Sports obituaries

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Foster Castleman, a utility IF who played in The Show for 5 years, died 11/9 at age 89.

Castleman came up with the New York Giants during the 1954 season, and remained with the team for the remainder of their time in the Polo Grounds. He called it a career after spending 1958 with the Orioles.

His best season was his busiest season (1956). Playing in 124 games, he smacked 14 HR and drove in 45.

Dave Miedema

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Tommy Sandt, a utility infielder who played 1 game with Oakland in 1975 and 41 more in 1976, died at age 69 on 12/1.

Dave Miedema

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K.C. Jones a Pro Basketball Hall of Famer whose entire 9-season NBA career was spent with the Celtics, died at age 88 on Christmas Day.

From 1958-59 through 1966-67, Jones' Boston team won 8 NBA Championships out of the 9 seasons he was there as a player. The only NBA stars with more NBA titles in their playing career are two of his Celtics teammates, Bill Russell and Sam Jones. Jones also won 4 NBA titles as a coach.

Jones also is one of only 7 players to win championships in the NBA and NCAA as well as an Olympic gold medal.

Dave Miedema

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[QUOTE=sox83cubs84;413562]K.C. Jones a Pro Basketball Hall of Famer whose entire 9-season NBA career was spent with the Celtics, died at age 88 on Christmas Day.

From 1958-59 through 1966-67, Jones' Boston team won 8 NBA Championships out of the 9 seasons he was there as a player. The only NBA stars with more NBA titles in their playing career are two of his Celtics teammates, Bill Russell and Sam Jones. Jones also won 4 NBA titles as a coach.

Jones also is one of only 7 players to win championships in the NBA and NCAA as well as an Olympic gold medal.

Dave Miedema

OOPS! Wrong photo.

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Don Leppert, a 2B who played for the Orioles in 40 games during the 1955 season, died on 1/5 at age 90.

Dave Miedema

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Tom Acker, a tall RHP who took the mound for Cincinnati from 1956-59, died at age 90 on 1/4.

Acker finished his rookie year with a sparkling 2.37 ERA. The following year, his W-L ledger was 10-5

Dave Miedema

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Denis Menke, an infielder who played for 3 NL ballclubs over a 13-year career, died on 12/1 at age 80.

Menke played with the Braves (1962-67), the Astros (1968-71, 1974) and the Reds (1972-73). He was part of 2 All-Star Game teams, and played in one World Series (1972) where he was active in all 7 games and, while only collecting 2 hits, one of them was a solo HR.

Dave Miedema

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Ty Jordan, a RB for the University of Utah, died of an accidental gunshot wound at age 19.

Jordan was considered by most to be a rising star in NCAA Football, and had just played the last game of his freshman season a few days ago.

Dave Miedema

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Phil Niekro, a Hall of Famer and a master of the knuckleball, died on 12/26 at age 81.

"Knucksie", whose playing career spanned 24 years, is one of only a handful of MLB pitchers with career totals that ended with over 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts. He was part of 5 All-Star teams, and earned 5 Gold Gloves.

Most of his career was spent with the Braves, beginning in 1964, when the team was still in Milwaukee, and through 1983, when they were located in Atlanta. He also returned to the Braves for his final mound appearance on 9/27/87. Between those tours of duty, Niekro spent 1984-85 with the Yankees, 1986 with the Indians, as well as part of '87, before a short stint with the Blue Jays and his final game with Atlants. He wore #35 for his entire career in The Show.

Niekro was a 20-game winner twice (1974 and '79), a 20-game loser twice (1977 and '79) and lead the NL once in won-lost percentage (17-4, .810) in 1982 and ERA (1.87 in 1967).

Dave Miedema

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Hall of Famer Don Sutton, a teammate of both Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale on the 1966 NL champion Dodgers, died at age 75 on 1/19.

Sutton finished his career with 324 wins, 3,574 strikeouts with a 3.24 ERA. He was named to 4 All-Star teams and won the NL ERA title in 1980 (2.20).

He is best remembered as a Dodgers, opening his MLB career there (1966-80) and also ending it in Dodger blue (1988). He pitched for the Astros in 181 and most of 1982 before being acquired by the Brewers for the 1982 stretch run. Sutton also threw for Milwaukee in 1983-84. Most of his 1985 season was with the Athletics, although he again was a pennant race acquisition, joining the Angels late in the season and staying there for the 1986 and 1987 campaigns.

Dave Miedema