Posted on 06/19/2009 12:27:43 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Dusty Rhodes, a light-hitting, hard-drinking outfielder who was at his best on baseball's biggest stage, died of cardiopulmonary arrest Wednesday at a Las Vegas hospital. He was 82.
Rhodes, whose left-handed swing was tailor-made for the short right-field porch at the New York Giants' home in the Polo Grounds, never batted more than 244 times in seven big-league seasons and had a career average of just .253.
But in his only World Series, in 1954, he delivered a game-winning pinch-hit home run in the 10th inning of Game 1, a game-tying pinch-hit single in Game 2 and a two-run pinch single in Game 3 to help the Giants win their last championship by sweeping the heavily favored Cleveland Indians.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Wait, that isn’t the guy.
A great player in his day, he has been forgotten in recent years.
Damn. :(
That’s what I thought too. The Natural’...
RIP.
Dusty Rhodes the wrestler (real name Virgil Runnels) is in his mid 60’s and is not the same person as the baseball player.
One of my baseball heroes. I totally lost interest in baseball when they retired: Dusty Rhodes, Duke Snyder, Willie Mays, and Eddie Matthews (Except Willie Mays, who should have retired ten years earlier.)
Don’t forget Warren Spahn-one of my boyhood heroes.
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