Looks like a nice guy.
Posted on 12/22/2005 1:25:31 PM PST by MikefromOhio
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Elrod Hendricks, who spent nearly four decades as a player and coach with the Baltimore Orioles, died Wednesday. He was 64.
Hendricks died at Baltimore-Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, hospital spokeswoman Allison Eatough said. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Acting Lt. Will Bethea of the Anne Arundel County fire department said the department received a call at 8:17 p.m. that Hendricks was unconscious at a hotel near Baltimore-Washington International Airport. A fire department ambulance took him to the hospital.
Hendricks got most of the playing time at catcher for the Orioles on teams that went to three consecutive World Series from 1969-71, sharing duties with Andy Etchebarren.
Hendricks also played briefly for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees during a 12-year major league career that lasted from 1968-79. He went 4-for-11 (.364) with a home run and four RBIs to help Baltimore defeat the Cincinnati Reds in the 1970 World Series.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
Nice guy. Helped me a lot.
Prayers for the family.
Wasn't he involved with the throw to first that hit J.C. Martin of the Mets in the 1969 Series? The throw hit Martin in the wrist, and I believe there was some controversy over whether Martin was out of the basepath.
I thought that was Etchebarren but you could very well be correct.....
Kind'a like a Baltimore Ellie Howard.
Yeah, he came to speak at our Little League Banquet in the 70s. I think I have an autographed picture of him somewhere.
yeah.
From the baseball library web site: JC Martin triggered one of the most controversial plays in post-season history. He bunted to Baltimore pitcher Pete Richert, whose throw to first struck Martin on the wrist and ricocheted into short right, allowing pinch runner Rod Gaspar to score the winning run from second. Orioles manager Earl Weaver, who had been ejected earlier, saw the play and protested after the game that Martin had run illegally inside the foul line. Umpire Shag Crawford thought otherwise.
Weaver eventually got tossed from the game...the first manager to be thrown out of a WS game since 1935.
Bullpen coach until this year. A really nice guy.
Wow, Hendricks gave me my very first autograph when I was a kid. I'll never forget that. Rest in peace.
This is very sad for me. I loved that guy. But, on the field he was no Elston Howard.
He wore a MLB uniform for 38 years. Is that a record?
I know for sure he holds the record for most autographs.
He did catch that game, but reliever Pete Richert made the play on the bunt (at least according to this write-up. The first series I have any memories of was O's/Pirates in '71.)
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1969ws.shtml
He was involved in a controversial play at the plate in the 1970 series.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1970ws.shtml
yep.
He had a stroke earlier this year and was temporarily removed from the post, but the guy was always popular with the fans and players there....
yeah I have a couple of his as well, but my first autograph is actually Graig Nettles.
My dad got it in 1984 when Nettles was playing for San Diego....
there you go.
I barely remember the 83 WS (I was 3 at the time) but my Dad had already taken a liking to Cal Ripken and it really rubbed off on me....
At first he wasn't good behind the plate... but he learned it well.
RIP
Looks like a nice guy.
He was.
He was great with kids and teens (I was a teen at the time). He had stories, most of them funny and the man could teach you mechanics like you wouldn't believe.....
Hmmm. Not sure about total years in MLB uniform but Jimmie Reese (real name Hyam Soloman)played second for Oakland in the Pacific Coast League in 1924, moved up to the Yankees in 1930, played only a few years in MLB, went back to PCL, joined Angels as coach in 1971 and was still coach when he died in 1994 at age 93.
Nolan Ryan named one of his sons Reese, in honor.
Prayers for Hendricks and his family. I lived in Baltimore in 1979 (he had one at bat that year) and it was a great year. Hendricks was held in high regard.
Thanks.
Yes,IIRC in that 1970 game, the umpire was actually facing AWAY from the play, sitting on the ground, but still called the runner out.
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