfortably out of place. I chipped in for eagle and Joe and his buddies all cheered and high fived me. At the turn when I went in to grab some beers and a brat the lady behind the counter informed me that "Mr. Morgan says to say 'nice shot back there'" as she handed me a beer.

And isn't that the truth about Riverfront being a parking lot with a thin veneer of astroturf laid over it. Skipped many classes in undergrad to go grab $6 tickets and $5 beers to watch some rough Redlegs teams kill themselves on that shit. When Great American Ballpark opened and the members of the Big Red Machine were walked out to christen it the one thing they said to a man was, "sure would've been great to play on this grass".

[stealurface831]

Never got the chance to meet him but I have never heard anyone speak nothing but praise for the man. Certainly my favorite member of the Big Red Machine. Rose and Bench are assholes.

[Benny Profane]

Awesome team. RIP.

[schindlerpiste]

Once at Shea Stadium, I caught a foul ball hit by Joe Morgan. He was a hero to me. LHB. I emulated the way he used to click his left elbow keep his upper hand in good position while awaiting the ball to be delivered.

[schindlerpiste]

Funny story about Johnny Bench being an asshole. I was front row REDS dugout Game 4 of the 1976 WS. The Reds had just swept the Yankees and they were running off the field. As Tony Perez was entering the dugout, I grabbed his hat off of his head. My friend tried to grab Johnny Bench's hard hat (catcher), but instead, he caught Johnny Bench's fist in the head.
JB was cool, until he underwent gall bladder surgery. His offensive power went downstream quickly.

[The AD]

How the heck did you get front row tickets for a WS game? Is Marge Schott your mom?

[schindlerpiste]

Yankee Stadium 1976. It was a different time. I was good childhood friends with Rick Cerone. I think that he got me the tix. thru Mickey Rivers.

When Ricky became a Yankee, we used to go out all the time. I can tell you funny stories about Luis Tiant, Bucky Dent and a few other guys....

[stealurface831]

Funny story about Johnny Bench being an asshole. I was front row REDS dugout Game 4 of the 1976 WS. The Reds had just swept the Yankees and they were running off the field. As Tony Perez was entering the dugout, I grabbed his hat off of his head. My friend tried to grab Johnny Bench's hard hat (catcher), but instead, he caught Johnny Bench's fist in the head.
JB was cool, until he underwent gall bladder surgery. His offensive power went downstream quickly.

I’ve got a great story(actually kinda sad) about Pete Rose being an asshole. My grandfather owned a minor league team for many years and Pete Jr., being the pedestrian player he was, spent a season with them team during his late 20s. My grandfather was in the clubhouse everyday as an owner and talked to the players a good bit. He took a liking to Pete Jr. and the two got pretty close throughout the season. One day, Pete came up to my grandfather to tell him the big news: his dad was gonna come see him play. Apparently, it has been a while since “the king” made it to one of his boy’s games. My grandfather was excited, too, as he saw how much it meant to Pete Jr., though he had heard that Sr. was a bit of an asshole. The team is in a pretty small town without any good hotels so my grandfather offered to let Sr. stay at his place during a home stand. A week went by and Jr. said that his dad had gone to Vegas instead but would catch the next home stand. Repeat this a few times. Come the last home stand of the season and Jr. tells my grandfather that pops had promised to be there. Cut to the last game of the series and no sign of Sr. My grandfather found Pete Jr. crying in the batting cages after the game. He had hit a walk off bomb without dad in attendance. It should come as no surprise that Pete Sr. did not make the following away series in West Virginia, a pretty easy drive from Ohio. So yeah, fuck Pete Rose Sr.


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[billyk]

Funny story about Johnny Bench being an asshole. I was front row REDS dugout Game 4 of the 1976 WS. The Reds had just swept the Yankees and they were running off the field. As Tony Perez was entering the dugout, I grabbed his hat off of his head. My friend tried to grab Johnny Bench's hard hat (catcher), but instead, he caught Johnny Bench's fist in the head.
JB was cool, until he underwent gall bladder surgery. His offensive power went downstream quickly.

Reminds me of this encounter: